6c 1917 Like Scott 506 But Brown(!)

Hi everybody, I'm new and here is my first problem - a 6c perf.11 unwmkd like Scott 506 but brown instead of red orange. I do not find it listed anywhere. Can you solve the puzzle? Thank you all, Sigi

Oxidised - i.e. the colour has changed over time. A common problem with orange stamps.

Sigi, Geoff is correct. If you look closely you can still see some of the original orange in the face of the president


Peter

Thank you both - but my other 5 copies of the 6c 1917 perf 11 are indeed orange as they should be. Does anyone else have the stamp in brown? Sigi

Collectors will tend to get rid of damaged, oxidised copies - unless they try to restore their orange colour with peroxide.

Many collectors have or have seen brown examples, simple contact with chemicals in the air can cause it over time.

I have a copy of RH White's, "Encyclopedia of the Colors of US Postage Stamps, Vol III-IV". Although this is an older book that has also environmentally aged, it does provide some interesting information. For example, and you will see it differently on your monitor, here are the range of colors for the 6 cent stamps:

Now I just noticed a section in the back of the Encyclopedia that attempts to help you understand why colors would change, and some methods on getting them back to original color (or preservation of color):

Here is the page for telling how things could affect the 1908-1918 issues. This page goes from 1c to 9c. The 6c orange and red-orange "may darken in sulfur gases" and the sensitive components in that particular issues is "lead chromate":

The next chart states that "peroxide will remove discoloration". However it does not tell you the best methods for using peroxide, so that will have to be experimented with carefully:

I hope these pages help to understand some of the causes of discoloration and some of the techniques to recover those stamps.

Great info partime, thanks.

I keep mine as a changeling example.

fella, your picture is pretty convincing, showing the transition from orange to brown. Thank you very much all of you! Sigi