Iding 1891 US Postage Dues

If you recall some of my earlier postings, I've recently acceded to my grandfather's collection and am now beginning to go through things. I was "drawn" to a page of postage dues a scan of which I am posting.

I'd like to draw your attention to the section marked 1894. I really feel out of my depth on post dues since I really had never dealt with these. I've got the Scott 2010 Specialized US Catalog at hand and I can see that the design here is clearly D2. But, that design was used up till 1925.

But, what is very confusing at the color designations. These vary from "vermilion" to "deep claret" to"carmine" to "pale rose" to "dull rose" to "carmine rose".

I haven't yet pulled these off the page yet to look for a watermark.

I'd appreciate some guidance on how to best ID these. I know that my grandfather places these at being the 1894 series, J29 to J37, but I see a color variation with the 3 cent variety and thought that this might belong else where. I'm also uploading a scan of that stamp.

Some suggestions on a protocol for IDing would be appreciated.

-Larry

Larry, I have two stock pages that are packed, just like your
page illustrated, and the frustration of determining which color
is which, is very daunting. I have noticed that the ink on one
color will be "thicker??" than others. I've never taken the time
to dig any deeper than just to sort the perfs. Yet another rainy
day project added to the large pile of rainy day stuff.
Best of luck.
Phil