A wallet friendly reliable ink, In vintage form

I suspect that all of us who have ever picked up and started that inky love affair with fountain pens is fairly familiar with this ubiquitous bottle, How many desks have been graced with its reassuring presence since Parker started producing it in 1931?

Indeed it is one of history’s most successful inks, in fact after being introduced in the first few months of 1931 it had already made a profit on its entire production and research cost by October that same year.

Parker Quink was revolutionary in its time because it was formulated to dry quickly on the page and not need blotting paper, promoting an easier and more modern style of writing for the busy user of that age.

The internet seems to have a minor controversy in why Quink is named Quink, perhaps the most widely understood explanation is that the Ink was named Quink for its quick drying properties, but one theory suggests it was named for its creator, Francisco Quisumbing.

So, How is it? how does it work?

This is an old bottle of ink. I am not sure how old exactly but I suspect it may be of a similar age to myself (being a son of the late 1980’s) This bottle was made in England and when it was new contained 57 ml or 2 oz of Blue/Black ink, Whether by the slow evaporation of time or by joyous use of its previous owner the bottle is now less than 50% full but has no bad odour or signs of mould

I found this bottle at a Car Boot sale in Brighton, UK among several other empty bottles, many of which had the dry powdery remains of their contents still shaking around in them, they were all the same colour but from different era’s and I suspect that they were there as a result of a house clearance as is often the case just one of those throw away items many people see as a strange “objet” not quite rubbish but with no or little value or use to them I paid £1 for it.

I am still quite hesitant to put it into a fountain pen so for my little review I used a Dip pen, and the paper is Yu-sari by Nakabayashi

The ink went down well and without any issue and the colour is that very standard blue black that i enjoy so much, fantastic for both formal and leisure, there was no sheening or anything unexpected. I wonder if age has had some effect on the ink as towards the end of the text and on the sample the ink seems to pull away from the edges and concentrate in the center of its surface area, it would be difficult to see the ink perform any shading with this in mind.

I really would recommend a bottle of quink, it is not particularly fancy but at £6.50 in the UK (excl delivery) and reasonably priced all over the globe it is a great staple, generally regarded as reliable and safe for vintage fountain pens it is a reasonable addition to your ink collection and is commonly available in 3 colours, washable blue, Black and Blue/Black

I hope you have enjoyed my first musing into the world of fountain pen related blogging. 🙂