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; Pain d’Épices (“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 Pan d’Épices means Gingerbread in English. The colour of gingerbread I am familiar with is more a brown colour than a vibrant magenta red but maybe dutch gingerbread is different!

The colour of this ink can change a little depending on much of the ink is put on the page. The colour when the ink is thin is more magenta looking, something like a ruby or raspberry colour and still quite saturated. With a thicker line or swatch it looks much more burgundy wine or a very vibrant red-bean/azuki-iro colour. The written colour is this second colour. Even with the fairly dry Lamy 1.1 Stub and the Lamy Fine nib, which are fairly dry) it is still more wine than ruby. Maybe with a very dry broad nib you could get the more magenta colour.

The ink is a strongly wet ink with very good low and lubrication. The ink performs decently on all types of paper and there isn’t that much difference in colour between papers with some exceptions (such as Graphilo). Most of the changes relate to saturation rather than hue. 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 Terracotta 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 is high in sheen on Tomoe River 52gsm paper and is a little lighter than on Rhodia 80gsm paper below but the colour and saturation are still fairly similar.

• Diamine Robert: is a little lighter but more blue;

• Diamine Velvet Rose: is darker, a littler bluer and a touch less saturated;

• Diamine Communication Breakdown: more more orange, a little lighter and a hair less saturated;

• Colorverse Andromeda: much too purple and a little darker;

• Sailor Ink Studio 931: is lighter, less saturated and more blue';

• Pilot Iroshizuku Momiji: is lighter, redder and slightly less saturated;

• Pilot Iroshizuku Yama Budo: is bluer, lighter and less saturated; and

• Diamine #12 Noel: which is very similar but a little darker and a little less saturated.

On Tomoe River I see Diamine #12 Noel, from the 2019 Christmas set, as the closest. Lots of lovely colours here though!

Shading isn’t very strong on Tomoe River with high frequency but low contrast and a smooth gradient. It’s pretty consistent on every stroke, however. There is no haloing.

Pain d’Épices sheen is very strong on Tomoe River. While it is weaker on the dryer fine nib and 1.1 Stub it is still present on those and almost the dominant colour on the wetter Medium nib (with printing rather than the cursive). The Sheen is a strong green-gold that is common on reddish inks.

Many of the comparison inks have a similar sheen.Diamine Robert would be the closest in colour and intensity with Diamine Velvet Rose, and Sailor Ink Studio 931 being quite similar as well. Diamine #12 Noel is duller and weaker but a similar colour. Diamine Communication Breakdown is more green and less gold. Iroshizuku Yama Budo is a gold with a slight green tint. Iroshizuku Momiji has a very strong yellow gold sheen and Colorverse Andromeda has a rich copper-gold sheen.

The Chromatography is fairly simple with a red gradient but it does finally break into dark blue-ash magenta. The ink isn’t very water resistant but it does leave behind a light pink line. Dry time is on the slower side for Tomoe River but isn’t too bad. There is a tiny bit of colour smearing but I would normally expect more from a high sheening ink.

80gsm White Rhodia

On Rhodia Pain d’Épices is a little darker but is pretty much the same hue as on Tomoe River.

• Diamine Robert: is much too purple (though still a red-purple);

• Diamine Velvet Rose: also too purple and also darker;

• Diamine Communication Breakdown: too red and orange;

• Colorverse Andromeda: again too purple';

• Sailor Ink Studio 931: is a hair less saturated and a little brighter and too blue;

• Pilot Iroshizuku Momiji: Redder and flatter with less contrast and darkness';

• Pilot Iroshizuku Yama Budo: Too purple, lighter and less saturated; and

• Diamine #12 Noel: Darker, slightly less saturated and slightly redder.

Again I think Noel is the closest of these inks even if the darker redder colour is more distinct on Rhodia than on Tomoe River.

Shading is pretty similar to Tomoe River with low contrast, smooth gradient and high frequency. The contrast is a little higher than on Tomoe River, however, which makes the shading slightly stronger. There is no haloing here on Rhodia either.

Sheen takes a huge hit on Rhodia, which isn’t surprising. If you look very closely you can barely see some green sheen in the writing and there is some on the edge of the wettest swatch but practically there is no sheen on Rhodia.

Essentially all of the comparison inks are in the same position with a huge hit to sheen and only showing sheen on the wet part of the swatch.

Water resistance is slightly improved over Tomoe River but it is still only a light (but not quite as light) pink line that is left behind. Dry time is, like Tomoe River, on the slower time for Rhodia but not extremely so. I can’t see any smearing on Rhodia which is nice.

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 red ink that leans a little magenta. I have lots of inks in this general colour range as I really like it but I was surprised that I didn’t really actually have something that similar! The shading isn’t bad and the sheen is strong on the right paper with fairly consistent colour and performance on many paper types. Even on poor quality paper it works nicely. A lovely red ink!

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 .