The final batch of Quinacridone Gold

This is it… we knew this moment would come but it still makes me sad. Quinacridone Gold, the real Quinacridone Gold PO49, is now completely gone…

When the pigment manufacturer stopped production in 2001, they offered Daniel Smith (who were the first manufacturer to use Quinacridones in their paints) the opportunity to buy all their remaining stocks. Of course, Daniel Smith gleefully pounced on the barrels of powdered gold without asking too many questions. They inherited warehouses full of the valuable dust. By 2005, all the other paint manufacturers had to reformulate and find substitutes, while Daniel Smith proudly paraded their exclusive pure colour.

They had to run out eventually. Now it is their turn to reformulate and find an alternative with the same purity and glow, trying to convince frowning artists that the new formulation is just as good and probably better. Impossible task. As a single pigment, Quinacridone Gold had a level of clarity and saturation that is impossible to replicate by mixing several pigments.

Honestly, I think that they mishandled their highly advantageous position all these years ago. They could have kept the almost extinct, precious pigment exclusively for their Quinacridone Gold paint. Instead they used it in other mixes such as Sap Green, which frankly could be made of anything. What a waste of those last drops of elixir…

If you are lucky enough to have a local art shop selling DS paints, a sneaky rummage through their Quinacridone Gold tubes is worth your while. You might yet find some treasure.

And how about these rumours that a Chinese pigment manufacturer is producing PO49 again? I’ll keep an eye on that and hope for a resurrection… but so far I haven’t found any trustworthy source that this is a real thing.

Happy stockpiling!