Airmail Stamp Color

As some of you know I have been trying to complete my U.S. Airmail Collection 100% Mint. One of the nine stamps I need has me puzzled. C1 Scott's Specialized catalog 2013 and the USPS 2011 guide to U.S. Stamps. Both show C1 as orange. I have noticed some of the C1 stamps up in auctions show as orange and some as a rose color. Why the two different colors? Is it a fault in the scanners? Has the stamp faded? Why the difference? All of course are listed as Mint. MNH

A little help please.

The C1 stamp color is definitely orange. There may be shades of orange of various intensities on certain stamps, as the Scott catalog does make reference to a "pale orange" color also, but since the color orange is notorious for changing when exposed to light, it can create all kinds of seemingly odd colors to the stamp.

I've never heard of a "rose color" C1 for this issue. Perhaps a scan or a link to an auction listing would help us better understand what you are referring to.

Being color-blind, I could easily call the rust-colored, "oxidized" copies "rose". Such is the limitation of a deuteronope!

I will take a stab at this - what I think you are seeing, Tinman, is a phenomena caused by a reaction with the orange ink in the stamps and sulfer dioxide (polution in the air).

It has been discussed in great detail here on SCF, and can be found on all orange US stamps beginning with the "baby banknotes" in 1890 (Scott 229) and continuing on through (at least) the 4th bureau issues of the 1920s, 1930s, and beyond ...

Brian

wt1 here is a link to stamps2go http://www.stamps2go.com/Item.aspx?...ORTC&Ref=C1a

Definitely an "oxidized" orange stamp. This is common and is considered a flaw, albeit minor.

Brian

Well I certainly want an orange one not one faded or off colored one.

Thanks everyone for your help.

Me too now! Before, I didn't know so few airmail stamps would be printed in 25 years. I also never had the Zeppelins, so I figured why complete it if it's not going to be complete. Now I am trying to get from 1988 to the present.

A pleasant financial departure from trying to finish the 1908-1909 Washington Franklins.

Here is US C1...





-IBFS