Air Mail Stamp Color

[cbavier]

As some of you know I have been trying to complete my U.S. Airmail Collection 100% Mint. One of the nine stamps I need has me puzzled. C1 Scott's Specialized catalog 2013 and the USPS 2011 guide to U.S. Stamps. Both show C1 as orange. I have noticed some of the  C1 stamps up in auctions show as orange and some as a rose color. Why the two different colors? Is it a fault in the scanners? Has the stamp faded?  Why the difference? All of course are listed as Mint.  MNH

A little help please.

[troutdude]

i think its just the difference in color settings and palette used to make the digital image, and the users settings to display also.

td

[kacyds]

Scott# C1 is famous for its oxidation. I have seen many mint copies that are more rust looking than orange.

[Perfs14]

You can never trust the true colour of a stamp from a scan or a printed image in a catalogue. If two stamps differ in colour in real life then they were either printed with ink of slightly different shade/concentration/thickness of print or have faded due to chemical/washing/UV or just age...IMO

[philatelius]

For anyone who may just be getting started and isn't sure what kacyds means by "oxidation," here's a scan of a stamp that I owned at one point:



This stamp was printed in orange (the color at the bottom of the stamp), but was in the process of turning a rich brown color. Most examples you'll see have a rather more consistent shade across the stamp than does this example.