Parker Penman inks

[SGD_95]

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to find some Parker Penman Ruby Red and Mocha Brown in some pen/print shop in a very small town where I used to live. I remembered seeing some ‘old’ Parker inks when I just started out using fountain pens a few years ago, but didn’t think much of it. A while back I had this strange flashback to the bottles I saw in the display case and wondered if they still had the ink. And they did. They even had an old Parker 95 on display, which I did not buy because I am not necessarily into vintage pens (however technically, this pen was still new so not vintage, but I digress). 

 

I was happy to see the bottles of Parker Penman Mocha brown and Ruby Red tucked away in a display case after some boxes, that they only cost 6 euros (eBay prices are extremely ridiculous) and was even more surprised that they had never been opened. I had heard some things about the inks being amazing, but I’m scared to try them in one of my ‘new’ pens. So I have a few questions for fellow fountain pen enthusiasts: 

 

- Are the inks really that good? I predominantly use P.W. Akkerman and Iroshizuku inks. 

- Are they safe to use in newer fountain pens?

- Should I just sell them in order to make 1000% profit and buy a new fountain pen?

- Should I buy the pens they have in stock (Parker 95, Frontier, Early Sonnet)? :)))

 

I am really wondering what your thoughts are on this. 

 

 

 

[amberleadavis]

The penman inks are lovely. As I understand it, the Penman inks were some of the first super saturated inks on the market.  Today, we are in the golden age of inks.  You have many choices for ink makers with thousands of colors and different properties.  I think you will find that while these are not the BEST inks available today, they are inks that are wonderful to use in some great colors.

[I-am-not-really-here]

Penman inks may still be chased as "unobtanium" but Scribe inks are modern day equivalents, or near enough so.  Scribe is put out by the same fellow who developed the Penman series. https://www.scribetc.com/home (scroll to the bottom of the page).  These inks are also available via Pen Realm.

 

So I would suggest reselling your inks for profit. 

 

Even empty, I find the bottles can be pricey - their wide base and built-in funnel make for an attractive ink store.

[txomsy]

My bottle of Penman Ruby Red is one of my most beloved inks. And I have never had any doubt using it anywhere.

[thx1138]

I just got a shipment from Leighton. Now have to find time to try the inks.

[fireant]

The Blue and Emerald are my favorite Penman inks. I haven't tried the others yet.

[thx1138]

Indigo is a very well behaved ink. I have it in a couple of pens and it is right up there with diamine for flow and drying speed.

[kestrel]

The only Penman ink I have used is Sapphire and it is a lovely ink with rich color, excellent behavior, and good flow.  Scribe Indigo is really close to Sapphire and a wonderful ink in its own right but I find that Monteverde Horizon Blue is the closest thing to Penman Sapphire available and it's a lot cheaper than Indigo.

Scribe Malachite (green) is also a beautiful ink well worth trying.

[Penguincollector]

I was one of the people who had issues with Penman inks- a bottle came with my Duofold and it didn’t get along with my pen at all. It actually made me less likely to use bottled ink for a while, because the cartridges of regular Quink (except for black, the Duofold doesn’t like Quink black)didn’t clog my pen.  

[kestrel]

4 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

I was one of the people who had issues with Penman inks- a bottle came with my Duofold and it didn’t get along with my pen at all. It actually made me less likely to use bottled ink for a while, because the cartridges of regular Quink (except for black, the Duofold doesn’t like Quink black)didn’t clog my pen.  

Interesting.  I have a first generation Parker Sonnet that gave me fits for years.  It didn't matter what I filled the thing with.  It skipped, it blobbed, it burped, it started hard.  Then I stumbled across an affordable stash of Penman Sapphire cartridges and, since the Sonnet was the only Parker cartridge pen I owned, I put the two together.  Bliss.  Happiness.  Pleasant writing.  The only other inks that that Sonnet tolerates are Scribe Indigo and Malachite and Monteverde Horizon Blue.  I don't understand it.

 

I have to deal with finicky cats, too.

[Runnin_Ute]

Have only tried Sapphire and Mocha. Have had a couple of Sapphire cartridges in the past, and a sample of Mocha. Went out and found a brown I thought was close to Mocha and found Diamine Saddle Brown.

[Penguincollector]

9 minutes ago, kestrel said:

Interesting.  I have a first generation Parker Sonnet that gave me fits for years.  It didn't matter what I filled the thing with.  It skipped, it blobbed, it burped, it started hard.  Then I stumbled across an affordable stash of Penman Sapphire cartridges and, since the Sonnet was the only Parker cartridge pen I owned, I put the two together.  Bliss.  Happiness.  Pleasant writing.  The only other inks that that Sonnet tolerates are Scribe Indigo and Malachite and Monteverde Horizon Blue.  I don't understand it.

 

I have to deal with finicky cats, too.

I have finicky parrots to go with my pen!. Seems like the Sonnet loves the saturation, while my Duofold prefers more dilute inks. 

[OCArt]

For newer members or folks like me with short-term memories may I remind you that FPN did a pretty exhaustive search for a Parker Penman Sapphire replacement back in 2015:

The Super Duper Co-Razy Parker Penman Sapphire - Blue - Comparisons  where a few very close substitutions were found including Monteverde Horizon Blue and several Private Reserve blues.

 

Then member @dcwaites came up with several ink recipes that were very good including:

Faux Penman Sapphire #2,   Noodler's Inkyman Sapphire (a mix that I use daily,) a mix based on Diamine inks, one based on Akkerman Shocking Blue, and one based on Iroshizuku inks  DCWaites was a very prolific ink tester and this list is probably missing a few of his mixes!

 

Enjoy all.