Ink Review: La Couronne du Comte (Diamine) Vert Sapin
In September 2019 La Couronne du Comte, a stationery store based in Tilburg, Netherlands (and sponsor of this blog) released Comte d’Or (“Count of Gold”), a gold ink made by Diamine exclusively for their store and the first from what will become their Les Couleurs du Comte (“The Colors of the Count“) ink series. La Couronne du Comte describe the series as “a range that focuses on special colours, rich in colour intensity, with a wonderful shading and/or sheen”. A year later they released three more inks, Bleu Cuivré (“Copper Blue”), a blue ink; Pan d’Epices (“Gingerbread”), a red ink; and Vert Sapin (“Pine Green”), a green ink . I’ll be reviewing all the ink in the series alphabetically.
I received Comte d’Or as part of a general promotion from La Couronne du Comte and I purchased Bleu Cuivré, Pain d’Epices, and Vert Sapin myself. You can find the inks here and use code “MACCHIATOMAN10” for 10% off!
Diamine/La Couronne du Comte Vert Sapin means Pine Green in English. Pine trees aren’t all that common around where I am in Australia and as with most things around me, tree colours lean decidedly more yellow. Same with the pines I see! The greens might be dark but they aren’t as blue as this or as vibrant as this.La Couronne du Comte describes Vert Sapin as a “pine-green ink with a beautiful burgundy sheen that is reminiscent of a pine forest.”
Because if how colour spaces work, such as sRGB that is common on the internet and AdobeRGB etc. this colour family (teal leaning greens) aren’t represented as accurately on most monitors compared to real life. In fact not even the more recent ProPhoto RBG doesn’t accurately represent what human eyes can see. In real life this ink is more saturated than what can be displayed here.
This ink is a fairly rich teal leaning green. For a “Pine” Green it is fairly neutral when compared with other pine green inks I’m familiar with. Many have a decidedly teal colour (often with lower saturation) this one is quite saturated and has a little more yellow in it which I prefer (personally). Depending on the paper there is some variance on how much yellow comes through, however. Examples of the ink on 16 different paper types is at the end of the review.
The ink is quite wet and quite lubricated with a high dye content (hens the sheen). The ink performs quite well on all papers, even the least fountain pen friendly which is nice.
The ink only comes in 30ml and not the glass 80ml bottles that Diamine inks usually also come in. 30ml is still a decent amount of ink these days and it is priced as a 30ml Diamine ink usually would be priced. The plastic is fairly soft on the sides and otherwise unremarkable. It does come with a unique sticker that features a swatch of the colour, the La Couronne du Comte crown logo and the name of the ink.
Nib and Pen details
I used a Lamy Safari Aquamarine pen for this review and six different stainless steel Lamy nibs on that pen. The choice of pen (be that Safari, AL-Star, Vista or Studio) will have little impact in the writing performance. I will not use a Lamy Dialog because there is the rare chance of the nib drying out slightly which might affect the writing performance.
Lamy 1.5 Stub: this nib is moderately wet to write with (this is used for the brand and ink name title);
Lamy 1.1 Stub: this nib is on the drier side;
Lamy Broad: this is a wet;
Lamy Medium: this is a very wet nib;
Lamy Fine: this nib is moderately dry; and
Lamy Extra Fine: this nib is moderately wet.
I also use a fine JoWo nib attached to a James Finniss Serendipity (from Pensive Pens) for the comparison ink names. This nib’s wetness is moderate but the feed is primed which gives it a wetter character than would be a normal writing experience. This generally as the effect of reducing shading and luminosity, while increasing sheen and saturation. The possibility of feathering and bleeding is also slightly increased. This is still more accurate than a dip pen or a glass pen in my experience.
52gsm Ivory (White) Tomoe River
On Tomoe River La Couronne du Comte Vert Sapin is a little lighter than on Rhodia. It is also just a tiny bit more teal leaning. As you can see the ink get quite dark from one layer on the swatch to the second and the shading is quite strong as well.
Diamine November Rain: more neutral (as in more yellow leaning) but a similar darkness and saturation;
Diamine Bloody Absinth: a little bluer and less saturated but a similar darkness;
Monteverde California Teal: lighter, bluer and slightly less saturated;
Private Reserve Cadillac Green: lighter, slightly less saturated and even bluer than the Monteverde;
Sailor Ink Studio 864: much less saturated and much too blue and light;
Robert Oster Emerald: lighter and less saturated but the hue isn’t far off; and
Robert Oster Green Diamond: slightly more saturated than Emerald above but otherwise quite similar.
I think from these I’d pick either the Diamine November Rain or Monteverde California Teal. Neither are very similar but they are the closest of this bunch I think.
