my personal experience is that all Brooks will eventually converge towards a dark brown color.

In the photo below, my mid-70's Pro is at the top-left. I've owned it since the mid 70's and it has seen a ton of use. The black dye has been absorbed into many blue jeans over the years, and it has absorbed numerous applications of Proofide. The result is the medium brown you see now.

At the lower right is a Brooks Swift that started out as honey colored, but sweat and Proofide have caused a shift towards a medium brown.

In the middle is an unused honey B.17 saddle. My conclusion is that this is a rather temporary state of being.



I suppose the best option is to remove some of the dye from the black saddle. Some time ago, I did buy some stuff from the local cobbler that removed some of the dye from a white leather saddle that I wanted to dye black. I think it worked a bit... but I'm not sure I'd recommend it.

Steve in Peoria