The well-known Pilot 30 ml inkwell has been in the market for over 50 years. The current presentation (in the center) is limited to four colors: black, blue-black, blue, and red. The price in Japan is JPY 400/30 ml (plus tax).
Pilot basic line of inks: black, blue-black, blue, and red. JPY 400 per 30 ml. In Japan, Pilot has not increased the prices of these inks since 1995.
In other markets the radical option would certainly be different.
Pilot Vpen – Diamine Graphite
Bruno Taut
Nakano, January 28th 2020
etiquetas: tinta, Pilot, mercado
Bruno Taut
Nakano, January 28th 2020
etiquetas: tinta, Pilot, mercado
10 comments:
I note that Nagasawa in Umeda, Osaka has a ton of vintage ink for sale - a bit of a premium over Yahoo, but you save on shipping if you happen to be in the area. I picked up a 350ml bottle of 1950s Pilot Blue and should be sorted for all eternity.
Brian, are you sure it is vintage ink instead of a new box design with a very retro style?
In any event, vintage inks and its reliability and safety in the pen is a complex question.
Thanks for passing by and commenting.
BT
In 2008 I bought such a bottle of pilot blue black in Kyoto for that price. I still keep the empty bottle in its little box. Great stuff. -E
Thanks, Anonymous. That is my point--good ink for little money. Maybe the name is not poetic enough.
BT
I like Pilot ink for what it costs. Good value for money.
As for actually using vintage inks in a pen, vintage or modern, I believe it can be a bit risky, even though my (limited) experience says otherwise: years ago (in 2011 or 2010) I got a unopened bottle of Sheaffer's Skrip Royal Blue. I checked the ink for sediment and organic growth, smelt it and tried to pick up gunk with a piece of wire. As everything seemed fine, I used it till the bottle was empty.
PS: The ink bottle was from the late 70s.
R.
Thanks, R. Vieira, for your comment.
I agree with you--great value for money these inks are.
About the use of vintage inks, my experience is a lot more mixed, and I do not recommend it... in public. As you said, it depends on the condition of each ink.
Thanks again. Cheers,
BT
While Pilot Blue Black is a great ink, and a little water resistant, I wonder what the radical approach would be to a good ink that is permanent and archival? I have a hard time feeling good about writing with inks that aren't archival.
Thanks for your insight, Aaron Hsu.
I wonder, though, whether there was any real incentive for the brands to produce any ink --and not just archival ink-- for a much lower price.
Pelikan blue-black is an iron gall ink and used to be very inexpensive. Does it suit you?
Cheers,
BT
Thanks for the suggestion Bruno. Both Pelikan Blue black and Platinum Blue Black are iron gall inks and neither is exceptionally expensive. They are also "classic" inks in the same sense that Pilot's line of classic inks is, though perhaps with even less formula changes. However, in this case, I bring it up because this is one area where we might argue that new inks bring something fundamentally better than the old inks, albeit at a more expensive price. The modern nanoparticle pigment inks, from a wide range of makers, such as Montblanc, Platinum, Sailor, De Atramentis, and so on, especially in the traditional blue, black, and blue black colors, offers much higher water resistance than the "classic" inks as well as the best UV/light/fade resistance that is available. Iron Gall ink is not nearly as UV resistant. This creates a case where it seems to me that the traditional, affordable solutions just aren't in the same league as the modern inventions, despite pigmented ink being significantly more expensive. This makes me wonder whether there really is any "radical alternative" to this other than to discard or disregard the advances in permanency and archival properties as unnecessary, and just stick with traditional dye or iron gall inks.
Aaron Hsu,
I think we are using the term radical with different meanings.
Thanks for passing by and commenting.
Cheers,
BT
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