EFNIR: Parker Quink Permanent Royal Blue (vintage)

[kestrel]

I have three bottles of vintage Quink Permanent Blue-Black, all from the 1940's.  All came in their original boxes.  One had corrosion on the inside of the cap and lots of sludge in the bottom of the bottle.  The other two, no corrosion and no sludge.  Both look more like the color I think of as Royal Blue than either of my two usable bottles of Quink Permanent Royal Blue which are blacker than the Permanent Blue-Black and completely sludgeless.  The sample I sent to @LizEFcame from a NOS bottle in a pristine box.  Both bottles produce identical shades of blue, at least to my slightly rhodopsin-challenged eyes.  A bottle exposed to sunlight in an antique store window for an indeterminate length of time faded to a totally uninteresting blah gray with no sludge.

Royal Blue is a lovely ink.  I suggest trying to buy full bottles protected in reasonably intact boxes.

 

Great review Liz.  Thank you.

[LizEF]

41 minutes ago, kestrel said:

I have three bottles of vintage Quink Permanent Blue-Black, all from the 1940's.  All came in their original boxes.  One had corrosion on the inside of the cap and lots of sludge in the bottom of the bottle.  The other two, no corrosion and no sludge.  Both look more like the color I think of as Royal Blue than either of my two usable bottles of Quink Permanent Royal Blue which are blacker than the Permanent Blue-Black and completely sludgeless.  The sample I sent to @LizEFcame from a NOS bottle in a pristine box.  Both bottles produce identical shades of blue, at least to my slightly rhodopsin-challenged eyes.  A bottle exposed to sunlight in an antique store window for an indeterminate length of time faded to a totally uninteresting blah gray with no sludge.

Royal Blue is a lovely ink.  I suggest trying to buy full bottles protected in reasonably intact boxes.

Thank you!

 

41 minutes ago, kestrel said:

Great review Liz.  Thank you.

Thanks!   And you're most welcome!

[Mercian]

With my apologies to @LizEF:

 

On 11/18/2025 at 5:23 PM, yazeh said:

I'm going to be a pain again...

 

Hold my beer...

 

On 11/18/2025 at 2:49 PM, LizEF said:

Erratum: There's a "t" missing, and an "s".

 

There's also an 'l' missing.
Perhaps it's the first sign that, out on the Ice Fields, our heroes' stocks of food are starting to dwindle...?  

 

My (poor) excuse for my lamentable behaviour in posting the above is that the First Signs of Winter†  have now hit my part of this septic isle, and that the higher functions of my brain are therefore Shutting Down.
Which means that the whispers of the Imp of the Perverse (who, yea, squatteth ever upon my shoulder; wherefrom he muttereth his Unseemly suggestions into my ear) are becoming harder for me to resist 😔

I hope that you will soon be able to 'vreak your terrible rewengy' upon me. If I manage to work out how to get my laptop & scanner working together to my satisfaction, I intend to make a few (brief) Ink Reviews myself.
(Caveat lectrix: unless of course my brain goes into full Hivernal Torpor mode before I manage to pull off such an 'heroic feat'.)

 

Like others, I find myself wondering how Parker managed to make this ink 'permanent', and whether it was always similar in appearance to Shin Kai, or whether time has changed it.
I also agree with other folk that the first microscope shot reminds me of fluffy clouds over a serene ocean, perhaps as seen from space.
But the third one suggests to my febrile imagination some kind of Hellacious jellyfish 
I should probably stop reading horror novels, eh?

 

† The days here are are now short (local sundown is at c. 1600 Hrs), the nights are long, and we're now getting the first temperatures below 0°C

[yazeh]

@Mercian ! Ah, I needed some Mercian humor. We got an early winter too, so I get you. 🥶

I'm looking forward to your reviews. While scanner is helpful, in my experience the scanned image, is not always dependable. Sometimes, I want to ditch scanning for reviews all together, and just take photos under different lights (artificial and natural). 

