Columbian Postal Stationery.

*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***
Columbian postal stationery different shades.Inputs and feed backs appreciated. Thanks.

Hi Selva

This is United States Postal Stationery. I am not a US collector but I believe this was issued for the Columbian Exposition.

Jerry B

To Moderator: this should be moved to the US forum with a different spelling of ColUmbia.

Nice covers Selva. The unused one is a nice advertising cover, from the publisher of what we now know as Merriam Webster Dictionary.
Scott's Specialized doesn't list a colour variation for this stamped envelope. It is described as violet, valued $1.75 unused, $.50 used.
I would say the top cover qualifies a violet (though it does look a lot like the colour of the wine sitting next to my computer right now, which would qualify as more of a burgundy ). The unused one is venturing more into the red territory.

Since it wasn't mentioned earlier, that would be a Scott Catalog No. U349.

(12 years later...)

Glad to see that this topic was previously addressed. I recently acquired some mint examples of the Columbian envelopes and was puzzled when I didn't see listings in Scott for the 2c violet and color variants. The color difference between my examples seem further apart than the original poster's, e.g., merlot vs. pinot noir. (Images cropped from entires.)

For another example of US violets/purples that had a wide range, thy 501 & 502.

In reality, the Scott U.S. "Specialized" catalog is only a semi-specialized catalog or it would be immense. One must go to the individual authors or to specialty societies and their journals, catalogs, and monographs for more detailed listings.
This is especially true when it comes to postal stationery. The "Catalog of the 19th Century Stamped Envelopes and Wrappers of the United States" published by the United Postal Stationery Society (I have the 2001 edition in front of me), illustrates the various embossing dies and knives (which make the different envelope sizes), and shades. They list violet as the primary shade as well as a secondary red-violet for many of the die/knife combinations. Not to mention 130 years of environmental factors.