New Arrival, Prob Pink, Hopefully Carmine Pink

Stamp is not sound, but I only spent $23 for it...and something different about this one compared to other pinks I have--





You'll see that the "3" that is enlarged twice is upside down, and that's the way that the stamp was on the envelope, so instead of the bottom of the three, it's the top of the "3" I'm looking at.

Here's what I'm looking at:
-- First with the enhanced "3" on top, Jack Daley has on many occasions wrote about the "wash" between the pixels. With this stamp there isn't any yellow wash- it's white. If it's yellow, well, yellow mixes with carmine to show rose, not pink. If there is yellow wash, but a lot of pink and purple in the pixels, it can still be rose pink.
-- Second and really evident on this copy. There is no border between the top of the "3" (really the bottom) and the rest of the stamp. That's because pinks had actually heavier inking and is per Mike McClung, a common characteristic of pinks.

But the thing that is different with this stamp, which is the darker pixels which is the carmine from the cochineal dye, is a slightly different shade than I've ever seen. Usually with Photoshop, if I look at the carmine pixels, they have a Hue value of "0" on the HSL scale, and these have a value of between "350" and "0"
-- think of it as a circle, 360 degrees, with Red as 0. If you go forward in numbers (0,1,2,etc) it becomes salmon, then orange. If you go backward (0,359,358,etc) it becomes pink, then violet.

So the carmine in the stamp is kind of, sort of, on the pink/violet side of the HSL scale.

So, bottom line in all of this, is that when I saw the stamp on ebay, even though it wasn't in good shape, I thought it looked darker than usual and thought it had a chance to be carmine pink. Now after looking at the pixels, I'm really, really hoping it does have that chance.

So, I'm inclined to try to have this one looked at, but don't know if any of the services can ID the specialized shades for the 3c 1861. 3 names that I know can are Jack Daley, Mike McClung and Richard Drews (who I haven't had the pleasure of meeting or having an exchange with).

When and if I'm able to find out, I'll let y'all know....Ray

Here is the area I'm talking about over the "3", actually under the three, which is the most concentrated colored area on a 3c 1861 stamp:

nice pictures, by chance you got any pigeon blood pink ones, scott# 64A? Have never seen one--interested in seeing what other post on this one---

91stang-- If you search the site, there have been plenty of discussions and images of the PBP shade. Lots of controversy over that shade, since there are several different opinions on what is and what isn't pigeon blood pink....

agreed--much controversy on that one--thanks

Hey Ray,
Unfortunately, your stamp does not have the requisite contrast under the 3's to be considered as a possible "true pink" variety:

https://goscf.com/t/44769&whichpage=3#380475

Your detailed analysis does hold some validity, but in this case it is superseded by the simpler criteria of requisite contrast in the indicated areas.

http://chronicle.uspcs.org/PDF/Chro...66/11600.pdf

Based on that article and the postmark date of your stamp, the potential options are:
7. Brilliant rose
8. Bright rose
9. Salmon rose
10. Pale carmine rose late 1861
11. Carmine rose
12. Brownish carmine rose

Given that accurate color comparison over the Internet can only be done if specific calibrations methods are adhered to, I cannot give you any opinion that is anywhere close to definitive.

Regardless, I do find the color to be attractive and I always love 1861 year dates for this issue.

Cheers!