I sometimes miss my old style reviews. They were much simpler to do.

 

 

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

Hold my beer...

 

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

There's also an 'l' missing.

Yes, I know. Someone else caught that. I decided I didn't want to run around to all the platforms I post on and add to the errata.

 

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

Perhaps it's the first sign that, out on the Ice Fields, our heroes' stocks of food are starting to dwindle...?  

Brain freeze!   Digital controller communication error.

 

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

My (poor) excuse for my lamentable behaviour in posting the above is that the First Signs of Winter†  have now hit my part of this septic isle, and that the higher functions of my brain are therefore Shutting Down.

I comprehend.  Please do whatever is necessary to preserve primary functions!

 

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

I hope that you will soon be able to 'vreak your terrible rewengy' upon me. If I manage to work out how to get my laptop & scanner working together to my satisfaction, I intend to make a few (brief) Ink Reviews myself.

Sweet!   Wishing you, your laptop, and your scanner all the best!  I look forward to whatever you come up with.

 

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

Like others, I find myself wondering how Parker managed to make this ink 'permanent', and whether it was always similar in appearance to Shin Kai, or whether time has changed it.

I suspect time has changed it.

 

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

I also agree with other folk that the first microscope shot reminds me of fluffy clouds over a serene ocean, perhaps as seen from space.
But the third one suggests to my febrile imagination some kind of Hellacious jellyfish 

  Or something with tentacles (or tentacle-like appendages)!

 

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

I should probably stop reading horror novels, eh?

Perhaps something more cheerful for winter.   (This eliminates Russian literature altogether.)  Have you ever read Will Wight?  Fantasy stories.  The Cradle series are the funnest fantasy novels I've ever read (in fact, all the other series I've read were serious).  It took me until book 3 (when the turtle enters the story) to become addicted, but I highly recommend them!  Plenty of fun, including snark.  Ha, and it's on Amazon UK.  (Cost of entry is low.  If you aren't hooked by the end of book 3, you likely won't ever be.)

 

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

† The days here are are now short (local sundown is at c. 1600 Hrs), the nights are long, and we're now getting the first temperatures below 0°C

There is good news!  The days will start getting longer before the year is out.  

[LizEF]

58 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Ah, I needed some Mercian humor.

 Ditto!

 

We miss you when you stay away too long, @Mercian!

[yazeh]

33 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 Ditto!

 

We miss you when you stay away too long, @Mercian!

 

[Mercian]

Ooh, now you two have gone and made me !

 

(Thanks though  )

[Mercian]

12 hours ago, LizEF said:

  Or something with tentacles (or tentacle-like appendages)!

 

Yes! That!
What part of 'Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn' do people not understand‽

[LizEF]

6 minutes ago, Mercian said:

Ooh, now you two have gone and made me !

 

(Thanks though  )

 

3 minutes ago, Mercian said:

 

Yes! That!
What part of 'Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn' do people not understand‽

[inkstainedruth]

3 hours ago, Mercian said:

 

Yes! That!
What part of 'Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn' do people not understand‽

Now I'm gonna be ear worming "The Lair of Great Cthulhu" for the rest of the day....

http://bactra.org/cthulhu-hymnal/lair-of-great-cthulhu.html

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[knarflj]

19 hours ago, LizEF said:

  Have you ever read Will Wight?  Fantasy stories.  The Cradle series are the funnest fantasy novels I've ever read (in fact, all the other series I've read were serious).  It took me until book 3 (when the turtle enters the story) to become addicted, but I highly recommend them! 

 

Ooh, thanks for the recommendation!  I just placed a hold at the library on the first book in the series.

[LizEF]

37 minutes ago, knarflj said:

Ooh, thanks for the recommendation!  I just placed a hold at the library on the first book in the series.

Really hope you like it!  Would love to hear your thoughts either way.    It's the sort of series where I miss the characters once it ends.