1905 Guadeloupe Color Differences

Not much value (none of my stamps really are), but I put these stamps side-by-side and see a noticeable color difference. Scott 55 (SG 62) is described as "purple-brown/straw" in the SG book. (Violet-Brown/straw in Scott's). Do you see a difference in these?



In addition, I see a few scratches that almost look like sun-rays near the mountains on the top stamp. These don't appear on any of my other copies. Is this an unlucky plate scratch?

Poor printing method caused the scratches? And the color difference may have something to do with the paper - I see two distinct shades of paper.

Peter

Peter. Yes, two shades of paper, but I was thinking that this didn't explain the greater color difference. My thought is that color quality control was just lacking ... along with the scratches from poor printing methods, as you suggest. Off to a show tomorrow, and maybe to pick up some more examples.

You seem to see quite a lot of these paper varieties etc - as opposed to toning from climatic causes - on French colonial stamps, but, for some reason, the catalogues don't seem to pay them any attention.