It is impossible to render judgement based on an online jpeg with no other point of reference - honest. At that - the only opinion that matters when it comes time to sell is that of a well respected expertization service.
Since you only asked for an opinion and not a judgement, my opinion is that it is yellow, based on the scan. If you can distinguish between the 1862 or 1864 issues, that might help clarify things.
In any case, since yellow is the cheapest version, I'd go with that.
I doubt that this stamp is worth certifying.
Jan
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Harvey I think, therefore I am - I think! 22 Jun 2020 02:50:48pm
re: Opinion on color
No offence to Jan, but if we always assumed the lowest value we'd never find a stamp worth much more than a dollar! But, it still probably is not worth sending away. Buy yourself a real good colour guide and try to figure it out yourself, go with what you decide and if you're wrong, then so be it! I make educated guesses on colours, watermarks and perfs all the time and hopefully I'm right most of the time! By the way, to me it looks yellow.
Dialysis, damned if you do...dead if you don't 22 Jun 2020 04:36:23pm
re: Opinion on color
Colors are all in your head. Color vision is a sense, just like taste. Catalog editors and others who have classified stamps color ought to be slapped upside the head with a trout. Imagine trying to categorizing chili by taste. Of course there might be a general consensus on ‘is it hot or not’ but no two people would taste it the exact same way.
Additionally, color vision is totally dependent upon the ambient lighting. We see colors when a stamp absorbs some of the wavelengths but reflects others. The reflected wavelengths enter our retinas which in turn fire neural connections to the visual cortex. The ‘reflected wavelengths’ are the ambient lighting. Here is an example of how ambient lighting changes what we perceive as color (image below shows two identical gray samples)
So anytime someone talks about the color of something without defining the ambient lighting conditions they are not giving you enough information to form a good opinion.
The above applies to having the stamp in hand. The stamp shown above is not the stamp nor its colors, it is an image and images colors. We have no idea how close the image is to the actual color, you are looking at an algorithm that some software coder wrote. Secondly, we are all using different computers, different video CPUs, different operating systems, and different monitors. If you are using Win10, the OS automatically changes your displays color temperature at a predefined time. So if I look at the color of the image above before 8PM it looks bluer. But after 8PM my computer automatically changes the color temperature to a warmer yellow hue.
And keep in mind that printed colors are always ephemeral; they begin to change almost immediately after printing. Inks and pigments contain unstable elements. (Heck, even a piece of metal like iron or copper changes color over time.) Making matters worse, if you took a sheet of 100 stamps off the press in 1870 and stored them in different environments, they would not be all be the same color today. Also note that color guides suffer from the very same color changing issues. Color guides have a ‘shelf life’ of less than 2 years before they are no longer accurate. (and I have not yet found a stamp color guide which defines what ambient lighting should be used to view the color guide.
All this being said, you can become proficient in color identification as a stamp collector. Throw away the color guides and start buying stamps for a large reference collection. You will need hundred (or thousands) of copies and a few years of study. You will also need to define your ambient lighting conditions and constantly test it (bulbs change over time too). Or you can spend the stamp to someone else who has put in this time and effort and let them make the call. No matter what happens you will need a certification for any stamp indeintifcation based upon color.
Lastly, I agree with Jan, the strongest and the fastest do not always win but that it the way to bet.
Don
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy.. 24 Jun 2020 01:39:07am
re: Opinion on color
" .... If you are using Win10, the OS automatically changes
your displays color temperature at a predefined time. So if
I look at the color of the image above before 8PM it looks
bluer. But after 8PM my computer automatically changes the
color temperature to a warmer yellow hue.. ...."
What an interesting observation, or perhap to those who can
interpret computer codes, interesting factoid.
Is there some explanation as to why that would be built into
the o/s ?
I recall reading in the Deegam Machin Handbook somewhere that "Color matching is a Black Art" or something like that.
For that reason, the author avoids any discussion or listing
of shades, leaving such observation and detrmination to the
beholder.
Thanks Don for expanding our knowledge of color perception.
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".... You may think you understood what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you think you heard is not what I thought I meant. .... "