Montblanc Honore De Balzac: Dandy Turquoise

[Bigeddie]

It's that time again! Montblanc writers edition 2013: Honore de Balzac Dandy Turquoise has landed. A bit to early for a full review, but some initial thoughts and photos below.

 

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5469/9353641584_730e95024f_z.jpg

Montblanc Honore de Balzac Dandy Turquoise by Bigeddie100, on Flickr

 

Let me begin by complaining: It is hot. >30c but still I soldered out in the sweltering heat to Birmingham to find it. The boutique received 4 bottles, they now have two left for those who are interested. Availability of MB LE inks seems to be low at first but will ramp up within a few months. On top of the heat and travelling woes, my scanner hated this colour, without tinkering with it until it was beyond recognition I could not get it to show any kind of vibrancy that the ink has on paper. As a result photos will have to suffice for now.

 

Discussion of the pen is on the MB forum here. I was interested to learn that Balzac's works have been censored by the Vatican, Russian Federation, Spain, Canada and US as late as 1953. Interesting choice MB, makes me want to read them!

 

On to the ink:

Packaging is the same style as the previous writers edition incarnations, 35ml glass bottles, quite heavy / thick for their size. The Identity number on the bottom is 109356.

 

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5321/9353649116_240a1e10e4_z.jpg

Montblanc Honore de Balzac Dandy Turquoise by Bigeddie100, on Flickr

 

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5459/9353652326_e766ecd431_z.jpg

Montblanc Honore de Balzac Dandy Turquoise by Bigeddie100, on Flickr

 

 

Use:

It has been my experience that most Montblanc inks (pre-2010 excluded) perform very well, this ink seems to be no exception. The ink flows and lubricates quite nicely, on the wet side of average. Colour is very similar to the aquamarine safari. Shading is present, but not excessive due to the light colour.

 

No evidence of feathering but some bleed through on the copy paper, less so than the MB Diamond, about the same as MB Royal Blue which is generally quite good. Water fastness is low to non-existent.

 

Rhodia:

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2809/9350885527_810e9182c8_z.jpg

Montblanc Honore de Balzac Dandy Turquoise by Bigeddie100, on Flickr

 

90gsm Copy paper:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7329/9353665658_1aa5e78d0b_z.jpg

Montblanc Honore de Balzac Dandy Turquoise by Bigeddie100, on Flickr

 

(bleed on copy paper)

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2822/9353667464_db1b57a18c_z.jpg

Montblanc Honore de Balzac Dandy Turquoise by Bigeddie100, on Flickr

 

 

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3822/9353659130_6734aa5f1d_z.jpg

Montblanc Honore de Balzac Dandy Turquoise by Bigeddie100, on Flickr

 

 

Conclusion:

I like it, one of those colours that won't be used for writing much though. As an alt colour it will serve me well against pretty much everything that I would use to write. I will be stocking up on the swift before MB runs out for writing purposes though

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3786/9353656986_041e5e4cdc_z.jpg

Montblanc Honore de Balzac Dandy Turquoise by Bigeddie100, on Flickr

 

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3747/9350876867_074968b0bb_z.jpg

Montblanc Honore de Balzac Dandy Turquoise by Bigeddie100, on Flickr

Edited July 23, 2013 by Bigeddie

[de_pen_dent]

That's a really nice color - the lovechild of Ama Iro and CdA Caribbean, i reckon.

[GabrielleDuVent]

Balzac (the writer, not the ink) has hits and misses. Le Père Goriot was an okay read, Lily of the Valley bored me to tears, and La Cousine Bette was interesting (I like Valérie... "Machiavelli in a skirt", she was described) until the very end. Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes was slightly chauvinistic in my opinion.

 

Ban-worthy? Nope. Not at all. But Lucien irritated me.

 

The pen itself is beautiful, by the way. The nib has "H B" gilted in a gothic script. I didn't feel it really suited Balzac's style, though.

[Bigeddie]

Good to hear I'm not missing anything too essential. I'm getting into the early Orwell material at the moment, I'll stick with that.

 

I like the look of the new WE, the Collodi was a bit too ornate for my taste, the Swift was better but didn't hit me, I think this might be the one! Penny saving time.

 

An addition to the notes above; owing to excitement and a pen the same colour as the ink, my fingers are now blue, after some washing they are still blue. The water resistance might be better than I initially thought!

[lapis]

I know who he was (who cares?) but I've never yet read anything by him. That seems to apply to this ink, too. It looks "okay" IMO, but nothing special. As a treat (to myself) this might be the first MB LE ink i'll not try to nail down.

