I'm into shades of color on stamps. I realize that there are instances of color differences based upon exposure to light or age but aside from those phenomena and similar ones, I enjoy finding the same issue with interesting shade variations.
One can find all sorts of coloration mayhem and build a personally satisfying collection from very common stamps. I have no interest or deep pockets for the expensive shade variations especially since there are so many incredibly affordable examples among the commoners.
The 1c Franklin of 1902 (Scott 300) is, I think, noted by collectors, for its many shades. Certainly many of the 19th Century inexpensive Bank Note issues may be found with startling shade variations.
The Hitler head wartime definitive issues of Germany, and other wartime issues have some interesting shades due to ink and paper availability and inconstistency related to the bombing campaign of the Allies.
They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin 15 Apr 2014 06:18:11pm
re: Shades of...
Bruce,
A little over a year ago we had an extensive discussion of shades and color varieties on the board. It is a good topic to revisit. CLICK HERE to read that discussion. If nothing else, Rhinelander's posts, supported by very helpful visual aids, are well worth reading.
Bobby
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"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. -Edmund Burke"
the Germania issues and early Czech stamps are also fertile grounds for color study, both for their abundance, broad range of colors, and utter affordability
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"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"
One thing that a collection of "shades" can include is how the color shades as named in the catalogs do not remain consistent through the years. This is due to changes in printing techniques, paper quality, ink quality, etc. I think too, that over the years different catalog editors see colors differently.
You could compile stamps listed as having the same colors in the catalog, put them in order by date of issue and see the changes. Sometimes it is quite startling to see and make you wonder how, with all the myriad of shades of colors that a catalog lists, that "green" by itself has so many stamps have shades that are listed only as "green".
Thanks, Bobby, for bumping that very thorough thread on shades. I wasn't here at the time that was going on, and really appreciate seeing it. I can't wait to dig into it in some detail.
Could I present an image and ask questions here about some printing differences I discovered on a set of early (South) Korea airmails?
It may be a little hard to capture the differences between these two sets, but I scanned them at the same time, and it pretty much looks the same on my screen as do the actual stamps, although I think the differences jump out at the viewer a little more in person.
It looks to me like one set is, what, more heavily inked than the other? I could easily understand that if it was just one issue, but could that be true for all three? Early vs late printings? Or early vs late in the same print run?
I checked in Michel for Korea, and they make no differentiations between these stamps. With the help of some online colleagues, I think we've determined that the Korea Postage Stamp Catalog (KPC) does not make a distinction either.
This was in 1952, and I know things were pretty rough over there. I don't believe this set had a long run, since a new set, reflecting a currency change, was issued about 6 months after this set.
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