Understanding Michel Listing Of Colors And Varieties

This is my translation of the listing of Michel Germany #45 3pf of 1889 including []s and ()s. On each line and color is listed followed by another color in [brackets]:

45a yellow brown [brown] (1889-1892)
45aa dark (yellow) brown [dark brown] (1889 / 1890)
45b medium brown [grey brown] (1891-1897)
45c light ocher brown [yellow brown] (1897-1900)
45d bright brown ocher [reddish ocher] (1897-1900)
45ca light ocher (1898-1900)
45cb bright orange brown [ocher brown] (1899-1900)
45e dark ocher brown [olive brown] (UV brownish black) (1899-1900)

My first question: What is significance of the [color] vs. the preceding color in the listing?


The UV color (see 45e above) is "as seen under a UV lamp". In the US we use two different types, long-wave (black light) and short-wave (for USA tagging). Using the long-wave, I have seen the prominent red orange glow on Michel Germany 96AIa (3m brownish violet) so I think that Michel refers to a long-wave UV lamp.

Compared to other examples of #45, the stamp in this scan looks obviously brownish black in long-wave light.




My second question: What do the dates in the Michel 45e listing (1899-1900) refer to?
I had assumed that Michel was listing the range of printing dates.
My cover, canceled 1896, cannot be Michel 45e if that variety was not printed before 1899.

However, Scott says that "on cover" values are for covers canceled within those same dates.
Why would varieties on cover be valued differently if the stamp was used later/earlier in the "normal" period that the basic stamp was current?

The listed color is the one that matches Michel's color guide. The bracket color is an unofficial, less-precise way of referring to the colors. I'm not positive, but I believe the bracketed colors may refer to a prior color system that Michel has been phasing out over the years.

The dates in parentheses refer to the printing dates. As such, yours can't be 45c-e. Several of these varieties are easy to place because the colors are very distinct, and several are not -- specifically, 45a, 45b, and 45e can look very similar. Since yours can't be 45e, it's either 45a or 45b. The colors looks more like a 45b to me, and that would also match the date.

It's a poor quality photo, but I snagged this off the Internet years ago to get some idea of the colors side-by-side.



I don't have all the varieties, but I may have most in my German Colonies collection (these issues were overprinted for use in the colonies). Let me dig through my photos and see if I can put together a good quality comparison photo.

Thank you Postmaster,

Great photo. Are the last two rows trial colors?

I agree that 45b is probably correct and the "glow" is inconclusive. I considered 45aa until I notice the cat. value. The cover is from Buck a Cover and they seem to have a healthy interest in Germany and probably would not have missed it.

My interest is in all of the Empire issues and I haven't ventured into Colony issues yet. The prospect of investigating the overprints and underlying issues is intriguing, but my free time is limited. Now when I retire...

For now I am having fun gaining experience in identifying differences in the Germany proper issues and understanding rates and uses.

I am planning to attending the GPS meeting at COMPEX next weekend although I can't find when it's scheduled. So I'll just have to go to all three days of the show.

DStamp,

I looked through my colonial issues, and managed to find copies of all colors except "a" and "aa" (the colony overprints were late enough that those varieties weren't used).

Top row is b, c, d. Bottom is e, ca, cb.

Postmaster - that's an excellent display of colour varieties! Thanks for sharing.

Postmaster

Great display. It really helps interpret the color descriptions.

I appreciate your time in creating it!

Here are scans from a friend.

Colours by the Michel catalogue





This one is very, very small... sorry

asmodeus,

Thank you and welcome to the forum!

I hope you will post some Great Britain Victorias for us.