I can’t say no to Montblanc ink, especially new special edition colors.
Montblanc’s newest line is The Origin Collection and was released as a celebration of 100 years of the Meisterstück collection. The boxes are foiled with gold or silver in a design inspired by pen designs from the beginning of the collection.
The three colors in this release are colors insipired by the pens in the Origin collection – blue, coral, and green.
Coral was the color in this group that I was most excited to see. I was hoping it would be close to my favorite ink from Montblanc – Red Chalk. But Coral turned out to be slightly darker and more red. It does have a very pleasant copper brown sheen, however.
Coral is very close to Diamine Blood Orange and Montblanc James Dean (although not so close to James Dean that I would call it a duplicate).
Green is a dark forest green with a slight dark red sheen. In writing, the green does show – it’s not so dark that it appears black.
Again, Green does come close to another Montblanc special edition color – If – but isn’t a duplicate of the color. Green is darker and doesn’t have the dusty finish seen in If.
Blue turned out to be my favorite ink of this collection which was surprising to me. I’m not a fan of many mid blue inks. Blue has just a hint of a reddish sheen but I found it difficult to get it to show.
Origins Blue is a close match to J. Herbin Eclat de Saphir in color and tone. In writing it shows as a lighter blue than most standard ink so it will stand out while still being office-safe.
The Montblanc Origin Collection on Cosmo Air Light paper:
The Montblanc Origin Collection on Tomoe River 52gsm (TR7) paper:
The Montblanc Origin Collection on MD Light paper:
Overall I was a bit underwhelmed by these inks meant to represent the start of a 100 year line of pens. While they have an Art Deco feel to them, they didn’t seem to inspire the history of the company. However, they are great color matches for the Origins pens and can be found at Montblanc boutiques or at Montblanc retail locations and are priced at $40 for a 50mL bottle. Do you have a favorite in the collection?
DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were purchased by me for personal use. You can help support this blog by joining our Patreon. Please see the About page for more details.
I like all three, but there is nothing that stands out with any of them and at $40 for a bottle that is just not good enough for me.