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Discontinued Quinacridone Gold PO49 Watercolor Paint & More

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Joseph Russell

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Hi all, a bit short notice but I have put two 15ml tubes of twelve-year-old Quinacridone Gold PO49 Daniel Smith watercolour paint up for auction on eBay. The paint is still very fluid. If you know about the history of this pigment then you'll know that it is quite sought-after these days. I'm not doing much watercolor anymore and just want this paint to be put to good use while it is still behaving itself. It might be worth favoriting my eBay account as there will be several more upcoming listings of good watercolor supplies I expect to unearth as I get ready to move house in the coming weeks. You can view the listings here: auction 1 auction 2 thanks for your interest! Joe
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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I knew it had been discontinued, but didn't (and don't) know why - it's always a sadness when a colour we value gets taken away from us. 

Joseph Russell

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Yes, it's very sad and I also miss this pigment in media apart from watercolor, but it handles especially nicely in watercolor I think. Its story is quite interesting. The synthesis of quinacridone gold is expensive and it only becomes cost effective to produce on industrial scales. In the 1990s there was sufficient demand for industrial-scale production from the automotive sector: quin gold was the basis of various mixes that were popular as car paint colors back then. Only a tiny fraction of this production was ever used for artists' paint. So our loss as artists is due to the waning popularity of certain car paint colors and formulations. We can hope to see it again, but none has been made for a long time now.

Norrette Moore

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So I dashed to my bag of specials, but find what I have is DS Aussie Red Gold, which is a blend.  Never mind.

Jenny Harris

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Although the single pigment Quinacridone Gold was discontinued, Daniel Smith have produced another version (a blend of PO48 and PY150) which is very similar to the original.  I’ve still got a little of the PO49 left, and bought a tube of the replacement.  There’s hardly any difference in the colour.

Edited
by Jenny Harris

Joseph Russell

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Yes, PO49 was so popular that of course many manufacturers had substitutes lined up as soon as the original pigment stocks diminished, and its easy to match the hue with other pigments/mixtures. There has never been a disruption in paints at least named "quinacridone gold". But, if you search around online you will see there has also been no lack of experienced artists lamenting the loss of the original PO49 for various of its handling characteristics. Of course some won't acknowledge a difference and I won't wade into discussing or defending the subtleties of these preferences here, but clearly PO49 is still sought after by some. I hope my little tubes get into the hands of someone who really appreciates them. I saw that on eBay USA some identical tubes had recently sold for £280, which made me feel guilty about hoarding them. I don't expect to fetch anywhere near that with my quick, barely-promoted auction with no reserve, it's just interesting being part of the story. The history and continuing evolution of artists' pigments really fascinates me.

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This post has been removed as it violates our forum rules and guidelines.

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Paul (Dixie) Dean

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Removed spam posts on this thread and banned the person posting it.
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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Well done that man - back to the thread, many of our colours are only commercially available because the car industry, in particular, provides a market for them; we benefit when those hues are in fashion, and suffer when they are not.  Maybe that's a good reason to stick with our tried and tested colours - but it's a real pain when you discover a new colour, then find, once you've got to know it, that suddenly it's not available anymore: that's the market - of which I've never pretended to be a fan.....