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Thread: Waterman's Patrician Purple

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    Senior Member INeedAFinancialAdvisor's Avatar
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    Default Waterman's Patrician Purple

    I like old ink (and pens)
    This is not a secret

    Why? Because when vintage ink was made, it had to WORK. Period.

    It wasn't boutique or eccentric.
    Fountain pens were PENS, not bling (ok, some were bling, but they still had to function as pens, without fail!)
    So badly behaving ink was an impediment to writing!
    People were FAR less likely to tolerate misbehaviour, be it bleeding, feathering, clogging of pens, etc.

    Think of it this way:
    What do you do when you are FORCED by circumstance to use a ballpoint, and then that ballpoint doesn't work within the first 5 seconds or so?
    That's right, you throw it in the freaking garbage, swear about how bad ballpoints are, and grab another one. (and maybe even another one after that...)

    Back in the day, ink was likely the same way. If you loaded your pen with ink, and more than once that ink let you down?...
    There's a pretty good chance you threw it out and bought a different ink!

    As such, Vintage ink was made when it HAD to work.

    And that brings us to today's ink

    Waterman's Patrician Purple (note the 's in the name)

    My bottle is NOS I purchased on eBay in Jun/Jul 2020 and was manufactured in Montreal.

    Bottle, box and Aqua/Pastel Blue Sentinel Snorkel used for testing



    Colour Swatch



    Rhodia Webnotebook (paper is slightly off white in real life)
    Chromatography done twice to verify results
    Text is transcribed below for searchability and due to terrible handwriting



    21 Jul 20
    Waterman's Patrician
    Purple 2oz bottle from
    eBay Jun/Jul 2020. Bottle
    is NOS from the 1950's (i think)
    This ink is pale/
    washed out. I'm not
    sure how much of
    that is due to age.
    The flow is average/dry
    and the ink is well
    behaved as expected from
    Waterman's. After it
    dries this ink seems
    to grow on you with
    its understated nature.
    [Dry Times]
    Would buy again?
    Maybe/NA

    Waterman's
    Patrician Purple
    Eco 1.1 MM
    Aqua Sentinel
    Shading: Low/Medium
    Saturation: Low
    Feathering: Nil
    Spread: Nil
    Bleed: Nil
    Cleaning: P.I.T.A

    [water tests]

    Notes: Yes, it's that
    water resistant! It's also
    a PITA to clean. Only
    a couple of hrs in the
    Eco and it had started to
    stain/leave a residue.

    Clairefontaine paper (very white paper)



    Waterman Waterman's
    Tender Purple Patrician Purple
    Sheaffer Sheaffer
    Aqua/Pastel Blue Aqua/Pastel Blue
    Snorkel Sentinel Snorkel Sentinel

    The quick brown The quick brown
    fox jumps over fox jumps over
    the lazy dog the lazy dog
    1234567890 1234567890

    Twsbi Eco 1.1 mm
    The quick brown
    fox jumps over
    the lazy dog
    1234567890



    The chromatography should have been a clue as to how much of a PITA this ink was going to be to clean out.
    (think Noodler's Rome Burning)

    Purple inks of course have a reputation for staining, and this one certainly lives up to that reputation.
    That said, I guess that was much less of a concern when the overwhelming majority of pens were NOT demonstrators.
    If you can't see the inside of the pen... how would you even know it was getting stained!?

    So that's it.
    That's Waterman's Patrician Purple

    It's hard to find, can be expensive, the colour is washed out and will somehow still stain your pen!
    But hey, at least it's well behaved on paper! :P

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    Ahriman4891 (August 5th, 2020), azkid (July 31st, 2020), junglejim (August 3rd, 2020), metalunamutant (August 11th, 2020), Yazeh (August 3rd, 2020)

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    Senior Member azkid's Avatar
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    Default Re: Waterman's Patrician Purple

    Interesting! I'm still really curious if this ink and other vintage inks faded over time or if they always had such a faint presence?

    I think I mentioned in another review that I recently bought vintage postcards and found the ink invariably looks at least slightly washed out compared to nearly any modern ink I've used. But this might also be due to aging.

    I don't have many old family documents. The oldest, discharge papers from end of WWI, aren't too faded but maybe were written with an iron gall ink.

    Anyway it is a neat color but a bit too faint for me. I just finished testing a 3 Oysters ink that was sort of a faint lavender and it's just too hard to read. :/

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    Senior Member INeedAFinancialAdvisor's Avatar
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    Default Re: Waterman's Patrician Purple

    i think its a little from column a, and a little from column b

    a - Yes, some of the dye has likely lost its "pop"
    b - i think inks were less saturated back in the day. Superchrome being an exception, and they CLEARLY brag about it in their adds

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    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Waterman's Patrician Purple

    I think it's significantly faded in the bottle over all of that time. And that is quite common for purple inks.
    I found this image that makes it look more like the current Waterman Purple shade. That looks like the precursor of Waterman Purple that then became Tender Purple

    I remember fairly recently that I took out my as new and unused bottle of Omas Purple ink and all of the purple dye was stuck to the inside of the bottle like a hard coating. The remaining part of the original ink was just pale and watery. Once I tipped the liquid down the sink it was quite difficult to get all of the dye coating off of the inside of the bottle, but I eventually managed to get it clean.
    Last edited by Chrissy; August 1st, 2020 at 01:09 AM.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: Waterman's Patrician Purple

    very likely. over on FPN someone has posted their pics of their bottle. It's much less washed out. So apparently a lot of "column a"

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    Senior Member Yazeh's Avatar
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    Default Re: Waterman's Patrician Purple

    I understand how passionate you are about vintage inks. I am often with other "vintage" stuff.
    Though I wonder if this one has succumbed to the test of time

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    Default Re: Waterman's Patrician Purple

    if you check the thread on FPN, you'll see my bottle did not fare well against time :/

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    Senior Member Yazeh's Avatar
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    Default Re: Waterman's Patrician Purple

    Quote Originally Posted by INeedAFinancialAdvisor View Post
    if you check the thread on FPN, you'll see my bottle did not fare well against time :/
    I did check. I wonder maybe a nice shake and some evaporation would help.... Or maybe a broader nib

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    Default Re: Waterman's Patrician Purple

    Well i used a medium Wet twsbi 1.1mm stub And trust me the bottle was well shaken
    I think mine is just paler :/

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