Ink Review #122: Robert Oster Gold Antiqua

Robert Oster Gold Antiqua is an ink I have been fascinated by for a little while. Is it brown, is it gold, what is it? Let's take a look today, and see how the ink behaves. I purchased my sample of ink from Vanness Pens. 

The color:

Gold Antiqua is a dark gold with shading. It's not yellow, but it's not brown, it lives in-between the two. Since it has gold in it's name, I'm going to include it with the yellow inks.

As usually happens with inks, in large swabs it looks darker than it usually does in writing. 

Gold Antiqua is one of those inks that looks almost velvety black when pooled. It's not sheen, it just looks a little fuzzy. Let's see how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly paper first: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm. 

Dry time: 32 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: Medium shading, no sheen

I have been testing out this new notebook from Yellow Paper House on Etsy, you can find their shop here, which has 32 pound dot grid copy paper. Gold Antiqua on this paper had just the tiniest bit of show through, and no feathering or bleeding. The paper handled the ink really well.

Ink swabs for comparison, left to right (top to bottom for RSS): Robert Oster Caffe Crema, Robert Oster Gold Antiqua, and Robert Oster Khakhi. I don't have swabs of any other gold inks right now, so I went with the closest ones I had, which are brown. Click here to see the Robert Oster inks together.

Pelikan Edelstein Smoky Quartz, Robert Oster Melon Tea, and Robert Oster Bronze. Click here to see the yellow inks page, where Gold Antiqua will end up, and click here to see the brown inks page.

I love this ink/pen combo-I think they match each other so well. I used a Pelikan m400 White Tortoise with a 400N vintage nib. 

Longer writing:

I didn't have any flow issues, and the ink dried pretty quickly for being in a flex nib.

Overall, I really love this ink-the color is pretty, a nice gold without being gaudy. I really love it in my Pelikan White Tortoise pen. I absolutely need a full bottle of this ink. 

Disclaimer: I purchased this ink myself, and all photos and opinions are my own. There are no affiliate links on this page.