The Story Behind Stamp Colors

When the first US Postal Stamps came out they came in two colors Brown and which Black which was one more color than what Ford offered on their Model T. A three short years later the addition of blue, orange, red and green in various shades added some diversity to indicate the difference in the values.

Colors were assigned to various values and prior to 1898 you could find blue used for the 1 cent, 3 cent, 5 cent and 90 cent stamps. Green was used for the 2 cent, 3 cent, 4 cent, 10 cent, 12 cent, 15 cent, 3 dollar and 5 dollar stamp.

Stamp values just keep coming in a multiple of colors the 5 cent stamps could be found in brown, red, and blue through these early years. If you take a look you could add a lot more to this list.

However this all changed in 1898 with the Congress of Universal Postal Union. While the CUPU was organized in 1874 to standardize and simplify the international mailing system is wasn't until 1989 that the colors were finally set.

A long lasting color relationship was set. Green was set for the 1 cent stamp, red for the 2 cent stamp and blue for the 5 cent stamp. At the time these values were used for different types of international mail.

But the color and value relationship was to last through many decades on US Stamps.

The colors of stamps is one of my favorite topics. Currently, I am working on as many shades as I can afford of the Great Britain George V issues from 1913 to the end of the reign. The one cent alone has as many as 16 shades. A couple of them are far out of my ability to get them--thousands of pounds each. (dollars too!)

Yesterday, I was working on my US collection and realized that I had the two major colors of SC No 512. The second color even has an "a" number.

On the maintenance of color/value relationship of US stamps mentioned by mkfarm, that is the reason why there are so many red two cent commemoratives of the 1920's and early 1930's. When the postal rate for first class went to three cents the commemoratives began being issued in the 3 cent color --violet. Makes them a little monotonous as far as color is concerned.

Thanks for the mini-lesson mk!

Colours for stamps of that era were determined by the U.P.U. For example, the international U.P.U. surface rate stamp had to be blue.

Once countries startedd issuing multicoloured, lithographed stamps, the practise of requiring stamps paying certain rates was dropped.

David

very interesting and educational!

Rohumpy I agree about the monotony did I spell it right ? of the colors of the commems..when I started collecting in 1949 I immediately was interested in the colorful stamps from other countries as opposed to the mostly green U.S. commems that were being issued at the time...

Great Lesson MK.

I agree with you rohumpy and phil. When I started my first collection as a teen I loved the colorful stamps. Now that I am older and somewhat wiser I like the history and detail in the classics.

Dianne

And beyond the color...Can you just imagine the modern multi-color approach with the classic engraving?

Many of the US stamps from the "classic" period are identified by their color. Is there a good source that shows what these very specific colors actually look like? Were the color names created by the Post Office or other official source or are the names what Scott called them?

There are color gauges available, though I don't think Scott has one any longer. The names come from the publishers and will vary. Sometime in the past I compared Scott and Minkus color names for the same stamps. If you'd like a demonstration, a search using my name should bring it up.

The problem is that colors are subjective. One person's perception of a color may not (indeed usually ) match another person. Also colors are subject to alteration, particularly 100 year old stamps.

I have yet to find a color gauge which solves the problem. I have used the Stanley Gibbons gauge, but in many respects it is unsatisfactory.

There used to be and I think still is a gauge called the Wonder Color Gauge. It was just awful.

The problem with color gauges is with the printing method. Unless the printing method of the gauge is the same as the printing method of the stamp then there will be a large measure of uncertainty. Ideally, the gauge should have colors printed by the methods of printing stamps. Obviously, this would be a very expensive undertaking. You would have to have the entire range of colors printed by ingaglio, typography, photogravure, lithography, offset, and who knows what else.

Secondly, the pigments chosen would have to match the ink pigments of the stamps. This may be an impossibility.

Bottom line---it's not going to happen. We will still have to make the best judgement we can, or accept other people's judgements.

One more thing and I do apologize for the length of the post. I recently bought a half cent Mackennal design (profile head) of the George V stamp of Great Britain. It was a little more expensive (10 pounds). It is supposed to be the "Apple Green" shade--i.e. dull yellow green (Stanley Gibbons description of the color) I am not sure at all if it is correct. I just looks to me like the yellow green shade and not the dull shade. However, I bought from a reputable dealer and pretty much have to accept their assignment of color. I do have the yellow green shade, and there is a difference.

i was going through my USA stamps yesterday all the red george washington stamps I noticed there are lots of different shades so I hooked up the digital blue and was looking at them up real close how am I ever going to know what I have I may have that one priceless stamp. but then I see how much knowledge say Phil for example what he has said he has been collecting since 195? gosh how many years does that make it more than 50 cause you started a good 10 years before I was even bornlol

Rohumpy said:



I've been a specialised collector of the King George VI reign of our Empire & Commonwealth for over ten years. The shade differences are subtle, in some cases. I find using a broad-spectrum lamp (like an Ott Light) and having a well trained eye, helps.

I have also learned to compare stamps from the same printer, and when looking for a specific colour variety, to have a good dozen or so copies of the stamp in question. The colour varieties stand out, then! Mind you, it's rather difficult if you are studying an expensive stamp.

Many of the better Empire & Commonwealth dealers have reference collections for the "good stuff".

David

Tina, do not despair...i "collected" in many various stages..in my 30's I just started getting serious..in the last 20 years even more so..you are an adult with a lot more "things" available to you to learn about stamp collecting than the 9 year old than I was...this internet forum is just one example...good hunting !!

Tina if you are speaking about the Washington stamps from the early 1900's don't worry about the color. They are identified by their perfs, watermarks and printing type (flat or rotary). The Washingtons from the late 1800's use watermarks along with type of triangle. So really the shade or color of the red is not that important.

While the ones from

Thanks for your response David. There is a GB dealer--Mark Sargent--who has images of the various colors, but, I don't know know faithfully his images and my computer reproduce the colors. On a few of the shades, the difference is obvious, but on others a lot is left to the imagination.

On the half cent George V, first profile head issue, there is a shade called in Gibbons "Cyprus green" which costs several thousand pounds. In that case I would think a stamp authenticating body would be called upon. The Cyprus green is described in Gibbons specialized as "very dull yellow green". The Mark Sargent image is very different from the other greens.

I would think your collection is a sight to behold. The George VI issues almost always had local scenes of the colony or Commonwealth country. I do know that such a collection is not an inconsequential undertaking, since a large number of stamps is involved. It must give you a lot of pleasure. I know that my GB has caused me to while away far too much time.

I do sometimes think that I have pretty much gone off the deep end. I have just started a collection of all and I do mean all of the Machin heads (QE II) of Great Britain. There are sooooooooooo many. And yes, many of them differ in shade alone.