Colour Guide - Back Again At Stanley Gibbons

Someone in the last few days asked about availability of Colour Guides. By coincidence, as per an email today, Stanley Gibbons has re-introduced theirs. Details at:

https://www.stanleygibbons.com/prod...jkMi%2BR8Gg=

At GBP 24.95, it sure beats buying a set of Pantone colour chips.

A caveat however is that SG colour names are as used in SG catalogues and may not match those used in other catalogues.

Caveat 2: Colour Guides have a fairly short shelf life - five years seems to be the consensus. I intend to buy one when I get home from "summer camp" in PEI. It will be interesting to check it against my 40 year old SG concise colour guide.

Soon after starting collecting Stamps I thought a colour swatch might help me identify stamps. My local stamp shop had the SG swatch in stock, but advised me that they weren't very useful. I asked why in that case he stocked them and was told it was because peple insisted on buying the swatches despite his advice. I bought one and quickly found out the guy was correct. I have never found mine useful. I have not heard of anyone I know finding them more than useful, occasionally.

Let us know how you fare Frank, Your results.
I used mine frequently when beginning collecting,
esp the maroon hues.

Noocassel - I agree with you 100%. I have never found them to be useful. They do give me a headache though.

Colors have always been a challenge.

I used the SG guide for a while but with very limited success.

I've had better luck with the "Wonder Color Gauge" and the "Scott Specialized Color Guides for U.S. Stamps". I also bought the books "Color in Philately by R.H. White and "The Color Handbook (Universal Identity System of 1,500 colors)". The color hand book has been very useful but at times translating the color nomenclature to the Scott's name for the color has been a chore. I've slowly mapped some of the more common numbers out.

What ever you use, keep them in an environmentally controlled area and a drawer or place light isn't going to get to them as temperature, humidity and sunlight, will wash/taint the colors just like it effects your stamps.

Lately, since I scan a lot, I've used Photo Shop to identify the colors by code. In some instances you need to hit the spot that you are trying to ID with the blur tool first or use an extreme magnification.

There are a number of color ID tools on the web but keep in mind that screen's can also alter color if not calibrated (most aren't). Although newer monitors seem to be better at this. Some can be set with a bit of effort and some cannot.

There are also color translators that will convert the color codes between HEX, RGB, HSL, HSV, CMYK, etc. Again, color names can be a challenge as different sources will call the same color a different name.

I'd like to get my hands on a set of the multi-volume "Encyclopedia of Colors of United States Postage Stamps" by R.H. White if even just to examine it and see if it lives up to the price tag... the full set can rock around $1200+ !!

EDIT: I should also mention lighting is important. Use an Ott light if possible, or at the lest the same light source for all of your "in-hand" color comparisons but that won't help if you try to compare it to something on the PC. Personally, I always try to work with colors under my Ott light.

Color matching systems used by quality companies and organizations include a controlled ambient light to view the color samples under. The light must be calibrated and the bulbs replaced often, just as the color chips themselves must be replaced every few years.

Most people can ID primary colors, but differentiating between subtle hues, tints, and shades takes highly controlled/defined ambient lighting, fresh color chips, and an experienced and trained set of eyes. From what I have seen over the years the majority of hobbyists and catalog editors color ID can best be classified as 'best guess'. I am always amazed that people are willing to drop significant amounts of money on dicey and ephemeral color IDs.
Don

Don, agreed. I'd love to see what makes RH Whites encyclopedia worth that much money. I'd rather spend that kind of money on stamps. Having said that between the references I listed above I probably have close to $120-150 invested. Color chips will last longer if stored properly, only bringing them out while in use, but you're right they will change.

I only use my Ott light when working with colors and do change the bulb but I don't have access to equipment to validate/calibrate it. It's "close enough" for my use and as far as I'm willing to push the identification.

You'd think it would be the other way around but the biggest problem I have is the longer I work at it the worse I actually get, so I do this is short sessions.

The Smithsonian has a downloadable paper entitled Philatelic Shade Discrimination Based on Measured Color, by Herendeen, Lera and Allen, at the address below:

https://repository.si.edu/bitstream...&isAllowed=y