Carter's Blue-Black Ink...vintage

[Obsidian57]

Hello.

 

I was doing a serch for sources of fountain pen inks...and I stumbled across this pen seller's page, they being located in London, Ontario, Canada..... and they have this vintage ink and bottle available (See attached photo below).

 

It is Carter's Blue-Black ink, in a 32oz bottle...looks to be almost all there...and according to to shop owner when I emailed him to enquire...it's the original ink, not just a coloured filler to look good in the photo.

 

If so...cost ($25.00) plus shipping would be $44.00 total approx ...that would be the cheapest ink I have so far been able to find in bulk.

 

An internet search reveals very little on this ink, other than the Carter Ink Company is no longer in business...and so this is really a collecter item...and as such would be a shame to use up this ink, as supply is of course very limited.

 

Has anyone in the forum found / used / know about this ink?

 

If so...comments...opinions, etc are requested and appreciated.

 

Thank You.

 

Obsidian57

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Edited August 11, 2009 by Obsidian57

[Dave Johannsen]

Has anyone in the forum found / used / know about this ink?

 

If so...comments...opinions, etc are requested and appreciated.

 

Carter's ink is very well-known. If the ink is free of sediment, then it ought to be usable. Though I'm not the most knowledgeable guy in the world, i would say that the asking price seems quite reasonable (though it would leave you with a lot of blue-black ink to use). In fact, if you decide that you don't want to purchase it, I would dearly love to get my hands on it (please drop me a pm if you decide not to buy it).

 

Good Luck,

 

Dave

[ZeissIkon]

Worth noting, if you haven't used vintage inks before, that some vintage inks were rather far from pH neutral; Carter's in particular was alkaline (though nothing like caustic; the ink was less alkaline than common laundry supplements, about like the baking soda solution that some folks drink for heartburn). There's lots of speculation that Carter's was the prototype from which Noodler's reverse engineered Baystate Blue, and as such, there's the remote possibility that certain susceptible pens might be damaged (the only documented cases I've read were Lamy pens that might have had defective feeds to begin with).

 

Carter's inks were very well thought of for a long time, though; Carter's was primarily an ink maker, unlike Parker, Sheaffer, or Montblanc who made inks because they made pens...

[GirchyGirchy]

Why would you not use it, as long as it doesn't tear up your pen? Eventually it'll go to waste, so you may as well do something worthwhile with it.

 

Try it out in a cheaper pen first. I found two bottles of old Parker Super Chrome which is supposedly caustic. I use it in my Parker Jotters and don't give it a second thought.

[ZeissIkon]

Why would you not use it, as long as it doesn't tear up your pen? Eventually it'll go to waste, so you may as well do something worthwhile with it.

 

Try it out in a cheaper pen first. I found two bottles of old Parker Super Chrome which is supposedly caustic. I use it in my Parker Jotters and don't give it a second thought.

 

Parker pens from the 1940s and early 1950s were designed for use with Superchrome -- that probably includes at least older Jotters, which were introduced in 1954. That said, I wouldn't hesitate to use it in a modern pen as long as there are no metal parts in contact with the ink that weren't either gold, high quality stainless, or other non-corrosive nib type alloys like palladium-silver. It won't hurt polystyrene, ABS, acrylic, or hard rubber, even if it'll eat through aluminum in nothing flat.

[Obsidian57]

To all of those members here who we kind enough to reply and comment to my inquiry thread, I thank you for taking the time to do so.

 

I have decided to purchase this bottle of ink.

 

Dave Johannsen - check your PMs if you haven't already done so ... I sent you a couple of messages about this ink, more is available from the same seller.

 

Agains, thanks to all who commented.

 

Obsidian57

[mstone]

Parker pens from the 1940s and early 1950s were designed for use with Superchrome -- that probably includes at least older Jotters, which were introduced in 1954. That said, I wouldn't hesitate to use it in a modern pen as long as there are no metal parts in contact with the ink that weren't either gold, high quality stainless, or other non-corrosive nib type alloys like palladium-silver. It won't hurt polystyrene, ABS, acrylic, or hard rubber, even if it'll eat through aluminum in nothing flat.

Only the 51 was intended for use with superchrome. That ink will eat rubber for sure--that's why parker didn't use an ordinary rubber sac on the 51.

[scutterdav]

FWIW, I just bought a BIG (32oz.) bottle of Carter's Blue-Black ink and was unable to use it because it was like curds and whey. There was some slimy stuff in the bottom of it and the rest of it was like dirty water. But I also bought a smaller bottle (2 oz.) of the same color and it write quite nicely. Hopefully this bottle is still good because it's a nice vintage ink.

[aupoint]

I've been very disappointed in both vintage and new stock blue black inks even resembling blue black, blue, black or anything in

between. I would want to see a writing sample pic before spending that much for that amount. Its color in the bottle is no guarantee

of how it will look dry, on paper. On the other hand, I think that is a fair price, and I don't see Carter's in quantity like that. From a collector's standpoint- go for it. From a user's, I hesitate.

[Obsidian57]

I had those same thoughts and concerns about this older ink.

 

Not usually a gambler, but this time....I decided to take a chance....$50 is as high as I will go on this sort of an impulsive-ish type of thing...and if disappointed in the end...well...it's not financially devastating.

 

We have all of us made purchases that we've been less than pleased about, took a chance on and been disappointed.

 

Maybe I lucked out, maybe not....time will tell.

