Hi Pageyboy,
The EDU for the A25 stamp is August 19, 1861, and the stamp is a rose-pink on a cover from Baltimore. I've collected this stamp for about 15 years now, trying to identify as many of Mike McClung's shades as I could-- and I purchased a bunch of covers from Mike that had the shade identified.
My earliest is 9/4/1861- and I have a 9/6 and a 9/8. Never have been able to find a cover dated in August, at least one that I was willing to pay for.
Per Mike McClung, the following shades were all printed in August of 1861:
Pink, Lavender Pink, Carmine Pink, Pigeon Blood Pink
Rose Pink, Deep Rose Pink, Salmon Rose Pink
Brilliant Rose, Bright Rose and Salmon Rose
These shades were listed for Late 1861:
Pale Carmine Rose, Carmine Rose and Brownish Red Rose.
So, all of the pink shades were printed at some point in August, 1861, when they found that the pink wasn't stable and added something to the mix and all of the browner/brownish shades started to be printed
So can one find a pink shade in 1862? Possibly, but think of the fact that most people did not have extra stamps laying around because 3 cents was a lot of money in those days, especially during the war.
In literature, you can find all of this information in back issues of The Chronicle, the periodical published by the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society.
Good Luck in your searches!! Ray
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Posted 09/09/2025 10:40 am
