Prexie Shades

As part of the formation of my new US collection, I'm now up to the Prexies (for the non US collectors that's the 1938 Presidential definitive issues )

This collection is to be a "one of everything" type. My version of one of everything is to include most minor Scott no's (eg 901a) and shades as well, but I assess this on a stamp by stamp basis. And of course it will never be completed.

So I'm deciding on whether to get the shade varieties of the Prexies or just stick with one example of each. The problem I face is that I only collect MNH (where cost allows ) and I strive for VF-XF+ on every stamp. So I select each stamp individually, I don't buy sets or groups. This is quite a challenge in itself with so many XF stamps being graded and having the enormous price tag that goes with it. But so far I'm managing, just involves a lot of searching. The second problem is sellers don't list shades, only Scott no, and it's impossible to tell shades online.

So a couple of questions:- firstly does anyone collect or have the different shades? How distinguishable are they? Are they so similar that you can hardly tell or are they quite distinct?

Does anyone know any good sellers for Prexies they can recommend? Anyone got any ideas how I could go about my mission without having to buy heaps of copies and hoping I get the diff shades? I often end up paying more for each stamp than CV, even ungraded an XF+ stamp usually gets listed at a higher price. And that doesn't bother me, but it makes searching for shades more difficult. So any suggestions?

Thanks
Balf

In most cases, the Scott listed color varieties quite distinct and are fairly easy to distinguish, especially when compared to some shade varieties of earlier issues.

The problem, as you alluded to, is that online scans can be so "off-color", that unless there's a single side-by-side scan, you really cannot be sure of what you are getting.

I'm not good with IDing colors of single stamps. However, when you have a bunch of them together, the Scott listed color varieties are pretty easy to spot (especially among mint stamps). If you have to scratch your head and wonder if I have a real color variety or just a slight production variation in inking composition, then you DON'T have the Scott listed color variety.

Also, for most of the Prexies, these are actual inking changes, not just anomalous inking problems. That is why most of the color varieties have the same catalog value.

It would probably be worth your while to examine any online bulk lots of Prexies that are sorted by Scott number, as a practice.

Have fun! The Prexies are a great series!

k

Obviously, this is strictly my personal opinion, but I would say just focus on getting one example of each (i.e., Scott major catalog number).

I believe there are only 4 color varieties that have a minor Scott catalog number. If you want to collect some color varieties, I would suggest you limit yourself to these four -- for both sanity and financial reasons. All the other known color varieties will end up being a money pit.

k

The problem with stamps this vintage and older (and some a little newer) is that there was a lack of consistency in how the ink was mixed. The "recipes" for certain colours called for certain "ingredients" which over time were no longer produced and substitutions were made, to outright changes in the shade for economic reasons. I remember seeing one such "recipe" which noted quantities in pounds. Obviously, any shortfall or overage or wrong estimation would result in a different colour being produced.

Go for the recognized shades that khj mentions first, but for others, I think I would just look through accumulations to find them.

Warning: getting into shades can be addictive. I first would only keep those that were so obviously different looking, then I got interested into looking into the different degrees between them which were plentiful.

Wanna talk shades? I don't know exactly how many shades this little bugger comes in, maybe David knows exactly, but some of them can be quite drastic...



...the most sought-after comes in a shade called Indian red, and has been traced to a certain batch where the ink wasn't mixed right.

I haven't gotten my copy yet (Santa?) but The Prexies by Roland Rustad might help you in this quest.

http://www.usstamps.org/books.html

I just put a couple of pages of the 3 cent queens up for anyone who is interested. They are in the Canadian section of the forum.