For this week’s fountain pen ink review and giveaway, let’s take a look at Aurora 100th Anniversary Special Edition Purple ink. That’s right, Aurora released a set of 100th Year Special Edition inks and we couldn’t wait to check them out. If you love Aurora inks, you’ve probably spent at least a little bit of time wondering why they haven’t released more fountain pen inks. Aurora inks are known for being fantastic, and they offer one of the most opaque, blackest of black inks on the market. Yet the company’s ink line consists of a grand total of 3 fountain pen inks. That is until they celebrated their 100th anniversary by releasing a series of special edition fountain pen inks pen and ink enthusiasts everywhere are unanimously hoping to get in our pens.

Read the full ink review for more details on Aurora’s 100th Anniversary Special Edition Purple ink, then enter to win the bottle of ink used for this week’s review!

All About the Ink Maker: Aurora

Aurora Pen Company is an Italian pen company that makes high quality, luxury pens, and fantastic inks. First off, welcome to Aurora’s 100th anniversary, which officially took place in 2019. We’ve always wanted more Aurora inks, so we wholeheartedly approve of their means of celebrating the occasion with a series of special edition fountain pen inks.

All About the Ink: Aurora 100th Anniversary Special Edition Inks

Initially, Aurora Pen Company only offered two fountain pen inks: black ink and blue ink. A few years back, they released Blue-Black ink, bringing the total of Aurora fountain pen inks to three. The limited nature of their ink lineup makes it all the more exciting that we suddenly have access to the ten ink Special Edition Anniversary series (introducing seven new colors).
Aurora’s 100th Anniversary Special Edition inks come in a new size, a new bottle and the series includes a robust variety of ink colors:

• Black
• Blue
• Blue Black
• Gray
• Green
• Orange
• Purple
• Red
• Sepia
• Turquoise

Pen Chalet carries a full range of Aurora pens and inks. Check out their new special edition inks, as well as their high-quality fountain pens at Pen Chalet.

All About This Week’s Chosen Ink: Aurora 100th Anniversary Purple

Aurora’s 100th Anniversary Purple fountain pen ink is a beautiful, bright, vibrant purple color. The special edition ink is not a dark mountain deep purple, but a lighter purple that shows up well on paper, and is easily legible. We found that it was bright and inviting.

** Don’t stop now. Keep reading for a chance to win the bottle of Aurora 100th Anniversary Purple fountain pen ink used for this week’s Pen Chalet Ink Review. (Or if you don’t have the patience, I suppose you can just scroll down to the bottom where you’ll find the link to enter to win, but that’s not quite as fun…or helpful).

Read the full Aurora 100th Anniversary Special Edition Purple Ink review.

It’s Time: Aurora 100th Anniversary Special Edition Purple Ink Review

For this week’s ink review, we had some fun with Aurora 100th Anniversary Special Edition Purple fountain pen ink. We ran it through all the tests to find different traits and characteristics you need to hear about before deciding if this is an ink you want to add to your personal collection. Review details are coming up next, starting with what products we used during this week’s ink review.

Ink Review Testing Factors (to keep things scientific):

Since different papers and nib sizes may produce different results, we always list which products we used during our weekly ink review. If this were an official scientific experiment, this would be our list of “controls.” During our review of Aurora 100th Anniversary Purple fountain pen ink, we used:

• J Herbin spiral glass dip pen
• Rhodia dot pad paper

The J Herbin spiral glass dip pen has a tip similar to a fine-medium fountain pen nib, and Rhodia dot pad paper is one of the most well-known high-quality papers commonly used by fountain pen enthusiasts.

What Sort of Ink Bottle Does Aurora Use?

Aurora’s 100th Anniversary special edition inks come in a new, larger 55 ml. glass bottle. The new shape features a long neck with a couple of flat edges that allow easy filling when ink levels are low. The special edition inks come housed in a simple cardboard 100th-anniversary box, and each ink arrives factory sealed.

How Much Do Aurora 100th Anniversary Inks Cost?

Aurora 100th Anniversary Special Edition inks are a higher mid-range priced ink. Look for discounted pricing available at Pen Chalet.

How Did Aurora’s 100th Anniversary Purple Ink Fair in the 1 Dip Test?

We applied a 1-dip test to see how far one dip could write on paper (dipping the pen into the Aurora 100th Anniversary Purple ink only one time). The lovely medium saturation ink easily wrote across the paper on all three writing samples with ink to spare (one dip per writing sample: S, X, and scribble lines). See the photograph of the samples above.

How Fast Does The Anniversary Purple Ink Dry?

During our review, Aurora 100th Anniversary Purple fountain pen ink had a dry time of approximately 6 seconds, which is very quick. We usually consider any dry time under 10 seconds to be reasonably fast, so this ink easily makes it onto Pen Chalet’s list of recommended everyday ink options.

Does Aurora Anniversary Purple Ink Bleed Through?

During normal use of 100th Anniversary Purple fountain pen ink, we found no bleeding whatsoever. During the heavy saturated cotton swab test, we saw some very slight bleeding, but only at the wettest points.

Was There Any Feathering While Using 100th Anniversary Purple Ink?

We saw no feathering during normal use on Rhodia dot pad paper. In fact, we saw almost no feathering even during the standard water test (up next).

How Does Aurora Purple Ink Stand Up to Water?

This week’s ink is not a waterproof fountain pen ink, but it held up very well to water during our standard water test. (We always include a water test in the review during which we let an ink sample dry for about 3 minutes before running a wet cotton swab over the sample). After putting Aurora 100th Anniversary Purple ink to the water test, we saw color smearing, which we expected since this is a non-waterproof ink. The lines remained completely legible with some slight line fade and almost no additional feathering at all.

Does Aurora Anniversary Purple Ink Have Good Shading Traits?

This week’s fountain pen ink showed some slight shading during normal use, and if you use a stub or italic nib that allows for ink flow variation, you may see more.

Final Conclusion on Aurora 100th Anniversary Special Edition Purple Ink:

This week’s ink, 100th Anniversary SE Purple ink, is high mid-range priced ink from the well-respected Aurora Pen Company. Aurora’s regular edition inks (blue, black, and blue-black) have been well-loved by pen enthusiasts for years. The 100th Anniversary SE Purple fountain pen ink is a lovely, bright, vivid purple with a very quick dry time (approx. 6 seconds). The special edition inks feature new packaging and new, larger, size ink bottle that many will appreciate. With ten anniversary ink color options (featuring seven new Aurora ink colors), this is an anniversary celebration we think the pen industry can really get behind. Happy writing from Italy!

Enter to Win Aurora SE Purple Ink from their 100th Anniversary Inks:

Enter to win the actual bottle of Aurora 100th Anniversary SE Purple Ink that Pen Chalet used in this week’s ink review:

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