There is a lot of shading with this ink. It is frequent with a sharp gradient and a lot of contrast (mainly because of how dark the ink gets). Very good shader. Haloing is almost non-existent.
If it’s a good shader its an even bigger sheener! I don’t know of many inks that are quite high in shading and sheen so that is interesting. This ink has a very rich, very saturated bright magenta sheen. Almost dominated the ink in the right light. From top down (without the light bouncing off the ink) the colour is still red! But it is is dull red that muddies the general observed colour very slightly.
Bloody Absinth’s sheen is pretty much identical. Not a surprise that it is another Diamine made ink. November Rain is equally strong but the saturation of the sheen isn’t as high. Monteverde California Teal has some strong sheen but noticeably weaker than Vert Sapin. The rest all have fairly subtle sheens of various warm or magenta colours.
The chromatography has a gradient of very pale light blue that breaks into a green that gets dark with hints of yellow at times before ending with a line of dark azure blue.
The dry time is quite slow. Not unsurprising for a high dye content high lubricant ink.The water resistance is non existent and there is some smearing on Tomoe River (not a surprise for a high sheen ink though!)
80gsm White Rhodia
Vert Sapin is slightly less teal leaning but also slightly less saturated and also darker than on Tomoe River.
Diamine November Rain: Even closer but still slightly more yellow leaning;
Diamine Bloody Absinth: Much closer this time but still slightly bluer;
Monteverde California Teal: again not far off but a little lighter;
Private Reserve Cadillac Green: much too light, blue and unsaturated;
Sailor Ink Studio 864: much to unsaturated;
Robert Oster Emerald: A similar hue but lighter and less saturated; and
Robert Oster Green Diamond: also a similar hue but much lighter and less saturated.
Vert Sapin fits somewhat in between both the Diamine branded inks being bluer than November Rain and yellower than Bloody Absinth so depending on which you prefer they would be the best bet for a similar ink!
The shading isn’t as strong here because the ink is darker overall which means the contrast isn’t as high. Even the frequency has dropped a little on Rhodia. The gradient is still mostly pretty sharp but perhaps also a little smoother! Haloing is almost non-existent.
The sheen on Rhodia is much more subtle. There is some of the rich magenta that shows but it is less frequent and more of an edge sheen now than a sheen that covers the written line.
Only Bloody Absinth and Monteverde California Teal show as much sheen (and so not much) the rest of the inks are essentially sheen-less!
Water resistance is not as poor on Rhodia but it is quite messy. Dry time is still quite slow and there is a little bit of smearing (not much though)
Final Remarks
⭐️ = One Star
★ = Half a Star
☆ = No Star
🚫 = None/Not Applicable
(Star ratings are a rough and glanceable indication and are more quantitative than qualitative. They are not saying that something is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ but rather that, of the particular characteristic, the ink has a ‘high’ or ‘low’ amount)
80gsm White Rhodia
Shading: ⭐️⭐️★☆☆
Sheen: ⭐️★☆☆☆
Shimmer: 🚫
Halo: 🚫
Saturation: ⭐️⭐️⭐️★☆
Luminosity: ⭐️★☆☆☆
Feathering: 🚫
Bleeding: 🚫
Flow: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆
Dry time: ⭐️★☆☆☆
Smear: ⭐️⭐️★☆☆
Water Resistance: ⭐️★☆☆☆
52gsm Ivory (White) Tomoe River
Shading: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆
Sheen: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️★
Shimmer: 🚫
Halo: 🚫
Saturation: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆
Luminosity: ⭐️⭐️☆☆☆
Feathering: 🚫
Bleeding: 🚫
Flow: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆
Dry time: ⭐️★☆☆☆
Smear: ⭐️⭐️☆☆☆
Water Resistance: 🚫
This is a rich green ink that leans a little to the teal side. I, personally, prefer my greens to lean more yellow but I love the shading and richness to this and it doesn’t lean too much the teal for me. It is still very much a green. Good performance on different papers which is nice as well. A great green.
The ink is really affordable too, like most Diamine inks. It is €3.50 (including VAT) and €2.89 outside Europe. Before any importation fees or taxes this is roughly AU$4.50, US$3.5, or £2.5. For 30ml of ink that is excellent value for money in my opinion! If you are ordering anything from La Couronne du Comte (which so often has great prices) just throw one of these in the cart (or all of them)!
Use code “MACCHIATOMAN10” for 10% off your order from La Couronne du Comte! Check out their website, sales and new releases as well as their socials: Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
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I was not compensated for this review and everything here is my own honest opinion. There are no affiliate links in this review. I purchased this ink myself .