(65?) Canceled Strip Of 3 -Any Guesses On Color Variety?

I had that one on my watch list. Another 65 from same seller to go for an unusually high price. Hard to say what color, I'm sure the blue green background doesn't help. Buyers seem to think this seller cornered the market on rare color 1861 3 centers.

Hi, Ray... I bought the strip... I'll re-scan when I receive
it, and perhaps we may be looking at a whole different color...

Randall

disi, assuming that your scanner is accurate, I would describe the color of your stamps as being a variant of carmine. The color is well saturated and the detail of printing is high, so it is at very least mildly desirable. Beyond that, very little can be determined without color calibrated scans, nor without much effort to create a database of color shades. I'm working on such a method, but it is very much in the early development stages.

I cannot tell you if what you have is rare, scarce, or common, but I can tell you that I do like it and you should hang onto it until I and others eventually find a method of positive identification of the various shades.

Open mouth, insert foot! I watched it, so obviously found it interesting. The price was just too high for me without a good idea of what it is. I'm curious what you think it might be. I'd love to see a quality scan when you get it, and hear more if you decide it's worth a cert.

Hi, Ray... I'm not really sure what color it is, but when I scan it,
I'll look at the scan as it appears on my screen versus its actual
color and adjust as needed, so when I post, it should be close to
it's real color...

Pricewise, it came out to $15.33 per stamp... don't know if it's a
good price or a bad price... but I like it and will keep it...

Randall

I was one of the under-bidders on this item, so congrats to disi123 on a nice buy. Regardless as to the "actual" shade, it does have an attractive, bold color. Had the date been clearer, it would have closed even higher. Very much looking forward to learning what you find when it arrives!

Hello, Kurt... thank you kindly for your input...

It was the combination of the intense color and the combination
which attracted me to it... I've got a number 'dull' 65's, which
likely many of us do... this one, indeed stands out as you have
noticed... sorry you were the under-bidder...

Randall

I guess we were all watching this one. I'm thinking its possibly a mid 1864 Brick Red shade, which has a rarity factor of 8 on Mike McClung's scale, but that's just an amateurish opinion based on my limited evaluation of colors for this issue and based on how my monitor shows it. If Ray Mac see this post, he may be able to pin it down better. Good buy in any event Randall.

disi123..I am no expert, but I used my colour picker software to take accurate shots of your stamp..a carmine stamp and another stamp like yours..Remember old age has a lot to do with the degree of variation in colours...Just posted for fun.
Robert

Dave/Al E. Gator, the mid 1864 Brick Red shade is a possibility, but only because of scanner inaccuracies. The shade that I see is very different than the Brick Red which truly looks like the color of red bricks. Without scanner calibration, we just don't know for certain.

wert, your sampled color does represent the dominant shade well, but it excludes a plethora of color information that is necessary for shade identification. Your post does do well in contrasting its dominant shade against the dominant shade of issues from 30 years later. "Carmine" is actually many different shades for the various issues over at least 100 years time.

Color information for any stamp includes at least two dimensional graphs for at least 4 different variables. Color analysis is quite complex. I applaud your efforts to provide context. However, it cannot replace an experienced eye and cannot overcome the variability of uncalibrated scanners.

You absolutely noted correct information in that aging can create another variable to shade identification. With time I hope to educate you and everyone else on my methods of complete color sampling and how to best analyze the resulting data. You are obviously computer savvy and will probably understand the concepts more easily than others.

Until an accurate database of shade data is collected, the only reliable method of shade identification is direct in hand comparison with reference stamps. This is where expertisers such as Bill Weiss are so valuable to the hobby.

I applaud your desire to contribute and I believe that you can help contribute to the effort. For now, please continue to contribute with posts such as you have done in this thread. Please also include that your analysis is limited by many caveats. You already did so in this thread, but please also include that scanner calibration is an absolute necessity and that shades are dependent on a stamp's issue and not a "named shade".

Thank you for the compliment, but let me quickly state that I am no more proficient on identifying the countless shades of the 3c 1861-68 stamp than most advanced collectors. As you said, a reference collection assembled by someone who really knows the issue is the key. While I am quite able to identify the major catalog numnbers rather easily (mostly from looking at them for the last 40+ years!) and some of the minor shades, I can not identify a lot more than I just noted.

Followup... new thread with updated pic...

Seller originally scanned on green background...

I scanned on both white and black... it varied...

https://goscf.com/t/43549