A Few Shades For The US #88 E-Grill

Hi-
There is another topic going on an E-Grill, and I had mentioned that it couldn't be a "Z" Grill because it wasn't light rose.

I misspoke. I meant to say "Dull Rose". All of the experimental grills on a 3c A25 stamp are only found in "Dull Rose". The first grills were experimental grills-- so that would be the "A", "B", "C", "D" and "Z" grills.

The "E" grills are found in several shades that have been identified by Mike McClung:

PALE ROSE
BROWNISH RED ROSE
LAKE RED
ROSE RED
DULL ROSE RED

Scott's lists 3 shades for #88: Rose, Pale Rose and Rose Red
Scott's lists a minor variety as #88a: Lake Red

Mike McClung does not list "ROSE" as a shade for #88, which is in conflict with Scott's.

So, I have been able to ID all of them except "Dull Rose Red", which I may have, but haven't been able to confirm it. Here they are:

PALE ROSE, Rarity Factor = 6


BROWNISH RED ROSE, Rarity Factor = 6



ROSE RED, Rarity Factor = 4


LAKE RED, #88a, Rarity Factor = 6




The Lake Red, #88a's each looks different, but when you look at the individual pixels on a high-res scan (9600), there is violet in each of them, which makes the color Lake.

I haven't been posting much lately, so I thought I'd throw these out there for those who have followed this stamp in the past....

Thanks, hope this was helpful.
Ray

Ray does McClung have a book or other references on these? This fascinates me to no end and I would like to learn more on the subject of shades.

Thanks Ray. Does the higher rarity factor number indicate a slightly higher CV? Or is it so minimal that there is no need to pay more for them?

I'm fairly fascinated with this stuff also! And it doesn't help that I'm red-green color blind; actually green blind.

You can find his articles in past issues of The Chronicle, but no color examples have been published until last summer, when they published the pinks. And the color was fairly accurate. The problem is that we are dealing with stamps that are 150 years old and no way to duplicate the shade in print or on a computer screen.

I still recommend:
Membership in USPCS, so you'll receive The Chronicle 4x a year.
Buying covers that are year dated with stamps that aren't faded.
Purchase covers and stamps from Mike McClung on ebay.
Purchase covers and stamps from Jack Daley on ebay and visit his site which is wonderful: 3cent1861.com

Jack has a very analytical way of determining the shade and he answers questions and I can't tell you enough how helpful he has been to me, and has id'd several shades for me.

That has been my approach, along with purchasing a good scanner- epson v500, which isn't expensive and comes with Photoshop Elements, which is the software that Jack Daley uses, and I'm learning how to. I can produce the scans but the challenge is learning how to interpret the scans. If you look at Jack's ebay sales, he does a wonderful job of showing the scans and explains why the shade is what it is.

Also about value, since Scott only publishes 7 shades, it's impossible to know value. Jack has some expensive items and they are fair. Try to find a claret...

Hope this helps, Ray

Can you give us the seller's ID for McClung and Daley? Entering their names on an ebay seller search fails to find them.

I just found Daley's ebay ID on his web page.

Thanks

Mike's is mikeemc
Jack's is JDaley3.703

Thanks Ray, I appreciate it.

Marty

That did it Ray, as soon as I get finished moving I'm going to become a member over at USPCS. Thank you for this enlightening post. -Jeff