C118 With Green Rather Than Grey Jacket

I thought I'd bring this post up again for new members to see. Maybe there may now be some information in a specialized catalog.

This one has had me puzzled for many years. I don't know what to make of the two C118 stamps on this cover. Is the coat on the right C118 a possible color error of green instead of gray? I have had 100s of this issue and only these three stamps (and maybe one more on cover) have green jackets.

Note: On Oct 26, 2012, I removed a few unhelpful images and replaced them with two new ones displayed below.

There are 3 different variations of the four C118 examples. The top two on the same cover both have grey shading on the plane's tail but the left stamp has a grey jacket on Sam and the right stamp has a green jacket on him. The bottom two stamps have green jackets and both have green shading on the plane's tail. The really odd ball is the top right on cover stamp with a green jacket but with grey shading on the plane's tail. (The bottom two stamps are not part of the cover.)



Below is a detail of the two on cover stamps. The left one with the grey jacket shows what appears to be green dots at the top of the collar. The dark dots on the green jacket are black, not grey. They are also on the grey jacket but are less noticeable.

It could be just a colour variation, it's not unusual.
Here is one I posted some time ago.
The middle picture is just a composite to compare the colours.




Steve

You may very well be right, Steve. Your Australian examples do show a great color variation. It is certainly possible that my C118 is also a color variation. But green and gray seem to me to be a bit further apart than the yellow variations you have.

I scanned mine again at 2400 dpi and can see that the lapel edge is shaded with black dots on both stamps. I can also see a number of green dots of color peeking out from under the gray collar on the back of Sam's neck of the normal colored stamp on the left.

Marty

Here are two more 2400 dpi of the jackets

quigngt,

The only difference that Scott makes is in the tagging, block vs overall. BTW, in the 2011 color example, the coat is more green than blue, like the one on the left.

Art

Probably an omitted color. have to check the plate selvage to figure out which one. Could be just fading but doubtful.

Art, I'm not sure I am following you. When you say "blue". do you mean the stamp I am interchangeably calling "gray" and "dark gray" (see below)? Does the Scott 2011 show the coat color of the left stamp or the right stamp of the two on the cover?

I am positive that fading is not a possibility on these particular stamps. Otherwise both stamps on the cover would have faded equally. Plus they were given to me by co-workers in 1989 shortly after they received them. I have had them stored since this issue was current and the color has not changed. (Issued May 14, 1988) I had 100s of these go through my hands and the "normal" coat color is gray (a better color description would be dark gray) as is the left stamp on the cover. All catalog examples I have seen are also the dark gray coat color.

When I locate the original cover above, I'll rescan its stamps at a higher resolution.

Original comment on this date deleted to avoid confusion with my newest comments.
Marty

No, I have not given up on properly ID this C118 with green color. I came across this ebay item today. It is the first time I have seen anything that might satisfy my search to ID it. Does AL12122033 below mean anything to anyone. Is it a specialized catalog number? What do you think?

Check this link with my stamps. The two colors shown are exactly what I have.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1988-Samuel...em58acb9f753

The following is a quote from the seller's description.
1988, Samuel P. Langley 45 (C.) flight pioneer, VFU VARIETY: ERROR COLOUR BLUEGREEN instead of GREYBLUE (Jacket, Frameline, Rudder of the Airplane), extremely rare - possibly UNIQUE, (Scott No. C118 VFU GENUINE COLOUR-VARIETY) (AL12122033)

I decided to check the seller's other stamps with "colour missing" or "colour error". All appear to be faded, color variant or bleached. His prices are unreasonable which I can assume is also true with his C118. I now see that his items have his own numbering beginning with "AL" followed by numbers so I am back to square 1 on finding out what I have. It seems to me that since I have 4 of these green coat stamps, I would think them to be less common variation but not "rare". Now that I see someone else with a green coat, I will continue my on again and off again search. I will say that I believe his C118 with green coat is not faded. The four I have were all given to me in the early 1990s and I recall that at least two of them were mailed by the same person. They have remained unchanged in color since the time I received them which is one reason why I doubt that fading is the cause.