Shades Of 5c Blue Admirals

Here is another colour shade challenge. A group of 5c blue Admirals. I see 5 different shades, but Unitrade only lists 3 (dark blue, indigo, and grey blue). Would like to know how others would classify them.

Top row's filled with samples taken from the area between CANADA and POSTAGE.

Bottom row's filled with samples taken from the area between the E of POSTAGE and the shrubbery.

These areas, in the original image of the stamps, are solid patches of colour. Visually, the image of the stamps has two factors which distort perception. The background (the scanner lid) has been rendered as a light greyish-blue in the image. Secondly, the paper of the stamps has discoloured to various shades of light tan.

Thus selecting from those areas of solid colour gives a slightly better chance of observing colour differences in the image. Whether there's any relationship between the image and the stamps I know not.

There is an Canada Admiral stamps colour guide. See: https://goscf.com/t/47670

Sorcery

Thanks Flightle Bee,

I think your colour analysis highlights the perils of trying to capture and analyse colours on a computer. But it does indicate that the upper and lower groupings are separated between lighter and darker blues.

I did a bit more searching on the internet, and found this useful article: The Blue Shades Of The 5c, 8c And 10c Admiral Stamps Of 1911-1928

https://canadianphilately.blogspot....and-10c.html

I think the article confirms that the top row are what Unitrade describes as dark blue and the bottom row are indigo, and there are no samples of grey blue. But there is some overlap in the classification because both dark blue and indigo examples in the article include the SG colour deep bright blue !

And thanks jogil for the tip on the Colour Guide for Admirals. I would really like to obtain a copy, but so far I have not found any sources.

regards, D.

bobr345- I looked at the article, and now I feel as if I'm someone who can't tell the difference between Budweiser and Budvar

Cyanosis, of which I did not know he suffered.

As I posted many times, catalogues list shade bands, not shades. Some issues that were current for a long time had many printings. With the ink mixed manually and in bad lighting conditions, the colour varied. This, normally, was well within standards, so it was no issue for the post office.

It means some stamps come with almost a continuous spectrum of shades. Catalogue editors decide what they list and how they call the colours.

Having three listed colours and three stamps that look different, does not make a full set. I think the conclusion by OP that there are two listed shades might be correct.

Found the following online regarding colour guides: