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Levenger ink - any good? worth anything?

markh

By markh
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markh Vintage

markh

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I have a friend who long ago lost interest in fountain pen. Recently going though a closet he found a box of unused Levenger inks (see picture) 

As I remember this ink it seemed mostly sort of a copy of Penman. But it's been quite a while, so I'm really not sure. 

QUESTION - is this ink collection worth anything? Are the inks any good??  thx...

 

image.png.bc17edd6cdb9756c89b8bf38605605bc.png

 

...

"Bad spelling, like bad grammar, is an offense against society."

- - Good Form Letter Writing, by Arthur Wentworth Eaton, B.A. (Harvard);  © 1890

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TSherbs Donor Pen

TSherbs

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I've never heard of most of them, but I own Cobalt Blue. In a fine nib it is nice and manageable, but in anything larger it spreads and bleeds (in my experience). It is highly saturated and penetrating. I've heard some people like the Raven. The rest I have no clue (sorry). 

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SamCapote Antique

SamCapote

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40 minutes ago, markh said:

I have a friend who long ago lost interest in fountain pen. Recently going though a closet he found a box of unused Levenger inks (see picture) 

As I remember this ink it seemed mostly sort of a copy of Penman. But it's been quite a while, so I'm really not sure. 

QUESTION - is this ink collection worth anything? Are the inks any good??  thx...

 

image.png.bc17edd6cdb9756c89b8bf38605605bc.png

 

 

I love their inks.  Great, consistent quality.  Their Levenger Cardinal Red is my favorite deep red ink.

With the new FPN rules, now I REALLY don't know what to put in my signature.

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kestrel Collectors Item

kestrel

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Fireball is one of my favorite inks.  I like the color and it is very well behaved.  It's also discontinued.  Smokey is a good, neutral gray.  I don't generally care for gray inks but Smokey is an exception.  Skies of Blue feathers horribly.  Gemstone Green is a very nice bluish green, another favorite.

Levenger inks used to be a pretty good deal but sometime in the past few years the price skyrocketed, making them a lot less desirable for me.

Dave Campbell
Retired Science Teacher and Active Pen Addict
Every day is a chance to reduce my level of ignorance.

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I-am-not-really-here Donor Pen

I-am-not-really-here

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Pinkly (discontinued in 2009) has its fans. I believe the boxed set was marketed as "Slightly Wild." The set comes up on eBay fairly often.

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PAKMAN Ancient Artifact

PAKMAN

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Cobalt Blue was the only one I really liked the others seemed washed out to me. 

PAKMAN

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inkstainedruth Ancient Artifact

inkstainedruth

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I picked up a couple of bottles of Levenger ink (as well as several other brands) a while back at an estate sale but haven't had a chance to try any of them yet (ironically, the bottle in one of the photos in the listing for the sale, Bahama Blue (?) was nowhere to be found, but did get a partial bottle of Gemstone Green and a partial bottle of Amethyst.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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TSherbs Donor Pen

TSherbs

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15 hours ago, I-am-not-really-here said:

Pinkly (discontinued in 2009) has its fans. I believe the boxed set was marketed as "Slightly Wild." The set comes up on eBay fairly often.

 

"Slightly Wild" 🤣

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antares1966 Extremely Rare

antares1966

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Levenger Black was the very first bottled ink I ever used, years and years ago.  I remember it being a nice dark black, took a while to dry though.

and I agree, since the price spike a while ago, I no longer really see the appeal.

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tde44x Mint

tde44x

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In the days before the internet and online shopping, I used to buy Levenger inks. They were find. But today there are so many great choices to choose from I don't know if I would ever go back. I will say that I still like their bottles and some of the desk accessories they have (and had) which were designed to hold their bottles.

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Patrick L Vintage

Patrick L

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21 hours ago, PAKMAN said:

Cobalt Blue was the only one I really liked the others seemed washed out to me. 

From what I read, in some countries washed out inks are actually preferred .

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kestrel Collectors Item

kestrel

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15 hours ago, tde44x said:

In the days before the internet and online shopping, I used to buy Levenger inks. They were find. But today there are so many great choices to choose from I don't know if I would ever go back. I will say that I still like their bottles and some of the desk accessories they have (and had) which were designed to hold their bottles.

Stupid me, I forgot to mention the bottles.  They come with their own little plastic ink-miser insert.  I dispersed all the Levenger ink I didn't like in the form of samples but I kept the bottles for other inks.

I like the colors I mentioned in the post above but I'm not sure they are worth #30.00 US per bottle.  That's getting into Iroshi territory.

Dave Campbell
Retired Science Teacher and Active Pen Addict
Every day is a chance to reduce my level of ignorance.

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boilermaker1975 Vintage

boilermaker1975

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9 hours ago, kestrel said:

Stupid me, I forgot to mention the bottles.  They come with their own little plastic ink-miser insert.  I dispersed all the Levenger ink I didn't like in the form of samples but I kept the bottles for other inks.

I like the colors I mentioned in the post above but I'm not sure they are worth #30.00 US per bottle.  That's getting into Iroshi territory.

 

Especially when you can get 80 ml bottles of Diamine ink for $9 or less from places like Cult and Mann.

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PAKMAN Ancient Artifact

PAKMAN

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I saw on ebay several 6 bottle sets of Levenger inks for $55.

PAKMAN

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kestrel Collectors Item

kestrel

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7 hours ago, PAKMAN said:

I saw on ebay several 6 bottle sets of Levenger inks for $55.

Those are mostly 25 year old boxed sets and are worth the price, especially if you like some of the discontinued inks like Fireball and Smokey.  Levenger also has a couple of their current production inks (including Gemstone Green) on sale on their website for about $22 US.  I bought two of those boxes some years ago just to get the Fireball and the inks look new.

Dave Campbell
Retired Science Teacher and Active Pen Addict
Every day is a chance to reduce my level of ignorance.

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Runnin_Ute Museum Piece

Runnin_Ute

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On 8/17/2025 at 2:47 PM, inkstainedruth said:

I picked up a couple of bottles of Levenger ink (as well as several other brands) a while back at an estate sale but haven't had a chance to try any of them yet (ironically, the bottle in one of the photos in the listing for the sale, Bahama Blue (?) was nowhere to be found, but did get a partial bottle of Gemstone Green and a partial bottle of Amethyst.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

I really like both Amethyst and Blue Bahama. Just picked up another bottle of the latter at a recent sale they had. (as well as Forest Green) 

Brad

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind" - Rudyard Kipling
"None of us can have as many virtues as the fountain-pen, or half its cussedness; but we can try." - Mark Twain

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Misfit Museum Piece

Misfit

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I got that same blue box of inks on eBay. I’ve used them all, and all have performed well. I already owned two Levenger inks before buying the boxed set. I was curious about Pinkly because I have the Levenger True Writer Pinkly fountain pen. 
 

I bought the boxed set because the cost per bottle was less than the current price. Levenger sometimes puts the inks on sale, and that is the time to buy them. 

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Misfit Museum Piece

Misfit

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I checked my newest ink purchase. There is a little paper note inside the box for the ink bottle. It indicates the ink is made in the USA.  

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