What ink does Platinum Prefounte come with?

[rodia77]

My Platinum Prefounte came with an unmarked cartridge of ink included. I want more of it. Would I be right to assume that it's this one:

 

 

and that its bottled counterpart is this one:

 

 

?

 

If anyone could confirm, that would be great -- thanks in advance!

 

(Pics shamelessly stolen from Stilo&Stile).

[Lithium466]

On the cartridge, if you're lucky you should see a faint B (black) or BB (blue black) and something that looks like a date code.

Usually it's Platinum blue-black that is sold with their pens, but I've also seen Platinum black. So if what you got was black and you liked it, then you can buy regular Platinum Black like you're showing. It's good ink, not the blackest but well lubricated and pretty good on bad paper too!

 

(Some Preppy come with a cartridge assorted to the colour of the pen body - these are only sold in pack of 3.)

[rodia77]

2 minutes ago, Lithium466 said:

So if what you got was black and you liked it, then you can buy regular Platinum Black like you're showing.

 

Yes, I'm clear about the colour, it's black -- I was just looking for the type, because I can see they have carbon inks, pigment inks etc. My assumption was it's the most basic type and you seem to have confirmed it, thanks!

[Penguincollector]

JetPens says the Prefounte comes with a Blue-Black (iron gall) cartridge:

 

JetPens Prefounte

[rodia77]

Ha, @Penguincollector's reply made me remember something that makes this thread's question moot. When I ordered the Prefounte and the ink cartridges, I wanted it to write in black straight away, so the ink I like is indeed from the extra pack:

 

 

and not the one that came with the pen originally -- indeed, that one is an odd man out with some print among nine unmarked ones:

 

 

Thanks again both!

[Lithium466]

That one cartridge is indeed blue black, from 2020.

[rodia77]

Cheers! Is it possible to tell from the code if it's iron gall?

[Penguincollector]

  Platinum BB in general is iron gall.  They make a pigment blue and a dye blue, but no other blue black. 

[A Smug Dill]

15 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

They make a pigment blue and a dye blue, but no other blue black. 

 

Only as the two blue inks in the Mixable Ink line (available in bottles only, not ink cartridges), as far as I'm aware; there isn't one in the ‘standard’ dye ink line either in bottles or as cartridges. Oh, and there are light blue dye ink cartridges available in twin packs only.

 

There is a blue iron-gall ink in the Mixable Classic Ink collection, which I've only ever seen in Itoya stores in Japan.

 

I also have in front of me a pack of Platinum Fluorescent Blue ink cartridges, which contain water-based pigment ink.

[Lithium466]

10 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

There is a blue iron-gall ink in the Mixable Classic Ink collection, which I've only ever seen in Itoya stores in Japan.

 

Would you have more information about that (I'm guessing not or you'd have linked it!)? Mixable and iron gall is not something easy to ensure, so I'm very interested!

 

We can also say that Platinum did/does produce some special editions or limited inks with some pens, the 3776 Decade came with a sheening blue/blurple, for ex. I do wish the standard mixable inks were more easily available (to me) in bottles (are they the same ink sold in cartridges?).

[Lithium466]

20 hours ago, rodia77 said:

Cheers! Is it possible to tell from the code if it's iron gall?

The BB is for blue black, they only have one in cartridges. 

[A Smug Dill]

1 hour ago, Lithium466 said:

Would you have more information about that (I'm guessing not or you'd have linked it!)?

 

I've only come across those inks twice, on the shelves in different Itoya stores in the Tokyo region, late in 2023. I didn't see them in Osaka or Kyoto mid-2024; but then, I didn't visit any Itoya stores in that trip.

 

1 hour ago, Lithium466 said:

Mixable and iron gall is not something easy to ensure, so I'm very interested!

 

I don't imagine it's that difficult for Platinum; in all likelihood, the ferrogallic component for all inks in the Classic Ink line is uniform, and the dyes are the only variant.

 

1 hour ago, Lithium466 said:

I do wish the standard mixable inks were more easily available (to me) in bottles (are they the same ink sold in cartridges?).

 

I don't know, since I haven't performed chromatography on the inks to compare them (and I don't have most of the colours of the cartridge inks); but I seriously doubt it.

[Number99]

On 11/25/2025 at 8:32 PM, Lithium466 said:

Would you have more information about that (I'm guessing not or you'd have linked it!)? Mixable and iron gall is not something easy to ensure, so I'm very interested!

 

On 11/25/2025 at 9:34 PM, A Smug Dill said:

I've only come across those inks twice, on the shelves in different Itoya stores in the Tokyo region, late in 2023. I didn't see them in Osaka or Kyoto mid-2024; but then, I didn't visit any Itoya stores in that trip.

 

Could be the test-marketed 'Classic Ink My Colour'. It appears not to have been listed as a product on the Platinum website. It seems to have been sold on Amazon at the time, but it cannot be found now. (Nor anywhere else online)

 

From the Platinum Pen Ltd. Facebook account.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1Cn4gsfV5h/

 

From the Maruzen Nihonbashi (Bookstore) Twitter account.

https://x.com/mznihonbashi/status/1553900820248383489?t

 

The colour on screen may not be accurate.

 

Edited November 26, 2025 by Number99
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[Lithium466]

Very interesting, thank you!