Inky T O D - show your vintage ink

[PithyProlix]

Waterman Marron Brown

 

Sorry about not getting a consistent white balance. In reality, the paper is sort of creamy with a very slight green tinge.

 

Does anyone know the date range Waterman manufactured this color?

 

 

 

 

[bunnspecial]

I THINK, and don't hold me to this, that the bottle/label is 70s-80s. It's the same bottle as is used now and not the older less-fancy pentagon bottle, but of course an older label style.

 

I have the inks older counterpart, Aztec Brown, which is much more red than what you show and reminiscent of(but not identical to) the modern Absolute Brown.

 

In any case, I'm quite literally out the door in the next half hour to be gone for a week, but when I get back I'll gladly show off swatch cards from my ink collection and maybe this evening show some that I've already photographed. In the mean time, I've been enjoying these "big bottles" recently. Since taking this photo I've added another one, a 16 oz. bottle of Quink Permanent Red. I have another on its way to me-a real prize, a 32 oz. of Waterman's "Blue"(not Washable blue, just Blue).

 

 

There's also this line-up of Waterman boxes on top of my desk plus a few assorted other vintage bottles. I'd like to find "Picture" boxes and bottles as I call them for the other colors(but some of these are hard enough to find in any type bottle) plus I need Patrician Purple. A bottle of Washable Blue is on its way to me.

 

[PithyProlix]

39 minutes ago, bunnspecial said:

I THINK, and don't hold me to this, that the bottle/label is 70s-80s. It's the same bottle as is used now and not the older less-fancy pentagon bottle, but of course an older label style.

 

Thanks. My guess is circa 1980s.

 

Those Skrip bottles are massive!

 

(By the way, I used to collect Konica lenses, which I still use but adapted to my digital cameras. Film is just too much of a hassle ... 😉)

[PithyProlix]

I don't have a lot of vintage ink and what I have isn't very old but perhaps interesting enough.

 

I'll plan to show sample writing + swatches of the Parker Penman Mocha, Waterman Bleu Nuit, Omas Grey (the seller didn't get the cap on tight enough ... lost about 1/4 of it but those are 130 cc bottles), Omas Red (burgundy-colored), and the Cartier Burgundy (its box is stored away) since there are not a lot of sample images online. (Interestingly, the Omas bottles and boxes are identical, without the color name labelled.) I also have a really-old-looking bottle of Pilot Blue someplace and also Platinum Honest 66 Blue Black cartridges from the early 1960s - I'll plan to show some sample writing of that Platinum ink too.

 

 

 

[amberleadavis]

This is so exciting!

[bunnspecial]

Reposting this from the red and green thread…

 

 

Like I said, more swatch cards coming. 
 

BTW, the big bottles(most of mine are Skrip, but I have the Quink shown plus a 16 oz not shown and then the Waterman 32oz I mentioned on the way) are fun. Most of mine are nearly full. They seem uncommon to me in colors outside blue/ black/blue-black, which makes sense, although I do have them in red and purple. 
 

In general, I feel like the ink seems to hold up in them better than smaller bottles. Part of that I think is that they’re just better sealed-they generally only have a tiny cap that removes, and the big cap isn’t really meant to be regularly removed. The second, in line with that, is that a they really aren’t meant to have pens stuck in them directly for filling but instead to be poured out into a smaller bottle or inkwell. The guy I bought these from included several empty 2 oz. bottles, some with labels matching and some label-less but of the correct style. I often use a sample vial. 
 

The pour spouts are tiny but well thought out. They are split in half, and one half goes to the tube you see sticking down in the bottle. This lets you pour smoothly into even a little 5ml vial without “glugging.” I’ve thought about bubbling nitrogen or even Dust-off into them to hopefully keep them from oxidizing. 

[Sailor Kenshin]

3 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

Waterman Marron Brown

 

Sorry about not getting a consistent white balance. In reality, the paper is sort of creamy with a very slight green tinge.

 

Does anyone know the date range Waterman manufactured this color?

 

 

 

 

I love that color!  
 

How 'vintage' are we talking?
 

I've got a few older Waterman inks, including a red (Carnation?  was the name, maybe) that's crystal clear and never been opened, at a yard sale for fifty cents.  Also a red Pelikan ink, also at a yard sale, practically free.  AND a literally free bottle of Skrip blue with the inkwell, also at a …. yeah, you get it.

