What Color Is This 2c Perry Davis? (Rs78-Rs80)

Hi,

I have a 2c Perry Davis on silk paper and I'm not quite sure what color it is. Scott has four colors listed for the 2c on silk. dull purple, slate, dull red, and brown. I have the first three in the photo for reference (assuming I have those right). Brown, if it exist, is unique.

The stamp in question is lower left. I included a 4c brown as well.

I really don't think it is slate. :)

There is a 2c brown red, but that was only on old paper.

?

Could be a pale brown. Could also be a late issue of the slate stamps which were also brown, just as the with first issues; the four cent stamps in particular.

revcollector, by pale brown do you mean brown that has faded, or a different (non-catalogued) color?

Also, could you explain the late issue slate which were also brown?

Thanks

there is a better chance that this is a purple that has changed color due to oxidation or chemical interaction. in that era all of the purple/violet inks of that era were fugitive. speaking as a sometimes artist purple is a mix of yellow and brown. I do not think it is a new color variety.
i am unaware of any major color changes of the 4 cent value other than normal light/dark shades.

m_and_m, Interesting about the color mix purple=brown+yellow. I have a few green (blue+yellow) stamps where the yellow was chemically removed to make a blue stamp.

Perhaps something like this happed, either by accident or age, or on purpose to make the rare brown.?

Any way to find out for sure?

The stamp at the lower left with the question mark is RS78b, the dull purple. The stamp at the top left is a shade of slate and is a RS78Ab.

What is interesting about the 2c Perry Davis in slate and dull purple is to compare them with the colors and shades of the First Issue 4c Proprietary, R22c and the $2.50 Inland Exchange, R84c. The shades and colors of these three stamps are intermixed, but the First Issues were assigned one catalog number and the Perry Davis had the colors broken in to more than one catalog number.

Thanks Eric. However my head is spinning a bit now. :)

I've been using Bob's site as a "color guide" for the Perry Davis issues:

http://www.rdhinstl.com/mm/rs75.htm

What it has for dull purple (left most stamp in the group of three 2c) is a lot like what I have labeled RS78. Is the RS78 on the site the wrong stamp or are my eyes deceiving me?

If you gather enough examples of RS78b and RS78Ab, you will have numerous shades. Your stamp and that on the Bob Hohertz page are both RS78b, the "dull purple" and not slate.

This image of R84c displays what I mentioned before. There are more shades that could be added and many of the Perry Davis shades will match to it.

It was assembled by William Aichele in the 1950's or 60's, then resided in the Frank Q. Newton collection for many years and I obtained it after he passed.

I have no idea where I got the "slate" version, or who identified it as such. Eric, I ordered yours and will make the correction when it arrives. The one on my site identified as slate does look a bit purple to my eyes, but we know that cataracts can cause color perception to change, and people do see colors differently, so I wouldn't put too much weight on that.

Additionally, the unstable violet ink was very susceptible to environmental "changeling" effects, which is why you will occasionally see them in blues and greens and other "unusual" shades. While R22 and R84 those most often encountered, similar ranges of color will be seen on R21 and R51-R52.

(My apologies for the difference in image sizes; I need to go back through the thousands of images and make uniform "display" sizes...)

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I've corrected my "color chart":

Okay, the slate example on my site is now a pale gray, the one out of Eric's stock.