Actually it's the same blank. When I used the light box on this photo there was a lot of glare off the clip. When I adjusted the camera and re-shot the pen it darkened up the top section. There's also a couple of other things that I didn't like in the photo, that I'll keep to myself, but I see as defects in the craftsmanship of the pen. Before shipping the pen out I looked it over very closely to make sure what I saw in the photo was actually not on the pen. It's the photo, not my work, but it still bugs me.