NCJ Number
214511
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 51 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2006 Pages: 689-692
Date Published
May 2006
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Inks from 85 randomly selected pens were compared with samples from the U.S. International Ink Library, the largest known forensic collection of writing inks in the world.
Abstract
Inks from the 85 pens were categorized into 44 different ink formulations. Three of the inks did not match any of the specimens in the International Ink Library. One blue ballpoint pen acquired in Berlin, Germany, in March 2005, did not match any reference standards. Two red ballpoint pens, which had consistent formulations, did not match any ink in the database. One of the black nonballpoint pens (felt tip marker) did not match any of the known specimens, but it was similar to a formulation on record that is used in a similar felt tip marker produced by the same company. All of the black ballpoint, blue nonballpoint, and red nonballpoint inks matched corresponding inks in the collection. Possible reasons for the nonmatches are the failure of the ink manufacturer to submit the ink to the library in the library's annual request or the ink being new to the market (less than 1 year). The analysis of the 85 inks involved optical examination and thin-layer chromatography (TLC). TLC is one of the most widely used and generally accepted scientific methods used to compare and characterize ink formulations; however, it does not chemically identify ink formulations with 100-percent certainty. 2 tables, 1 figure, and 26 references