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Hello from the Netherlands, Have been reading mostly ink reviews for a while and thought it was about time to introduce my self properly. Fountain pens have been my pens of choice for my entire life, but using a variety of inks to express myself with them further is something of the last few years. I rarely leave the house without at least one fountain pen, and more often than not I carry multiple inks. Favorite brand without a doubt Iroshizuku, but favorite color Diamine Oxblood. Peter

I did a search on the forum and found a US, British and South Korean ink (sample) exchange, but nothing that covers my neck of the woods (well, at least not in the 10 pages of results my search returned). I see pictures and read descriptions of inks pretty much daily. Many of them leave me curious about how they are in the analog world. Unfortunately, many of these inks (e.g. Noodlers) are not available here and I simply don't have the budget to buy every ink I'd like to try. I really can't imagine I'm the only one with this problem, so I'd like to know if there are other folks here that would be interested in swapping ink samples. Myself, I'm interested in both samples to use and samples of real world usage of an ink (as the latter would seriously reduce mail costs, sending a small package abroad is almost as expensive as a 80ml bottle of Diamine here in the Netherlands. I was thinking about maybe creating some kind of template/form that participants can print out and fill in with the ink in question, so you always know what to expect). My (fairly limited) collection of inks consists of: Diamine Emerald Diamine Red Dragon Diamine Royal Blue J. Herbin Eclat de Saphir J. Herbin Orange Indien J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune J. Herbin Rouge Bourgogne Hero 232 Blue-black (iron-gall) Pelikan 4001 Brilliant black Rohrer & Klingner Blu Mare Rohrer & Klingner Helianthus Rohrer & Klingner Magenta Sailor Jentle Blue-black So, anyone interested in something like this?

Hi all, My ongoing journey to discover my ideal blues, greys, greens, oh well you get the idea... has resulted in plenty of unused full bottles of ink feeling neglected in a drawer over the past year or two. I'm sure it's the same for all of us, but I'm hoping this forum will allow me to find fans of these inks in Belgium or the Netherlands that would give them a more useful home, and in turn perhaps find homes for a few inks of their own they didn't fall in love with. The high postage cost for parcels here means it isn't really worth offering these inks on eBay or for sale. I'm sure there are many other users here in the Belgium/Netherlands/Aachen areas. It's a shame there aren't geographical subforums to chat with local users. I am unsure if this is the proper subforum to post this to, so any suggestions would be appreciated. Have a good rest of the week, here's hoping Spring appears soon... tomosw

Welcome from the Netherlands. I adore fountain pens, and have been using them all my life since I learned to write. Ruud Janssen

I have been using fountain pens for as long as I can remember. It started at primary school with a pelican pen. A simple but effective tool. In those days the refills had a small plastic ball that stayed behind in de empty cartridge. We had a competition who of the pupils could collect the most of those balls in one school year. After that period at secondary school I was presented with a Sheaffer Targa as a birthday present from my parents. What a super pen that was! I have been using it for 25 years. But alas, one day it hit the ground full on the nib! That hurts!! It was damaged in such a way that it could no longer be made, so I bought myself a new fountain pen. A Parker Frontier, as it was highly recommended by the sales agent. It turned out to be a very bad choice. Leakage again and again. I have never had so many ink stains on my hands! As my budget in those days was low I also bought a Lamy Nexx. A fine but simple pen. After 6 years I decided to swop back to Sheaffer again and have purchased two Sheaffer Awards fountain pens via marktplaats (Dutch equivalent of E-bay). Two super pens that brought back the old time feeling I always had with the Targa fountain pen. One of these Awards I still use to correct the work of my students in Red ink! In May 2014 I have also bought myself a Sheaffer 300 fountain pen again. I do like the weight of the instrument!! It writes super smooth so I’ll use it as often as possible Kind regards, Jan

Hey Folks. I picked up a modern pen branded Mix And Match. It has a printed sticker that reads "Mix and Match -It's More Than a Product-Stationery Team Holland" The nib is a folded nib that is unmarked yet resembles old Stypen nibs. The pen came with a double ended long cartridge which looks like it fits Parker pens on one end and something else on the other end. The other end seems shaped like an International cartridge, yet lacks the glass ball at the end. What I do not know is which end fits into the pen. Does anyone know the answer?

Has anyone seen a Dutch Netherlands 18 carat (750) gold hallmark on a recently made solid gold Montblanc pen? I am used to seeing the 750, STOD, and the two smaller stamps on solid gold examples online. I am also familiar with the similar vermeil and silver hallmarks (Ag 925, STOD, and two smaller stamps) on two Montblanc pens I own (75th pinstripe, and a vermeil). However, the example I am considering has STOD and Au 750, but instead of the two smaller stamps I see a larger stamped rectangular box, with cropped corners, with a rose and the number 750 inside, as depicted in the links below [kleine voorperwen (small articles) 750 gold]. Has Montblanc recently changed their gold hallmarking? Please advise. Thanks! http://www.mirs.gov.si/fileadmin/um.gov.si/pageuploads/Dokpdf/SPK/EUzigi.pdf (page 35) http://www.keurtekens.nl/ http://www.zilverenbedels.nl/info/i-keurtekens.htm