Noodler's Antietam — 4ml Fountain Pen Ink Sample

Hue: A deep oxblood red with a rust-orange undertone. Retailer and reviewer descriptions consistently call this a bright red-orange or rust orange — my swatches run considerably darker and more burgundy than that, sitting closer to dried blood than to orange. The rust-orange the reviews describe is visible at the thin edges of the swab bar and where the ink runs out, but the body colour is a dark, saturated red-brown. Paper and nib width shift it noticeably; finer nibs and lighter layers pull it back towards orange.

Shading: Strong. The swab bar moves from near-black maroon in the heavy areas to rust and orange at the edges, and the writing sample shows clear light-to-dark variation within single strokes. A wetter or broader nib gives the most dramatic result.

Sheen: None.

Shimmer: None.

Flow: Medium.

The interesting bit: Named for the Battle of Antietam, fought on 17 September 1862 near Sharpsburg, Maryland — the bloodiest single day in American military history, with around 22,700 casualties across both armies. The bottle label carries a colourised period battle scene and the line "Civil War Era – In Color". It's from Noodler's standard line, so no bulletproof or archival properties. Noodler's inks are made in the USA in small batches, which means bottle-to-bottle colour variation is a known characteristic of the brand.

This is a hand-decanted 4ml sample vial from my own bottle.
Photos are my own swatches on Tomoe River Paper.
I'm a collector and I'm always happy to talk ink, so please message me if you have any questions.