This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/hobbydrama by /u/Fledbeast578 on 2025-10-01 23:12:36+00:00.


Let’s go ahead and speedrun the background. LAMY is is a German pen manufacturing company, well known for most relevantly, their work on fountain pens. To this day they’re considered high well regarded by enthusiasts, both for their fountain pens- as well as the ink itself.

In 2016 one such ink was the limited time Dark Lilac, a dark shade of purple with a gold sheen, that was an immediate hit among the community- to the point that it quite literally crashed the site of pen retailer Goulet. Since it’s limited run ended, the limited supply has been well appreciated by resellers, with bottles on the market going from a fair $10, to $50, to $100, to upwards of $300 for a single bottle, and a great deal of people trying their best to recreate it.

One such example of this effort as it turned out, was LAMY themselves. By 2024 most people had accepted there would never be a rerelease- it had been nearly a decade after all- which is why it was such a surprise when out of nowhere Dark Lilac started appearing in the stores of retailers. This was given with no press release or even any marketing, and more than that- early reviews had noticed something.

This was not the same Dark Lilac that had been released in 2016. Even as an amateur, it’s clear to see the difference, most notably a lighter shade of purple, with a distinct green sheen, far different from the previous gold one and it only becomes more apparent on finer pieces of paper.

So what’s the deal? Was it an homage? Some fountain ink that had been given the wrong name? No one knew, and given the complete lack of advertising there were no official statements. After much deliberation- the fountain pen stans decided they needed answers. A hobbyist emailed LAMY asking if the ink was the same, among other questsions, and the company in no unclear terms assured them that the rerelease Dark Lilac was exactly the same as the original licensed distribution.

The twist? LAMY was flat out lying. In a later release, it was revealed that not only was it not the same, they didn’t have the same dyes used to create the original, and it was just an imitation, all while retailing it as the same as the original 2016 one.

Once it was clear that the two shades were not the same there were mixed reactions. Some people decided that the initiation was close enough and didn’t particularly care, some people genuinely felt the difference was too big to overlook, and some were just mad that the company lied to them.

Ultimately not much came of this, fountain pen hobbyists are a niche community, and lying about a shade of ink being slightly difference wasn’t enough to burn down the good will LAMY had earned inside of it, and continues as they always have.