France Ceres Classics, I Need Help Classifying.

Perf12:

I don't see a 40c orange-red scott 5 a listed in Scott catalog. Can you elaborate? I thought may be forgery?

In scott this would be 7a (orange -vermillon).In Fench this would be
orane vif. Could you post a nice pic of this stamp alone?.There are some things that bother me.I think the 2 40c are forgeries.

Yes the 40c orange (red orange or orange-verm) as I suspected is clear forgery
bottom example is certified genuine to compare

my example has very faint dots (period) after letters and numbers- they are so faint I can barely see them.
letters are much thinner/spaced out.

bottom of oval where it meets lower label is mess, and white line above lower label is mess compared to genuine (too thick compared to white line below lower label- they should be about equal thickness)

hair is not correct on back of head lower part
there are other inconsistencies as well

would be curious if anyone knows who produced this forgery?

Looking more closely I now think it is an overinked specimen.Pearl shapes are conform to genuine printings from the original cliché.
The thin letters would be due to the inking that reduced the thickness of the letters.There can be a number of factors that went into printing the 40c.Notice all the small dots & lines are heavier than in the normal printings.The shorter foot of the 'R' and shorter 'P' exist in some rarer printings.
The other thing possible is that it is printers waste or a defective color trial with a forged cancel..
In any event it is a scarce stamp.

Hi all,

I am working on my France Album. Having a little trouble with my Ceres 1870-73. The 40c stamps. I know they are Scott 59 type 1. But the difference in color? How can I tell if they are Orange on Yellowish or orange yellow on yellowish? Thanks all. Just looking to put them in the correct place.

If I had to pick one from the other, the last picture looks more orange-yellow on my screen.

The orange-yellow will look a hint browner than the orange. As least that's how my eyes see it, and I'm not sure how to describe it better.

Nora - bonjour, et bonne année. Maury actually lists five shades of the 40c Cérès: orange; orange-yellow; light orange; dark orange; and dark orange-red. With the caveats about monitors, colour changes etc, I'd characterise yours as orange-yellow and orange in Scott terms. Don't get hung up on shades - it'll make your head hurt, and it really doesn't matter unless you try to sell a particular stamp and claim a particular shade. Remember, you're just amusing yourself.

Edit: Bobby - you've just confirmed my reluctance to rely on my colour-picking judgment!

Señor Geoff! Hola y Feliz Año. That is very helpful. I am definitely not looking to sell and agree, those colors are making my head hurt :). Looking forward to adding more as I go. Nora.