Mexico Scott 178 Or 178A?

Is this 178 (ultra) or 178a (blue)?

Thanks for the help.

hi; looks like ultramarine..

Blue:

One person's ultramarine is another person's blue unfortunately. They are subject to fading with sunlight, washing after soaking etc. Also, I see them a little differently to how other people see them and have to compare using a colour chart. Have you tried a colour chart?

Hello friends!

@dkabq8.- your stamp look like blue

@perf12.- your stamp look like ultra.

Here is a image for comparison:



Regards!
Rodolfo

Thanks for the help!

These stamps come in various shades of blue and a scan of a single stamp will vary with each computer screen .

I thought it is other way around from rtvstamps picture. Isn't it ultra has more reddish hue than blue, or is it just my monitor?

Must be my monitor too.

For these kind of shade differences, I admit, I just accumulate stamps until they form recognizable clusters -- like in floortrader's illustration, get enough copies and it's easy to see the range of colors. (Mightn't work for the really scarce shades, but when there are two or more shades existing in quantity it's fine.) It's hard to identify color of a single stamp just from a catalog description (most catalogs aren't even internally consistent in their color definitions), and as a scan on a computer screen can look different depending on settings, on-line references can play tricks on your eyes as well.

Hello,

I thought I would add on to this thread as it somewhat pertains to my similar stamps.

Cinco Centavos:
The first one I think is blue #178a.
But the second one is what ? a color changeling due to soaking? Or just another shade ?

I agree; blue.


Either, but I would say an uncommon shade if it is that. I lean toward it being a changeling since it looks like the design is fading out at the right/upper right rather than being some kind of uneven print. Put a glass on that corner and see if there is ink still there that's lost its color. Also flip it over and if the embossing is as strong there as the rest of the stamp, it's faded, not a weak print.

Hello hy-brasil

I learned something today.

Under a 30x microscope the upper right outside line does not have heavy ink lines.
But it does have some small ink dots along that line.
And those dots do not appear any more faded than the more darker blue areas of the embossed stamp edge.

The back side of the stamp is not embossed as deeply as the rest of the stamp in that upper right quadrant.

Thanks for the reply and the tip.
htx