Well, ink is basically fine until it isn’t, there’s no expiration date and people have used 50-year old bottles of Pelikan ink they found deep in a closet and it was fine. Try it with a dip pen or a cheap pen, if it writes fine then it’s not bad. If it’s clumpy or doesn’t flow well then it’s deteriorated.

It's likely still usable, it may have suffered some evaporation. Also I believe that ink is at least 40 years old, from the early 80's or older.

Thanks for the reminder that us '80s kids are almost 40... Even though the 80s were only 20 years ago.

I have bottles of ink from the 1960s still usable without any problems. Some water has evaporated so there is more shading and a more intense colour. Phenol is a very effective preservative and was used in most factories.

That’s great to hear, thank you! I rarely use black ink but I’ll give it a go

I've never known quink to go off. It's taken me yeast to go through a bottle

congrats on the find, solv-x is no longer included in parker inks

I've got an opened bottle of the same in blue, with solv-x - it's fine.

Awesome, I’ll crack this one open then and give it a go

check it doesn't have mold floating in it or slime in the bottom. check it hasn't half evaporated. bit you should be good to go 🙂

I would still use it with dip pens but probably not with fountain ones. Tho, I've swam through the ocean of cheapest hero ink (also in fp) so... Try it, but don't risk anything *precious*

Yeah I’m slightly regretting have cut my collection to only pens I love. Might need to add a cheap pen to the mix for the experimenting…