Currently, PANTONE has two parallel Metallics colour fans:
- PANTONE Metallics Coated: Contains the classic metallic shades available since the late 1980s.
- Main basic colours: PANTONE 877, 876, 875 …
- Typical colour names: PANTONE 8020, 8040, 8060, etc.
- PANTONE Premium Metallics Coated: The new Metallics fan, which has been in existence since 2012, showing new, finer metallic shades.
- Main basic colour: PANTONE Silver 10077 C
- Typical colour names: PANTONE 10142, 10158, 10214, etc.
The main differences between the two fans lie in the composition of their respective basic colours: Firstly, there is the different Pantone Silver: PANTONE 877 or PANTONE Silver 10077 C. On the other hand, in the PANTONE Metallics Coated the silver is supplemented by further gold basic colours, while in the PANTONE Premium Metallics Coated the newly defined silver is the only metallic basic colour and is tinted by PANTONE Goe basic colours.
Pantone 877 and the gold inks contain metal flakes which, after the ink has dried on the paper, settle on the ink surface like leaves, creating a silver effect. This irregular surface structure can be very different and depends, among other things, on the drying time of the ink. As a result, the silver effect could vary from print to print. After varnishing, the silver effect was usually much weaker and less brilliant than before print finishing.
PANTONE Silver C(called PANTONE Silver 10077 C in the fan, but today mostly communicated by Pantone itself as PANTONE Silver C) consists of finely emulsified metal particles, which, in contrast to the metal flakes of the 877, are very evenly distributed on the paper due to the colour. The result is a more even, calm and brilliant silver surface that retains its shine and brilliance even after varnishing and is more stable in perspective than the previous colour. According to PANTONE, the durability of the ink has also been improved. The new silver is compatible with UV and water-based lacquers and can be laminated and foil embossed.
The Premium Metallics C colour fan from PANTONE shows colour reproduction with and without dispersion varnish. Important for printers: Due to the different composition, the manufacturer Eckhart recommends a different density: 1.0 for PANTONE 877 and only 0.7 for the new PANTONE Silver C, each measured with a polarized densitometer via the black filter.
One thing is not quite clear: The new 300 PANTONE Premium Metallics C colours are mixed from PANTONE Silver 10077 C and PANTONE Goe basic colours. However, GOE was discontinued in 2014. According to information from a Pantone employee, the colour shades will be converted to the 18 Pantone Matching System basic colours in a new fan generation – PANTONE Bright Orange (GOE) would then become PANTONE Orange 021 (PMS) as the basic colour. Since the basic colour is the same anyway, and has only differed in the thickness of the layer, this has no effect on the colourfulness.
Both PANTONE colour fans are stored as spot colours in our FIERY XF for the proof and can therefore be proofed as spot colours by Proof.de – in the context of the very poor proofability of metallic colours. As no metallic pigments are available for proofing, the silvery effect is only simulated by the velvety gloss of the proof paper. We use the EFI 4245 Gravure Proof Paper, which has a satin surface and allows a halfway decent silver simulation. However, a reasonable preview of the expected printing result is only possible in the PANTONE colour fan.
