Anyone Want To Play A Color Game? US SC 688-716, Carmine, Carmine Lake, Lake, Etc.

Because im terrible with colors, but curious, am I on the right track - what do you think? I know scanners & screens make it virtually impossible, but here ya go...

I have US Sc 688 as only in carmine rose. US Sc 690 either carmine rose or deep carmine rose. To me it looks to be carmine rose. US Sc689 comes in carmine rose or carmine lake. I think carmine lake. And finally US Sc 716 comes in carmine, carmine rose, lake or carmine lake. I dont think it's carmine rose. So carmine, lake or carmine lake? Im guessing carmine solely on the .35¢ value...

Thoughts ? That is besides, why are you even trying this on a computer.

As you correctly state it is impossible to identify colours on a PC even with a great scan.

Yes. But with all things being equal, and there is only 1 choice of color in a particular stamp, one can use that as a reference? Thats got to be a little different than saying here's one stamp, what color is it? right??

Lake has an element of brown or sepia I don't see in any of the scans.

https://goscf.com/t/62737

I usually look for an element of blue to say a stamp is Carmine. Carmine has no orange or brown in it and it is generally "deeper" than Scarlet due to the presence of blue.

I know..... not very useful.

Stamps4Life actually stated "scanners & screens make it virtually impossible".

The best method (and perhaps only reliable method) to identify digitally is to scan multiple suspected colors together in the same scan to show the actual color varieties by reference to other colors, not separately. If you suspect that you have a lake or carmine lake variety, scan it with a carmine and/or carmine rose stamp to show the subtle color difference. Even then, it's not always foolproof. Sometimes, certification is required to validate and verify color varieties.

My opinion: they are all carmine rose. None is lake, and the 690 is not "deep."

Thanks all for looking. The only thing I know for sure is the Sc 688 carmine rose. The others to me in person do not look like that . Interesting though. I may try to see if I can get the image to look more as they do in person - but - even then and re-posting the image, it's no substitute for an expert opinion. I'm not at that point yet….

When seeking color/shade opinions, the *less* one does to an image the better. No labels, no adjustments, no enhancements, no nothing Just a plain scan with all stamps in the same image so the parameters are inherently identical. That gives us a fighting chance.

Above are the plain scans. All I added there was the text.

Add nothing extra. Do nothing extra. Period.

Ok, try this. Un touched except what I had to do to get it to upload in Image Optimizer.

So, I sent in 716 to get expertised for color verification. I got the cert back and no color is listed on the certificate . Scott catalog notes Sc 716 as carmine rose and on the very next line carmine - still under the 716 listing. How do I know which color mine is?? On my application I asked for color verification.

Even from a scan, there is no chance that any of these will be lake.

So, I sent in 716 to get expertised for color verification. I got the cert back and no color is listed on the certificate . Scott catalog notes Sc 716 as carmine rose and on the very next line carmine - still under the 716 listing. How do I know which color mine is?? Shouldn't a color be listed on the certificate if color verification is asked for and 2 colors are listed for Sc 716?

Several thoughts come to mind:
1. You do not tell us what certifying entity you sent the stamp to. It would be useful to show the cert, so we know exactly what they said.
2. There would be no expectation of any entity differentiating between the two minor shades of carmine rose vs carmine, but rather only between those two collectively versus the scarce lake variety.
3. The easiest way to get both of the common shades is to acquire a number of copies and compare them, etc.

So I've not sent in a lot requests for certifications - maybe 2. I thought that the comments section of the application, of what I was trying to verify is what they would do as I've seen lots of others verifying colors by getting stamps expertized. All I was trying to do was verify color as I dont have any more examples and the folks that I have show it to were not certain and I thought it would at least be nice to have a definite reference between carmine rose or carmine. I had no idea that there are no entities that could verify the color : (

Certainly there are some stamps where there is a value difference where carmine vs carmine rose are options, yes?? Maybe not though... I just thought an expert would be able to tell thats all.






Maybe because no color is called for on the cert and carmine rose is listed 1st in the cat, one is to assume its carmine rose and if were carmine it would have been listed on the certificate??