 

Mike

[PenTieRun]

Thanks for the review of the ink. It's pretty much what I expected, which is very good.

[GabrielleDuVent]

I know who he was (who cares?) but I've never yet read anything by him. That seems to apply to this ink, too. It looks "okay" IMO, but nothing special. As a treat (to myself) this might be the first MB LE ink i'll not try to nail down.

 

Mike

 

It's certainly a treat to your wallet, if nothing else.

 

Balzac is like cognac VSOP, in my opinion. It's not hors d'âge but it's very palatable.

 

The ink looks okay to me, but it's not something I'd be bidding frantically to buy a bottle of. So perhaps aptly named?

[da vinci]

Nice review BigEddie thank you. I am a fan of turquoise and will be buying a bottle but the Diamond is still my favourite

[lapis]

 

It's certainly a treat to your wallet, if nothing else.

 

Balzac is like cognac VSOP, in my opinion. It's not hors d'âge but it's very palatable.

 

The ink looks okay to me, but it's not something I'd be bidding frantically to buy a bottle of. So perhaps aptly named?

Thanks for such an astute reply. It certainly reminds me of other companies which have now introduced new inks under new names.

E.g.... CdA.

But IMO I'm now forced to say that such new boring inks (and/or) namings thereof just don't make it.

 

Mike

[The Good Captain]

Perhaps every manufacturer will now reissue their middle-of-the-road blues with purple tinges, re-labelled 'Royal Birth' then?

[djp]

Given Balzac's allegedly prodigious consumption of coffee, am I the only one who's surprised that this ink isn't brown?

[lapis]

Given Balzac's allegedly prodigious consumption of coffee, am I the only one who's surprised that this ink isn't brown?

That's great! You sort of beat me to it, although I wasn't thinking about coffee -- or even cognac -- but I did ask myself "What is turquoise about him?".

[PenTieRun]

Given Balzac's allegedly prodigious consumption of coffee, am I the only one who's surprised that this ink isn't brown?

True, but the same could be said of Flaubert.

[lapis]

True, but the same could be said of Flaubert.

... and what colour will that ink have?... (No harm meant)

[Bigeddie]

Some of the recent brown ink names have not been very appealing: Organic Brown and Absolute Brown among them, maybe it's a translation thing.

 

I'd quite like another MB Brown though

[djp]

That's great! You sort of beat me to it, although I wasn't thinking about coffee -- or even cognac -- but I did ask myself "What is turquoise about him?".

Turquoise seems such a bright and cheerful colour to me — not exactly the feeling I get when reading Balzac's novels!

[RuiFromUK]

Brilliant review. Thank you very much.

 

It has opened my appetite to buy a bottle and guess what I was informed by the closest MB boutique here in London that is only going to be available on the 1st August.

 

Maybe they are distributing them in the North to South direction?

Edited July 24, 2013 by RuiFromUK

[lapis]

Turquoise seems such a bright and cheerful colour to me — not exactly the feeling I get when reading Balzac's novels!

I'll buy that! Figuratively but also literally. I mean... it would be a shame to have an ink missing in the collection....

[Bigeddie]

Brilliant review. Thank you very much.

 

It has opened my appetite to buy a bottle and guess what I was informed by the closest MB boutique here in London that is only going to be available on the 1st August.

 

Maybe they are distributing them in the North to South direction?

 

This seems to be an ongoing issue with MB, different boutiques with different rules on to whom and when they will sell. I remember someone saying with one of the previous WE inks that the boutique would only sell it to them if they bought the pen! Birmingham are fantastic, but whether they are in line with company policy on release dates or not I don't know.

[lapis]

 

This seems to be an ongoing issue with MB, different boutiques with different rules on to whom and when they will sell. I remember someone saying with one of the previous WE inks that the boutique would only sell it to them if they bought the pen! Birmingham are fantastic, but whether they are in line with company policy on release dates or not I don't know.

Well at least I once said that here. I had phoned Hamburg to ask why the **** their inks are almost always available in the UK and in the US before they ever get sold here in Germany, whereupon they said "It's just a matter of retail". It was a boutique of theirs here in KaDeWe which said that I'd have to buy the pen first. But there is another MB boutique a half an hour away and they said "Hogwash". I can buy any ink from them at any time under any circumstances (as long as it still exists). Later I found out that other MB-licenced (non-boutique) stores here would also sell a bottle alone, as long as they had it, of course. Finally to be noted is the fact that all MB-licenced (non-boutique) stores only get these inks after every single MB boutique has already been supplied with them (which sounds plausible).

 

Barf