Not-so-transparent demonstrators

I was looking at my little collection of Platinum 3776 and Pelikan M205 demonstrators the other day, trying to make up my mind about Olivine and Green Laurel and wondering how much I can actually spend for Christmas... and I realised something about both series. They are really quite saturated colours for demonstrators, quite dark, just on the edge of translucence. A very little more colour and they'd be completely opaque.

Lots of demos (using the word loosely) are only just tinted, with a very light colour. Kaweco Ice Sports and most of the Waterman Phileas demos are pretty clear, and to my taste, rather tame.

But the Pelikans, for the most part, come in quite dark colours; with the Amethyst, you have to hold it in the light to see the ink, for instance. The Platinum Bourgogne and Chartres Blue, too, are really dark - until you shine a light through them. I think that's why I like them so much - the colour is my little secret.

Are there any other families of translucent pens with relatively dark resin?

And can you help with that dreadful choice, Olivine vs Laurel?

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Originally Posted by amk

...Are there any other families of translucent pens with relatively dark resin?

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Some Pilot pens. I have the Custom Heritage 92 in "Smoke", and it can be quite hard to see how much ink is in there unless you're in a good light.

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Originally Posted by amk

And can you help with that dreadful choice, Olivine vs Laurel?

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I found a picture of each. Nope, can't help. But enjoy whichever you get. :cheers:

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Originally Posted by amk

And can you help with that dreadful choice, Olivine vs Laurel?

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The Olivine is a limited time only thing, whereas the Platinum, as far as I'm aware, is not. Which makes it a simple case of Olivine now, Laurel later. :D

I prefer the hardly-transparent-at-all in "demonstrators" myself, but can't help with other suggestions as mine are all M2xxs and 3776s too.

Some of the PenBBS colors are fairly dark

While the Olivine is limited production, special edition 200/205s tend to linger around in the marketplace, so I don’t know that jumping on one immediately is a necessity.

The Olivine is the better looking of the two in my mind, but I find the 200/205s to be too small for my taste. (Not that 3776s are large pens).


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The pre-owned Century 3776 I got from nibs.com is called "Black Diamond", it's black, but it's also slightly translucent. Seems to be an older release so might be able to find it inexpensively (from nibs.com it was pre-owned pricing as near-mint for about 130, but I know from Japan you can get most of the standard new ones for under 100, and that being older maybe close to that).

https://i.imgur.com/kFToc89.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/JDZyM70.jpg

Oddly enough, far as 'large' pens go, the Century 3776 and The Sailor 1911L capped are about the same length and general size. Uncapped the 1911L is a tad longer with slightly more girth near the grip (and nib seems to be a tiny bit larger too), but capped and posted, doesn't seem to be a huge difference as they both have the same section length.

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Originally Posted by Kulprit

While the Olivine is limited production, special edition 200/205s tend to linger around in the marketplace, so I don’t know that jumping on one immediately is a necessity.

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It does seem quite colour dependant. Olivine appears to be middling-ly popular, Smoky Quartz hangs about like a bad smell even now, while Amethyst and Aquamarine sprinted off the shelves like Usain Bolt spying a professional football (soccer) contract. It adds a certain spice to the buying decision every year, I suppose.

I've not seen either pen in the flesh, but looking at photographs, I think the olivine is much more attractive. It's also more transparent, which to my mind means the more the ink color deviates from green, the less attractive the combination is going to be. But for me, if I were going to choose between the two, the gold nib would beat the steel nib hands down. Even though both of them might be tipped with the same substance, and the steel noncorrosive, I just love gold. Plus cold steel keeps away Tinkerbell and her kin, I hear.