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?