 

If so, great, I'll be grinning like a Cheshire Cat...and if not, well, I'll be sobbing profusely...and you guys and girls can "tsk-tsk - told you so" me. ...

Obsidian57

Edited August 17, 2009 by Obsidian57

[Bill Smith]

I had those same thoughts and concerns about this older ink.

 

Not usually a gambler, but this time....I decided to take a chance....$50 is as high as I will go on this sort of an impulsive-ish type of thing...and if disappointed in the end...well...it's not financially devastating.

 

We have all of us made purchases that we've been less than pleased about, took a chance on and been disappointed.

 

Maybe I lucked out, maybe not....time will tell.

 

If so, great, I'll be grinning like a Cheshire Cat...and if not, well, I'll be sobbing profusely...and you guys and girls can "tsk-tsk - told you so" me. ...

Obsidian57

 

If the ink is good, do a review complete with scans. I would like to see how Carter's Blue Black dries down to.

[johnboz]

I hope that ink works out for you. I have had very bad luck with the small Carter's Cubes and evaporation, but the large bottles tend to do much better. With that being said, I have about 3 of the 16 or 32 oz bottles of Carter's Midnight Blue-Black that are all now gray. The color is just gone. Please let us know how this works out.

 

By the way, that's an interesting bottle you've got there. The bottle and pour-spout look like the Carter's bottles from the 1950s, but the label looks like it was taken from a small cube that was made in the late 1930s (I'll bet the volume on the label says 2 ounces). The interesting thing, which is hard to tell from the photo, is that the label looks original. The large bottles of ink had their own labels that covered the front of the bottle, not small squares. This could have been a label replacement from 60 years ago, which would be kind of neat.

[Obsidian57]

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In case anyone else is curious as to where I got this Carter's ink...it was from a place in London, Ontario, Canada. ( No affiliation or connections... )

 

The Peel Pen Shop.

 

http://www.peelpenshop.ca/

 

The inks are found under the 'Parts & Accessories' section.

 

 

 

Obsidian57

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[Obsidian57]

OK the ink arrived a few minutes ago.

 

Looks ok...smell OK...at least not anything moldy or such..no sludge..very dark in the bottle...cannot see through it to other side...put some into a platinum preppy after filtering a small quantity...and it writes a silvery-grey...think pencil lead colour...NOT blue black.

 

Oh well.

 

You win some...you lose some. This one...I lost. ... sighhhhhhhhh !!

 

Obsidian 57

[Dave Johannsen]

You win some...you lose some. This one...I lost. ... sighhhhhhhhh !!

Sorry to hear about this. I've also lost the vintage ink lottery before... I bought several bottles of Parker Quink permanaent black. The bottles were unopened and in original boxes, so I thought that they would be fine. When the ink arrived and I tried it, I found that it had turned to a browninsh purple'ish color. It's perfectly safe, but just so ugly that I can't use it. I hope that you win big the next time.

 

 

Dave

Edited August 25, 2009 by Dave Johannsen

[cfclark]

FWIW, I have some vintage Waterman's Blue-Black that writes beautifully, and it appears vintageinks.com has some. Might be worth a shot. (I have no affiliation with vintageinks.com, BTW.)

[Obsidian57]

Thank you for the the words of sympathy...

 

Dave Johannsen - I'll be doubly leery of a next time with vintage inks, I think

 

CFClark - I'll check out that link, thank you for mentioning it.

 

For my next attempt at vintage ink...I think I'll try something perhaps more of a sure thing...such as powdered Thistle ink...as per this thread here on TFPN:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...&hl=thistle

 

But all is not bad or lost...lost the vintage ink lottery...haha...but sort of won in the pen lottery...on Friday I got my JinHao x750 brushed Stainless Steel FPs ( see EBay item # 400064570499 )...they are fantastic looking...nice and weighty... and write very well...and only $9.18 Cdn ( $8.50 US ) each... free shipping from China too ...but then again... this is an ink discussion section......not a pen review section...

 

 

Obsidian57

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[BucolicBuffalo]

Did you try a dip pen with unfiltered ink? Perhaps filtering it removed something critical to the color.

[Obsidian57]

 

BucBuff:

 

I filtered it through a coffee filter paper into a shot glass...it was clean, in terms of debris...nothing left behind in the paper.

 

A drop put directly onto paper and spread with a toothpick...just a grey smear...virtually no color.

 

 

Nope...this ink is f****d !!

 

Obsidian57

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[Shamouti]

I hope that ink works out for you. I have had very bad luck with the small Carter's Cubes and evaporation, but the large bottles tend to do much better. With that being said, I have about 3 of the 16 or 32 oz bottles of Carter's Midnight Blue-Black that are all now gray. The color is just gone. Please let us know how this works out.

 

By the way, that's an interesting bottle you've got there. The bottle and pour-spout look like the Carter's bottles from the 1950s, but the label looks like it was taken from a small cube that was made in the late 1930s (I'll bet the volume on the label says 2 ounces). The interesting thing, which is hard to tell from the photo, is that the label looks original. The large bottles of ink had their own labels that covered the front of the bottle, not small squares. This could have been a label replacement from 60 years ago, which would be kind of neat.

 

Well, think about it this way, John. Someone, along the way, decided to put a Carter's label on the bottle because the original label was all saturated with water, ink, etc. Maybe it sat on a shelf next to another and something happened along the way. Regardless, the small Carter's label on a big Carter's ink bottle has a canvas of some interesting stories to tell!

 

Time to start investigating, right?

 

John (Shamouti)