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 Comte d’Or, or “Count of Gold” is named and styles after the crown logo of La Couronne du Comte pictured above. Also pictured above is a crown ornament on the gates of the The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia of which the La Couronne du Comte logo is based. Lastly pictured above is the actual most recent Imperial Crown for the Russian Empire (last warn by Nicholas II). There have been other similar crowns as well but clearly some artistic license was taken with the ornament on the gate and then also when creating the logo. The diamonds on the real crown also make it look much whiter, even if the metal is gold!

The colour is a low-to-moderately saturated old gold-like colour. It is somewhat amber, or honeycomb in colour with some a bit of range. It obviously doesn’t have the shine of a polished metal but a natural gold like a gold nugget is more matte. When light it is more of a bright simple gold yellow but when darker it is a more of a wheat brown or dull bronze. I quite like this type of yellow. The brownness of it gives it some practicality and depth and the gold keeps it fresh and bright.

The ink is moderate flow and wetness. Better than many yellow inks and quite pleasant to use. The ink performs decently on all paper types but there is some hue changes with some papers looking more green, some more red and the saturation changing as well with some showing the ink darker and richer and some on the paler side. Examples of the ink on 16 different paper types is at the end of the review.

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 Mango 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.

1. Lamy 1.5 Stub: this nib is moderately wet to write with (this is used for the brand and ink name title);

2. Lamy 1.1 Stub: this nib is on the drier side;

3. Lamy Broad: this is a wet;

4. Lamy Medium: this is a very wet nib;

5. Lamy Fine: this nib is moderately dry; and

6. 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

The ink colour is mostly representative with the middle swatch but also some of the lower more yellow swatch. On Tomoe River the ink is quite yellow but dark enough and with enough brown to be very easily readable.

• Diamine Desert Burst: is quite similar to the middle swatch but missing the yellow;

• Diamine Tobacco Sunburst: is much too green;

• Robert Oster Honey Bee: is too light and a little orange leaning;

• Robert Oster African Gold: is fairly similar but a little more saturated;

• Toucan Sienna: is again very similar but even more saturated, a little darker and a little orange leaning;

• 3-Oysters Mustard: a little to dark and a little too green leaning; and

• KWZ Honey: similar hue but much darker.

On Tomoe River I see Robert Oster African Gold as the closest though a few have some similarities.

This ink has really beautiful shading. It is quite frequent and the colour change makes up for the moderate contrast. The shading usually presents as a smooth gradient. The haloing is limited to the wetter lines and only really with the print and not the cursive.

There is no sheen to speak of whatsoever in

The Diamond and the Robert Oster inks are similarly lacking in sheen but there is a little bit of a matte sheen on the Toucan, 3-Oysters, and KWZ.

The chromatography starts with a grey kine and then eventually we have an burned-orange colour the eventually turns into an orange-yellow and faintly right at the end is a green leaning tan line. The water resistance is practically non-existent but there is a very faint grey line underneath (the same grey that starts the chromatography). Dry time is on the slower side for Tomoe River at between 60 and 90 seconds and there is no smearing.

80gsm White Rhodia

On Rhodia, which I’m still having issues with the ink is redder and more orange with less yellow. It’s a little darker and a little more saturated as well.

The issue I have been having with Rhodia for the past year or so now is that the paper absorbs ink really quickly now. This seems to affect feathering (producing more), especially when layering swatches (such as Diamine Tobacco Sunburst. Once you wet the paper with an ink, going over the top of it allows the ink to really spread and feather. I don’t remember having this issue with Diamine paper from a few years ago! This faster absorption also means less sheen. It was never a sheeny paper but it’s very difficult to extract even a little sheen lately.

As for the comparison inks!

• Diamine Desert Burst: is again very similar to the middle swatch;

• Diamine Tobacco Sunburst:is closer than on Rhodia but still a little green;

• Robert Oster Honey Bee: Is lighter, less saturated and a little more red;

• Robert Oster African Gold: is very similar to the lower swatch;

• Toucan Sienna: is quite similar gut darker, flatter, redder and more saturated;

• 3-Oysters Mustard: much too light and yellow'; and

• KWZ Honey: which is a similar hue but darker and more saturated.

I think Robert Oster African Gold is clearly the closest but it is still darker and flatter in the writing.

Shading is even better on Rhodia, as is common, with some very good contrast and frequency even if the gradient stays smooth. Beautiful shading! On Rhodia there isn’t really an haloing.

As should be expected there is no sheen at all.

As should also be expected there’s no sheen in any of the comparison inks.

The grey line is even lighter on Rhodia so the water resistance, what little there is, is even less prominent. Dry time is fairly normal and there is no smearing.

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 ink is my personal favourite from the set. The others are all lovely but this is the perfect yellow colour for me. A bit dirty and a little orange leaning. Not too pale and not so dark that it leans into a brown. Flow is good and the ink has excellent shading that really showcases the yellow and the tan of the ink. A very useable yellow!

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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Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, comments or suggestions please let me know in a via the comments, Instagram, or contact me directly.

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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 .