Is It Cross Blue-Black? Urgent.

[LizEF]

All, tomorrow I'm supposed to be putting Cross Blue-Black in my review pen.  I have a sample from Anderson Pens, just before they closed up shop (so no going back to the vendor to double check anything).  I opened the vial today, and the liquid ink is totally purple.  Swatching it, it dries to a blurple-black-ish color.  I did chroma and it's purple, blue, and grey.  Can anyone tell me if this looks legit or if I got a mis-labeled sample?  Because there's no point in reviewing it if it's a mystery ink.  Thanks!!

 

[Penguincollector]

I have some cartridges that I can check. I will get back to you shortly.

[Penguincollector]

The overhead light is a bit warmer colored than I would like, but mine is also purplish. 
 

 

[LizEF]

Thank you, @Penguincollector!  I sincerely appreciate the double-check and you opening a cartridge for me.   Yours looks pretty close to mine. Other online images didn't suggest any purple or I wouldn't have bought it... Grr.  @visvamitra's review says:

  

On 9/18/2016 at 1:10 AM, visvamitra said:

When it's wet it looks almost purple and when it dries it becomes nuanced blue/black. Not most nuanced mind you but still it leans toward purple.

 

But to my eyes, the "almost" and the "leans toward" are serious understatements...  (Maybe my eyes lean purple...)

 

If anyone else can chime in, I have about 7 hours before I have to decide whether to ink this and review it, or swap in something else.

 

[Sailor Kenshin]

I had carts of Cross BB, because I also had a Cross pen with two nibs.  There was zero purple, just a clean BB, like any other.   But this was maybe five, ten years ago.

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I had carts of Cross BB, because I also had a Cross pen with two nibs.  There was zero purple, just a clean BB, like any other.   But this was maybe five, ten years ago.

Thanks, Sailor!  I think it's changed, but heaven knows when.  Visvamitra's review says it's the "new" Cross BB, but the review was 9 years ago.  Mike Matteson on YT had similar things to say (purple-when-wet), also 9 years ago.  An Ink Guy didn't say anything about purple (5 years ago).

 

And that's almost it!  Mountain of Ink reviewed it in 2021 (no mention of purple)  There are almost no reviews of this ink, and they're all years old.

 

According to google AI, Cross has been sold in 2017, 2014, 2013, and other times previous, but those seem the relevant ones.  Heaven knows who has been making their ink over those changes, and the ink-maker could have changed even if the company didn't get sold...  Sigh.

 

Should I review it, or no...?   I think I will, since @Penguincollector's also look purplish.  I'll just add a note that I have no idea whether it's really Cross Blue/Black...

[USG]

13 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

The overhead light is a bit warmer colored than I would like, but mine is also purplish. 
 

 

It does look very similar.  How old is it?

[Sailor Kenshin]

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

Thanks, Sailor!  I think it's changed, but heaven knows when.  Visvamitra's review says it's the "new" Cross BB, but the review was 9 years ago.  Mike Matteson on YT had similar things to say (purple-when-wet), also 9 years ago.  An Ink Guy didn't say anything about purple (5 years ago).

 

And that's almost it!  Mountain of Ink reviewed it in 2021 (no mention of purple)  There are almost no reviews of this ink, and they're all years old.

 

According to google AI, Cross has been sold in 2017, 2014, 2013, and other times previous, but those seem the relevant ones.  Heaven knows who has been making their ink over those changes, and the ink-maker could have changed even if the company didn't get sold...  Sigh.

 

Should I review it, or no...?   I think I will, since @Penguincollector's also look purplish.  I'll just add a note that I have no idea whether it's really Cross Blue/Black...

 

Or it could be like Noodler's: a surprise in every box.

[LizEF]

40 minutes ago, USG said:

It does look very similar.  How old is it?

Mine is about 8 months old.

[LizEF]

Just now, Sailor Kenshin said:

Or it could be like Noodler's: a surprise in every box.

[USG]

2 hours ago, LizEF said:

According to google AI,

 

Be careful, AI Lies.

 

 

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, USG said:

Be careful, AI Lies.

Don't I know it.

[Penguincollector]

4 hours ago, USG said:

It does look very similar.  How old is it?

  It has the newer lion logo, and the cartridge is a slim cartridge made for the Spire and a few other thin Cross pens. I bought the package this year, but I don’t know when it was manufactured. 

[Penguincollector]

6 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I had carts of Cross BB, because I also had a Cross pen with two nibs.  There was zero purple, just a clean BB, like any other.   But this was maybe five, ten years ago.

    The older Cross inks were made by Pelikan. I think these new inks are of Chinese origin. 

[yazeh]

I would say, if you want to review it, add all disclaimers. The dry colour looks Blue-Black.  

Recently I was reviewing a new ink (surprise, surprise  ) and one reviewer said it was a shimmering ink. Well it wasn't. So I had to do a lot of research to find the truth. AI helped, but it would have needed more powerful features for this type of sleuthing.  And frankly it's not worth it, when one can find this info. 

 

[LizEF]

2 hours ago, yazeh said:

I would say, if you want to review it, add all disclaimers. The dry colour looks Blue-Black.  

I decided to go ahead.  To me, the dry color does not look blue-black.  It's blurple-black at best.  But I'm running with it, because @Penguincollector's looks like mine.

 

2 hours ago, yazeh said:

Recently I was reviewing a new ink (surprise, surprise  ) and one reviewer said it was a shimmering ink. Well it wasn't. So I had to do a lot of research to find the truth. AI helped, but it would have needed more powerful features for this type of sleuthing.  And frankly it's not worth it, when one can find this info. 

Once in a blue moon, I've seen people mistake sheen for shimmer and vice versa.  And Colorverse (at least) makes glitter and non-glitter versions of some of their inks.  Maybe they aren't the only ones?

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

Once in a blue moon, I've seen people mistake sheen for shimmer and vice versa.  And Colorverse (at least) makes glitter and non-glitter versions of some of their inks.  Maybe they aren't the only ones?

Only ones, what? Sorry, it seems I'm still very slow.

 

[LizEF]

3 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Only ones, what? Sorry, it seems I'm still very slow.

 

Maybe Colorverse aren't the only ink-maker who make two versions of an ink: one with glitter, one without glitter.  So maybe you have a version without glitter and the other reviewer really did have a version with glitter.

 

(Or, as I said, maybe the other reviewer was using the wrong terminology.  Or maybe they had added their own glitter, or something.)

[yazeh]

6 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

Maybe Colorverse aren't the only ink-maker who make two versions of an ink: one with glitter, one without glitter.  So maybe you have a version without glitter and the other reviewer really did have a version with glitter.

 

(Or, as I said, maybe the other reviewer was using the wrong terminology.  Or maybe they had added their own glitter, or something.)

I got it. No this was a mistake by the supplier. (Middleman). And the overworked reviewer didn't catch on. 😋