1888-1898 Bavaria Toned Paper

The Scott catalogs lists some Bavaria stamps issued in 1888-89 toned paper variety. Scott 58a to 71a.

When I was looking at watermarks (Scott wm 95h) I noticed white paper and a darker paper. Is the darker paper (position 2 and 3 from left) considered toned paper?

The front of the stamps is where you can best see white vs toned. The White really pops next to the grayish of the toned. The toned for this issue reminds me of bluish paper US issues. That is my take with the caveat that we all see things differently to some degree.

Look at PDF page five.

https://www.dcstamps.com/wp-content...ng-Album.pdf

The Michel Specialized notes several different shades of toned paper including grayish, orangey, yellowish and reddish.
For me it's not possible to determine a paper color from a single copy of the stamp. But if you have a few dozen and lay them out next to each other you can begin to see some differences.
It's very subtle, as you have already experienced. For example, looking at the 5 stamps in your image - 2 and 3 appear toned, 4 and 5 appear white. The first stamp could go either way, tending somewhat more towards white.

Hi angore,

For these, the white paper is from 1900. So if you have cancellations with dates from 1900 onward, you have white papers. Time frame 1900-1911.

Hornet