J. Herbin metallic inks

I’m not really collector-minded, except for J. Herbin metallic inks and, to a lesser degree, Star Wars figures of female characters. Anyway, once I was caught up last week on the J. Herbin I realized that I’d never really thought much about what ink was what category. So after 10+ years I’ve finally done the research, and here’s the deal: Within the J. Herbin metallic ink universe, there are two full-blown ink lines and two one-offs.

Below is the 1670 line. Here’s J. Herbin’s page about it. I’m fairly sure it launched in 2012 or so. As of March 2025, 1670 includes the first metallic J. Herbin ink (Rouge Hematite) and the most recent release (Turquoise de Perse). I hadn’t noticed until this photo that the last two inks also have the ink world’s pumpkin spice latte, secondary colors….a.k.a., sheen.

Next is the 1798 line, and here’s J. Herbin’s hot take on it. These swatches are more detailed because I have an iPhone XR (stop laughing), but I still think they are a little more glittery than their 1670 colleagues.

The bottles for the 1670 and 1798 lines are so similar that I only bothered to take one picture of one bottle. That’s not an actual wax seal on the cap. But they’re among the nicest-looking bottles I have.

Here’s the 350th anniversary ink. (J. Herbin on it.)

And here’s Kenzo Takada “Shogun.” (J. Herbin backstory.)

Here are their bottles and boxes — which are nearly identical to 1670/1798 boxes.

Nerd tip: There is an earlier box design for 1670/1798. It’s white with ink color and gold accenting, and it looks more, well, twee. The change to the box style above happened with the release of 1670 Violet Imperiale, in 2022. So if someone’s selling you J. Herbin metallic ink in a cutesy white box, make sure it’s up to date on its COVID shots.

The swatches are dip pen because I did a bunch of them at once. But I’ve been at this long enough to know these inks are generally well-behaved. Right now I have Turquoise de Perse in a Sailor 1911, and Shogun in a Kaweco Sport. I don’t anticipate any trouble cleaning the pens…but I should also admit I’ve never put J. Herbin metallic inks in a pen with a gold nib.

The swatches above this are in a Col-o-ring Dipper testing book, and I have to admit I’m really ambivalent about it. I don’t usually use paper that toothy, and nearly every swatch looks at least somewhat different than my everyday use — which these days is mostly Hobonichi, Stalogy, and occasionally Miquelrius. Just one example: the 1670 Rouge Hematite looks really meh here, but it can be a stunner — if it hadn’t been one, I would have quit collector-brain on these inks a long time ago. I also find the Col-o-ring’s ball chain unwieldy — I have another swatch book that has a metal binder ring and that’s easier to deal with, but that book also has gridded paper and I’m not crazy about that. My next swatch book, unlike my next iPhone camera, will probably be something I make myself.

Write soon, E