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@OCArtwas kind enough to supply the Chesterfield, so I figured the least I could do was compare it to something! I like dark greens. Still sugar cane paper from Office Depot, and the same legal pad that shadows when I take pictures as I had to fold it in half to make it fit in a bag.

As many of you likely already know, xfountainpens.com and its Chesterfield inks are no more. The store has been rebranded as Birmingham pens, but there was no replacement for the inks. Now though, it appears there is. I checked the site tonight, as it still just redirects to the new one if you type in xfountainpens.com, and found a whole line of Birmingham inks named after influential people. Here's an example of one of the new inks: https://www.birminghampens.com/collections/bottled-ink/products/birmingham-andrew-carnegie-steel-blue-30ml . I wonder if these will also be rebranded Diamene like Chesterfield were?

I just got an e-mail stating that there's a "quick clearance" sale going on. http://us7.campaign-archive1.com/?u=641bdb720edf06ad497945509&id=6d8f9e7ebf&e=5c13368da6 All of the Chesterfield inks are on sale for $3.49 per 50mL bottle, including the Archival Vault, which I believe normally costs a couple dollars more than the others. Remember that there's free US shipping with purchases of $15.00 or more. Cheers!

So three new inks were added to Chesterfield's Antique line-- Antique Raven, Antique Mariner, and Antique Walnut. (left to right: Antique Walnut, Antique Raven, Antique Mariner) What do you guys think? I'm not a blue-ink person, but that Mariner looks pretty appealing. Judging by the swabs provided online, how do you think Raven and Walnut compare to maybe some of the greys from the Iroshizuku inks or other ink brands?

Chesterfield inks seem to have been around for a while, but there aren't many reviews on FPN. Word is that they're either rebranded Diamine inks or that they come from the same manufacturer, but oftentimes can be bought at a much cheaper price. There are threads trying to match Diamine colors with Chesterfield colors, but supposedly the Antique line are supposed to be unique. Mariner is one of the three newest inks in the Antique line. When I think of "mariner" I think of stormy, wind-swept seas and frothy dark waves. The ink seems to do its name justice. Its a muted kind of blue that I didn't think I would like but quickly grew on me. (sorry about the photos, it turns out that we no longer have a functioning scanner. To my eyes the photo on the right (taken in the evening around 5 o'clock) seems more accurate than the one on the left (taken at 8 in the morning), which seems a touch bluer) The ink behaves pretty well- standard good behavior on Tomoe and Rhodia, and no feathering on cheap Staples brand filler paper, which is the notebook paper I use for school notes. I've found that on that paper it does show and bleedthrough the other side, however, so when I use it I oftentimes can only write on one side of the page. I've also always found the Chesterfield inks to be pretty "watery" and as a result not very saturated (though they can be, and look pretty dark esp when wet or left in a pen for a while). Does lead to shading though, which is decent with this ink. Nothing spectacular. And as per usual for a Chesterfield ink, water resistant was quite low (please ignore the pink smudges on the drip test, I had accidentally gotten some red ink on my fingers). However it does mean it was pretty easy to clean the pens and flush out the remnants of the ink. Overall a good ink that I will enjoy using in the future.

Just tested the 9 Antique colors from xFountainPens, including the latest Shamrock. The writing and scribbles are from a needle point Tachikawa 77 dip pen, so I can see it's much more of dusky purple to burgundy when laid on thick. The smears are a drop of ink on a metal needle, spread sideways to get an idea of the color at a "normal" ink density. The right end has a little thicker second small drop. Paper is HP 32# laser. No bleedthrough except the very-wet first letters drawn with the freshly loaded dip pen. I enjoyed the Shamrock in the Platinum 3776 F, and just switched to trying Jade Don't like it as much. I don't like light, unsaturated (color, not chemically) inks so much. Dark unsaturated is OK.. Jade looks grey as Slate going on, but quickly dries to the final greenish color. Darkness stays the same, around 50% of black by rough guess. The Raspberry isn't very red unless laid on thick. It's more of a more of a terra-cotta or dilute dusky purple. My favorite are Oxford and maybe Yankee. I love intense colors. I don't even mind lower saturation color-black looking mixes, but I don't like washed out. Orchid has possibilities. Scarlet is a nice red, but I have a lot of red inks. These are maybe best in pens (popular on here) with more flow, robably great for a wet stub or broad. My 3776 has a fine that I'd call quite juicy, a little wetter than I generally go for, and it's not ideal for most of these. You'd; be right to question my wisdom buying "Antique" colors, given that preference. I'll try them in turn, properly, in the Platinum pen, and maybe tweak a hue if it doesn't grow on me. Jade is loaded now, and to me begs for a 20-40% addition of something like Sheaffer's teal-ish green. I take pride in not being a slave to the (ink) bottle if I want a little more punch or a slight color shift, before giving up. Another option happens all the time in weeks or months in most pens, but won't in the slip-and-seal 3776 - let the ink partially dry out. I may put 1mL of the Jade in a 5mL vial with the cap loose, and reload the pen when it evaporates down to about half a mL. I might really like that color. Typically I use noodlers inks and it goes the other way (dilute about 50%), which has the benefit of being quicker. The biggest win for me is Oxford. It has sheen, it's a brilliant not-greenish blue, and is my concept of the vaunted Majestic Blue, improved. It's cheaper than Diamine Blue velvet, not sure which I'll prefer. For intensity I think BV may win. Oxford is more interesting. Majestic Blue itself, compared to either, is disappointingly leaning teal, unless I got bad samples. I had someone else say Raspberry gives excellent shading, so take that as you will. I consider shading generally a negative characteristic, and also blaspheme by believing that "lubrication" is not an attribute distinct from how wet the nib is at the paper while writing (i.e., flow rate minus paper absorption rate). This test method doesn't let me judge much about those ancillary factors. I really just want to know color hue, and does it look OK with a middling to dry EF to F nib.

