J. Herbin Éclat de Saphir ink review

J. Herbin Éclat de Saphir is a nice ink from a French manufacturer. J. Herbin is represented and distributed in the United States by Exaclair, Inc. located in New York City. I put this ink in my Visconti Van Gogh Maxi (fine) that I bought in Florence Italy. I had a great weekend with my wife their. This ink costs about $ 0,30/ml.


Color
It is a very nice blue color. A bright medium blue that jumps of the page in a distinctive way. It reminds on a great summer day with the blue in the sky. When dry the ink has no shading it is just plain blue a little bit darker, saturated and more vivid then Aurora Blue.



Writing
The ink flows great. Even in a Visconti which has a fine nib. On Moleskine paper it feathers just a little bit. On Rhodia paper this does not occur.


Written review

Can't read it? Here's the translation:
"J. Herbin Éclat de Saphir

I filled my great Visconti Van Gogh Maxi (fine) with J. Herbin Éclat de Saphir

It's a nice blue color with little shading. A nice all-day blue.

The ink feathers a bit in this Moleskine and has some bleedthrough. This is only a "fine" point. Imagen what it does with a "medium" point. Flow is good in this pen, not to wet.

Drying time 10 seconds on this Moleskine paper. On Rhodia about 20 seconds.

Woodworker"

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Moleskinefriendly
This ink is not Moleskine-friendly. There's bleed-through on the other side of the paper with a fine-nib fountain pen. I have some samples with a medium-nib which are much worse. So if you are a Moleskine-user I can not recommend this ink. On Rhodia it works just fine. On Rhodia paper it takes more then 20 seconds to dry. On Moleskine paper it takes 20 seconds.

J. Herbin was established in 1670, when Louis XIV, the Sun King, was 32 years old.

M. Herbin was a sailor, and from his many journeys to India he brought back to Paris formulas for manufacturing sealing wax. His special lacquer formula improved the quality of the seals in adhesion and neatness, helping him to become famous throughout the kingdom.

J. Herbin is also the oldest name in ink production in the world.

By 1700, the company was producing “l’Encre de la Tete Noire,” followed by “Perle des Encres,” (The Jewel of Inks) and “l’Encre des Vaisseaux” (The Ink of Ships).

J. Herbin made ink for Louis XIV, and a black ink for the sole use of Victor Hugo, author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables. These formulas still reside in our company archives in Paris.