You can order PANTONE 877 or PANTONE Silver C Proofs here
More articles related to this topic:
Proof.de is featured twice in the “Fogra Aktuell” magazine
In the current issue of Fogra News “Fogra Aktuell” Proof GmbH is involved in two places. Firstly, a summary of the Fogra report on our first FOGRA55 certification for seven-colour printing with extended colour space in CMYKOGV appeared. You can also find more information on our FOGRA55 certification on the Fogra website: https://fogra.org/en/press-releases/fogracert-erste-cpc-zertifizierung-fuer-fogra55-cmykogv-330 and on proofing.de: And secondly, there was a report on the completion of the research project for textile digital printing, FOGRA58, in which we were allowed to investigate and test the proof capability of the new textile … read more
Current Proof Standards 2025
Offset and Newsprint ISO Coated v2 (ECI) / ISO Coated v2 300% (ECI) Profile: ISOcoated_v2_eci.icc Standard for glossy and matte coated paper Paper: Types 1 and 2, gloss and matte coated Tone value increase curves A (CMY) and B (K) as defined in ISO 12647-2:2004 Characterisation Data: FOGRA39L ISOUncoated Profile: ISOUncoated.icc Standard for uncoated white natural paper Paper: paper grade 4, uncoated white offset, dot gain curves C (CMY) and D (K) from ISO 12647-2: 2004 Characterisation Data: FOGRA29L PSOCoatedV3 / Fogra 51 Profile: PSOcoated_v3.icc The successor of ISOCoatedV2 for glossy … read more
New PANTONE Formula Guides with incorrect ink formulations
Several errors have crept into the new PANTONE 2023 fan decks. In both the PANTONE Solid Coated and the Solid Uncoated color fans, there are colours for which the new ink formulations are incorrect. In the PANTONE Formula Guide Solid Coated fan 2023, PANTONE 107 C and PANTONE 108 C have absolutely identical ink recipes, as well as PANTONE 113 C and PANTONE 114 C. As the colors differ, this cannot be the correct. Several errors in the PANTONE Solid Uncoated fan 2023 In the PANTONE Solid Uncoated fan 2023 … read more
Proof.de: New video online
In this short image video we – the Proof GmbH – introduce us and our work. Find out who we are and what drives us. What do you think of our short film?
PANTONE surveys users online about product and service direction
Today I received an email in which PANTONE asked how it should orientate its products and services in the future. The users were asked which countries, industries and company sizes they come from, but also what PANTONE products should look like in the future and what customers would be prepared to pay for PANTONE services in the future. Question: How much can PANTONE services cost? PANTONE appears to be orientating itself on the PANTONE Connect prices: All price queries have the lowest price category < $ 7,- / month, i.e. … read more
New edition of ISOCoatedV2 in M1 in sight?
Even almost 9 years after the introduction of the successor colour space PSOCoatedV3, ISOCoatedV2 / FOGRA39 is still the most widespread colour space in Europe. We at Proof GmbH count around 200 jobs from time to time for the German Printing and Media Industries Federation, among others. In the last count, proofs in ISOCoatedV2 accounted for around 68% of all proof jobs at our company. This is a clear sign of the continued widespread use of the colour space. ISOCoatedV2: From the classic colour space to the beacon of the … read more
Colour deviations in 2023 PANTONE Color Bridge Guides
After Eddy Hagen pointed out in this posts, that there were some major colour deviations between the brand new PANTONE Solid Coated Guide 2023 and the previous version especially for the PANTONE 2635 C, I was curious to lookup the same colours in the new PANTONE Color Bridge Coated Guide of 2023 and compare the colours with the previous version. I measured a dE00 of 8,15 between the two colours that Eddy mentioned, which is really far apart from how accurate PANTONE colours should match between the different PANTONE guides. … read more
Precise proofing of tonal values of spot colours
In recent weeks, there have been lengthy discussions on the Fogra digital printing mailing list as to whether a research project should be launched to define standardised tonal value gradations for spot colours. What is this all about? In the field of CMYK and seven-colour printing, the definition of clear, printable and proofable standards is well established and has been tried and tested in practice. If the paper or paper class is known and defined, a measuring standard such as M0/M1/M2 has been established and the content of optical brighteners … read more
“Digital First” often means “Colour Problems Second!”
Whether it’s a large global corporation or a small company, the following often applies to designs or redesigns today: we develop everything for digital first.
New iPhone colour measuring devices: xade nano+ in test
A new generation of colour measuring devices is entering the market: in contrast to the classic measuring devices, which are available as a fully encapsulated system either as a colourimeter or as a spectrophotometer, and then supply the data to a computer via an interface or app or display it directly, the new generation of colour measuring devices consist only of lighting and software, with the optics of a modern iPhone from Apple being used as the sensor. Until now, there have been two categories of measuring devices on the … read more