Are Any Of These 3 Cent Washingtons Of The Color Plum ?

Around a year ago , I bought a lot of about 300 , 3 cent Washingtons , on cover
I'm in the process of determining who's who and what's what. Are they ??
10 , 10a , 11 , 11a , 25 , 25a , 26 , 26a ??
One of my big questions is , are any of these of the color plum?



Any ideas about the color for the cancel mark in this last image , Brown ? Yellow ?


Please Advise

I'm not an expert. Have you considered that these stamps may be sulphurized (oxidized)? Is this a possibility?

Not possible to actually tell shades accurately on a computer screen. The only way is to do direct comparison with known shades.

That's exactly what I was thinking is there a difference between sulphurized and the color Plum ? I've never seen a plum colored 3 cent washington .

Yes, there is certainly a difference.

Would a sulphurized 3 cent Washington be considered a damaged stamp ?

I found this on Theswedishtiger website

Stamps are commonly advertised as #10's because of their dark appearance. Sulfuretted stamps are stamps printed with higher concentrations of ferric oxide in the ink formula that have been discolored by exposure to sulfur dioxides (commonly found in air pollutants). Sulfur dioxide (sulfide) exposure converts ferric oxide (found in Venetian red (ferric oxide/rust)-based pigments) to ferric sulfate (dark brown).



I haven't found any literature on Plum 3 cent Washingtons if any one has please do advise

Hi Lalo.Man,

All of the stamps you showed look sulfurized to me. As revcollector said, there is certainly a difference between the plum color and the color of sulfurized ink. Being able to tell that a stamp's ink is sulfurized in posted images is usually pretty easy to me. However, being able to distinguish between Plum and other #11/11A colors is impossible from posted images.

One way you can recognize that a stamp's ink is sulfurized is to look at some of the heavier inked areas of the design like the label blocks with a magnifier. If you see lighter colored ink spots among the blackened areas of ink, that's an indication that the blackened areas are sulfurized.

Sulfurized ink on a stamp is usually considered to be a color change as a result of environmental causes.

If you don't see at least some light purplish cast to the shade with a glass (at least a 10x), then it is not plum.

Plum #11/11As look like a deep brown to me. The first stamp below is a certified plum. The second is sulfurized.

I agree - your stamps are sulphurized. They can be restored by a couple minute bath in Hydrogen Peroxide. This practice is controversial but most, or even all of the serious collectors of this issue I know recommend the H2O2 treatment for sulphurized stamps. (I fully expect to be swiftly corrected if I'm wrong about this). I have done it with dozens of stamps and am very happy with the results. The color of suphurized stamps will be different based on the original color, so they do not all look the same, but they have a look that is hard to mistake once you've seen a bunch of them, and your have that look which easily comes through on the scans. No non-sulpherized stamps of this issue are as dark as yours.

Plum is exceedingly rare, and I've never come across one in the wild that wasn't already certified or identified as such by a known expert (like Dr. Amonette) as Plum.

I see a lot of misidentified plum stamps that are actually claret which is a color that looks more to me like the purplish color of a real plum than the "plum" shade of this stamp. The "plum" shade looks to me like a rotten, brownish plum - it is not a terribly pretty color - it has a lot of yellow in it. Classic Coin's scans really illustrate that. (btw, Classic Coins - that is a really nice Plum stamp!)

revcollector: aren't also the claret shades a bit purple under loupe? Or is there really a hint under loupe for plum? (I thought it is more the general shade and look)

philazilla: here is the photo that illustrates what you describe :) (by Classic Coins)
https://goscf.com/t/54501#475676

I am not sure about the clarets; just by chance I was shown a plum a few weeks ago.

Thanks for all the input . After reading your thoughts I can now see that the other 8 I was thinking of taking to get certified will not pass , especially the part about seeing small brown specs . The specs are almost raised up . I do have two more to show .My first thought was that they are to light to be plum maybe closer to Orange ?