 

Are we counting round-nose Montblanc shoe bottles?

[PithyProlix]

34 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

How 'vintage' are we talking?
 

I've got a few older Waterman inks, including a red (Carnation?  was the name, maybe) that's crystal clear and never been opened, at a yard sale for fifty cents.  Also a red Pelikan ink, also at a yard sale, practically free.  AND a literally free bottle of Skrip blue with the inkwell, also at a …. yeah, you get it.

 

Are we counting round-nose Montblanc shoe bottles?

 

'Vintage' is so hard to define precisely. For simplicity, how about anything that was no longer in production after year 2000, i.e. 20th century (or even 19th century if you got 'em!)? I already included the Parker Penman inks, which were 1990s.

[Pen Ffynnon]

3 hours ago, bunnspecial said:

I THINK, and don't hold me to this, that the bottle/label is 70s-80s. It's the same bottle as is used now and not the older less-fancy pentagon bottle, but of course an older label style.

 

I have the inks older counterpart, Aztec Brown, which is much more red than what you show and reminiscent of(but not identical to) the modern Absolute Brown.

 

In any case, I'm quite literally out the door in the next half hour to be gone for a week, but when I get back I'll gladly show off swatch cards from my ink collection and maybe this evening show some that I've already photographed. In the mean time, I've been enjoying these "big bottles" recently. Since taking this photo I've added another one, a 16 oz. bottle of Quink Permanent Red. I have another on its way to me-a real prize, a 32 oz. of Waterman's "Blue"(not Washable blue, just Blue).

 

 

There's also this line-up of Waterman boxes on top of my desk plus a few assorted other vintage bottles. I'd like to find "Picture" boxes and bottles as I call them for the other colors(but some of these are hard enough to find in any type bottle) plus I need Patrician Purple. A bottle of Washable Blue is on its way to me.

 

 

I don't have a single bottle of vintage ink, but my! do I find myself lusting after that big bottle of Skrip Red! It looks positively magisterial!

[PPPR]

Just to remove any doubt I have a problem. 

 

 

[PithyProlix]

7 hours ago, PPPR said:

Just to remove any doubt I have a problem. 

 

 

 

Oh - nice set! 

 

What is this one, please? 

 

[inkstainedruth]

9 hours ago, PPPR said:

Just to remove any doubt I have a problem. 

 

 

Well, you certainly seem to be well set up with Quink Microfilm Black....   I'm counting five boxes (you might have more than I do!) -- and are the three boxes in the back for the 4 oz. size bottles?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[PPPR]

3 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

 

Oh - nice set! 

 

What is this one, please? 

 

That, along with the three to the left, are Fount-O-Ink bottles. Each screws into a different style inkwell, which work similar to Esterbrook Dip-Less or Sengbusch Handi-Pen Inkwells.

 

If memory serves, it was originally the Gregory Fount-O-Ink Co. in the Mid-west. Later it became the C.D.C. Fount-O-Ink Co. around Los Angeles.

 

Below are pics of one of their Inkwells with an Esterbrook pen holder. There are a couple dip pen nibs in a Gregory F-O-I box in my collection, but I've not seen one of their pen holders.

 

 

[PPPR]

1 hour ago, inkstainedruth said:

Well, you certainly seem to be well set up with Quink Microfilm Black....   I'm counting five boxes (you might have more than I do!) -- and are the three boxes in the back for the 4 oz. size bottles?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Yes, the three in back are 4 oz. bottles. Also, the 2 oz. bottle has a bakelite cap. Neither the label nor it's box mention Solv-X. I think it's the Parker 51 book that said Solv-X was added to Quink labels and boxes in Spring 1942. If true, that bottle is from early in the V-Mail program.

[amberleadavis]

[amberleadavis]

[amberleadavis]

 

Vintage Skrip Red, Green and Peacock and Montblanc Violet all circa late 1980s early 1990s.

From a 2012 fade test.

 

[amberleadavis]

 

Parker Quink

Vintage

 

 

 

Everflo Orchid

Parker Penman Sapphire

 

 

 

 

 

[amberleadavis]

Waterman Mysterious Blue - I don't know this date.

 

[amberleadavis]

Vintage Sheaffer Washable Purple