The 1d red appears in many different shades. Correct identification of these shades is helpful when plating them and also important as some shades are scarcer than others with a corresponding variance in price. The 1d Stars are particularly complex during the "Transitional" period issues of 1856-1857 when the paper used changed from blue to yellow/cream/toned to white as many shades exist and the differences between them can be very hard to distinguish. As no definitive colour chart or measuring system exists at this time all that can be done is to view as many stamps as possible of the different shades and compare them with expertised items so that you become more knowledgeable about the items that you are buying and collecting. Ideally, a reference collection can be built up and constantly checked. It is very pleasing to have a range of shades to show all the different colours which the 1d red appears in and my personal view is that as long as, to quote Tonna "it is very doubtful whether two people exist who can agree on the difference between Red Orange and Orange Red", is borne in mind a lot of pleasure can be gained from collecting these issues. Do remember that you may have a copy of a 1d Star bought as orange-brown which is different to another a fellow collector has in his album. This does not mean that either is wrong. It just means that orange-brown covers a range of shades. The only problem arises when one shade becomes another as this line in the sand is hard to draw. My suggestion would be to not buy unless you are certain, or if you just like the colour and don't mind whether it's a brown-rose or a claret. In the meantime the photos below may be of some help!
The Stanley Gibbons listings do not wholly reflect what's what with shades so, useful as the QV Specialised catalogue is, as your collection of shades expands you will not be able to fit it into the classifications listed by SG. Try visiting stamp fairs where specialist dealers sell as well as joining philatelic societies and do as much brain picking as you can. Ask experience dealers and collectors what they think and compare notes. If you really are keen to develop expertise in shades it might be worth considering a test for colour blindness as a surprisingly significant number of males have less than perfect colour perception. There are several forms of colour blindness and the most common form is red/green colour blindness, which involves the confusion of red and green. It's passed on through a faulty colour vision gene on an X chromosome as a recessive disorder. This type affects about one in ten men and has two forms. 1) Different shades of red appear dull and indistinct 2) Greens, oranges, pale reds and browns all appear as the same hue, distinguished only by their intensity. This may explain why the comment "they all look the same", all too familiar to specialists, is actually true for quite a lot of people.
There was a very interesting point made in the GBPS Newsletter of July/August 2007 which questioned the reason for the "Transitional" period as rather than being caused by the printers trying to stop the blueing of the paper in order to make sure the shades of the stamps were constant and to remove "unsightly blueing" as has generally been accepted, the real reason that bluing disappeared was because Perkins Bacon wanted to reduce the wear and tear on the printing plates by removing prussiate of potash, the chemical responsible for the blueing of the paper, from the inks used as it was known that it had corrosive properties and it was hoped that its' removal would result in reduced wear on the printing plates. If that was the case it may be that the removal of blueing was incidental to the process rather than the main reason for doing it. Maybe a bit of both? A useful amount of money would have been saved by not having to produce as many new plates if wear and tear could be reduced.
It is worth pointing out that all 1d reds of the various issues can be found on blue paper in between 1841 and 1857 after which all stamps (from C10 onward) appear on white paper only. These "blue paper" issues appear in a very wide range of shades, INCLUDING at earlier periods most of the shades which appear during the "transitional" period. This means that there is no reason to believe that the "transitional" shades appeared as a result of "experimental" printing as they had previously appeared anyway due to the variances in the ink which would be expected bearing in mind the way the inks were prepared with a wide range of natural ingredients. The fire at Perkins Bacon on 11th March 1857 would undoubtedly have caused production problems and would have meant that some elements on production, including ink preparation, could have been rushed leading to further variances in the normal ink "recipe".
A frequently mis-sold item which really needs looking out for are "C8a" Red Brown stamps on "White" paper. Too often these have been compared with obviously blued paper and the very faint bluing hasn't been spotted. The best way to make absolutely sure is to put the stamp on a sheet of white cartridge paper and compare it with a definitely white paper stamp as well. It's amazing the contrast you will see, (especially if you use a magnifying glass) compared to looking at the same stamp on a black background. There are a lot of Red Brown C8s on very slightly blued paper, but that isn't white! C8 stamps can also appear on a grey shade of paper as well as a mixture of blue and toned and blue and yellow which makes things even more interesting.
Another commonly mis-sold item is a Plum stamp. This is because people often haven't seen a genuine example it makes it difficult to spot an imposter. I have seen Deep Red Brown on very blued paper, Claret on very Blued paper and even very oxidised Rose Red C10s claiming to be "Plum". Sadly, even well known dealers make mistakes with paper and shades and all you can do is follow recommendations from fellow enthusiasts while the shades are being learned. I have found the dealers Andrew Chappell/QV Pennies and Bill Barrell Ltd faultless personally and would be happy to hear about any other dealers you can recommend. Do not underestimate the very significant effect that paper shades can have on the shade of a stamp. A very blued paper will make a stamp's overall shade much deeper. "Toned" paper can be hard to spot and I think the term is confusing as well as you might have a C10 with "toned paper" which in this case will mean it's a white paper stamp with paper that has gone yellowed because of age. This is a bad thing as it reduces the value of a stamp. On the other hand a C9 stamp with "toned paper" is a good thing as generally the stamp will be scarcer. The C9 toned paper referes to its' creamy yellowish colour which has always been that colour. The way to tell the difference is twofold. The C9 toned paper is usually a more delicate shade than the toning which is caused by ageing and the also the C9 toned paper stamp will never be in a rose-red shade. Some C9 type paper stamps also show some traces of blue as well (the early transitional period).
The 6 stamps below are -
Top left - CLARET ON VERY BLUE PAPER
Top centre - ROSE RED
Top right - RED ORANGE
Bottom left - BRICK RED
Bottom centre - PALE RED
Bottom right - ORANGE BROWN (an unusually orange shade)
Image:
Bright Rose Red is a scarce shade only found on SG40 C10 (1). 1d red CJ below is bright rose red C10(1), GD is deep rose red C10(4), OB is rose red C10(5) and FK is pale rose C10(3)
Image: C10 bright rose red and rose red shades
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