I am a huge fan of Chesterfield ink, and before I consider buying an ink from a different company I always look to see if I can purchase a similar color from Chesterfield first. (I realize that Chesterfield is just a repackaged and rebranded Diamine, but Chesterfield inks come in spiffy Nalgene bottles, cost far less than Diamine, and have more sizing options. They may be the same ink as Diamine, but I think of them as a separate entity.) The only other ink company that I use as often as Chesterfield is Rohrer & Klingner. With these two companies covering the vast majority of colors and options (both have iron gall inks, permanent document inks, and a wide variety of colors) I rarely see the need to go elsewhere for my inks. I have an ink or two from other companies and I have a hand full of samples from other companies, but to be perfectly honest I always end up coming right back to my big two. This realization really hit home when I realized that I will buy a full bottle from either Chesterfield or R&K without first sampling the color, but I will not even consider buying ink from another company without trying a sample first. As it turns out, I am a loyal user of these two inks and I didn't even know it. So, my question is: how many folks out there find themselves loyal to certain brands of ink? What is it about those inks that keep you coming back? I am curious to know if I am alone in sticking mostly to one or two brands or if there are others like me out there.

This is my first attempted ink review, so please let me know if there's anything unclear, and I apologize for imperfect scans and handwriting. Chesterfield is a line of inks sold through xfountainpens.com. They are understood to be made by Diamine, but their unit prices are significantly lower than I find for Diamine at most online retailers (I am in the US). Xfountainpens sells them in Nalgene bottles in volumes of 25, 50, or 100ml. Many of the Chesterfield inks are believed to be identical to inks in the regular Diamine line-up, but those with "Antique" in the name are believed to be unique to the Chesterfield label. Antique Jade had a nice sage-green-grey look in the sample online, so I ordered 50 ml. I've been using it in an uncommon pen (a Ranga Slim Bamboo with a custom ground broad cursive italic nib), so I inked up a more common pen (Jinhao 159) as well so people may have a better comparison. Here are some writing samples on a few different papers. Based on the comparison, I was starting to believe that Antique Jade was indeed the same ink as Diamine Graphite. But chromatography showed a surprise hiding! On a paper towel, with some water, a delicate cerulean halo comes out of the Antique Jade (and the central core is a warmer, slightly earth-toned grey), while the graphite looks more uniform in its pigment(s). So! Antique Jade does appear to be distinct from the regular Diamine line (but I will emphasize that in actual use it is nearly indistinguishable). Summary: Chesterfield Antique Jade is a wet-flowing, well-behaved, dark grey-green ink, extremely similar to Diamine Graphite. It is also very affordable. One downside not mentioned yet is the Nalgene bottles it is sold in: they are pretty unattractive if you like pretty bottles, but also they are too narrow-necked to be practical (~14mm inner diameter). So I'm currently pipetting my fills into a sample vial, and plan to decant the rest into a more usable spare bottle.

I recently received some Chesterfield Antique Yankee. What a beautiful ink! Good flow, works well on all the paper I use. I have seen posts that link it to Diamine Denim, Midnight and Regency Blue. Does anyone know which Diamine color Yankee corresponds to?

Does anyone know which colour of Chesterfield is the match for Diamine Asa Blue? I have read through many of the threads but not found this....and I love Asa Blue! Alternatively, anyone know a great inexpensive source for Diamine inks (that does not involve a large shipment from the UK)? Or want to unload some Asa Blue for a good price? thank you

Has anyone here tried the Antique Copper and Antique Crimson inks from xfountianpens? Does the Antique Copper look like Diamine Ancient Copper?