Today we’ll talk about color guides for stamp collectors. It’s one of the most important philately tools when you want to estimate the value of your stamp.

Stamp Collecting Equipment

Before we move to colour guides, let me mention, some of the most important tools every stamp collector should use are:

• Album
• Stamp hinges (Stamps should never be pasted sown in the album or stuck in with stamp edging. Not only does this spoil the appearance of the book and detract from the value of the stamps, but it marks the collector as ignorant of rudiments of his hobby.)
• magnifying glass (useful for examining stamp detail).
• Tweezers (non-rusting and with lightly milled ends, are useful for handling stamps).
• Perforation gauge (measuring perforations).
• Watermark detector (may be needed in the more advanced stages of the hobby)
• Collecting books (useful for storing stamps awaiting transfer to an album, while a small supply of transparent envelopes of various sizes will also be useful for storage purposes. For heading the pages of your blank album a booklet of gummed slips with the names of the various countries printed on them will save a lot of writing, while envelopes, postcards, etc., can be securely fixed in the collection with a special little gummed "corners.").

What is Colour Guide?

One of the tools is a colour guide. This book, or key, enables you to detect the colour/shade on the stamp and determine if it’s rare or not so rare stamp.

Before we start, I’ll quote Warwick & Warwick on his one: “Colour guide: A useful tool to have if you want to tell the difference between stamps which are similar in appearance, but slightly different in shade - which can have a big influence on its overall worth.”

Stanley Gibbons Colour Guide 2077

On the pictures above and below you can see the Stanley Gibbons Colour Guide 2077.

Stanley Gibbons Colour Guide 2077

Stanley Gibbons Colour Guide 2077

This colour guide has 20 * 5 different colours. They are:

• (1st row) Brown-Lake, Lake (Newfoundland 1861-2), Lake, Deep Lake, Crimson, Carmine, Carmine-Red, Carmine-Pink, Rose-Pink, Rosine, Dull Rose, Rose, Bright Rose, Scarlet, Red, Brick-Red, Indian Red, Salmon, Flesh, Rose-Red
• (2nd row) Scarlet-Vermilion,Pale Vermilion (S.Aust. 1860-70), Vermilion, Orange-Vermilion, Orange-Vermilion (Newfoundland 1860), Orange, Orange-Yellow, Chrome-Yellow, Yellow (Bright), Yellow (Dull), Lemon, Ochre, Drab, Olive-Brown, Olive-Bistre, Bistre, Bistre-Brown, Buff, Yellow-Brown, Brown
• (3rd row) Orange-Brown, Chestnut (Red-Brown), Venetian-Red, Cinnamon, Chocolate, Brown-Purple, Sepia, Bronze-Green, Olive, Olive-Green, Deep Olive-Green, Sage-Green, Apple Green, Yellow-Green, Bright Green, Green, Myrtle, Grey-Green, Emerald, Deep Blue-Green
• (4th row) Blue-Green, Greenish Blue, Prussian Blue, Deep Blue, Blue, Light Blue, Turquoise, Azure (Paper Fr. Cols.), Dull Blue, Bright Ultramarine, Pale Ultramarine, Deep Ultramarine, Slate-Blue, Cobalt, Grey-Blue, Indigo, Deep Violet, Violet, Bright Violet, Violet-Blue
• (5th row) Lavender, Lilac, Mauve, Magenta, Solferino, Purple, Bright Purple, Dull Purple, Slate-Purple, Plum, Marone, Claret, Dull Claret, Iron-Grey, Grey, Pearl-Grey, Slate-Grey, Slate, Slate-Black, Slate (Bluish)

The usage of the colour guide is pretty simple. You take your stamp, and simply compare it to tones and find the best matching one. You can see more about it in this great Stanley Gibbons video related to this specific colour guide.

Stanley Gibbons Colour Guide 2077

In the modern era we have some practical inventions like the colour key you can see on the picture below.

Stanley Gibbons Colour Key

In the end I would like to recommend one more Stanley Gibbons video. While it’s not directly related to colour guides, it show how much the state and the tone of the stamp is important. In case stamp was printed, by accident, in additional tones, colour guides could help you to detect a valuable stamp.

Continue Reading

Rarest Stamps: Most Valuable UK Stamps

Rarest Stamps: Most Valuable French Stamps

Rarest Stamps: Most Valuable German Stamps

Rarest Stamps: Most Valuable Irish Stamps

Rarest Stamps: Most Valuable Belgium Stamps

Rarest Stamps: Most Valuable Dutch Stamps

Rarest Stamps: Most Valuable Australian Stamps

Rarest Stamps: Most Valuable Canadian Stamps

Rarest Stamps: Most Valuable Spanish Stamps

Rarest Stamps: Most Valuable Portuguese Stamps

Rarest Stamps: Most Valuable Stamps of Israel

Rarest Stamps: Most Valuable Vatican Stamps

Rarest Stamps: Most Valuable Italian Stamps

Rarest Stamps: Most Valuable Swiss Stamps

Rarest Stamps: Most Valuable New Zealand Stamps

Rarest Stamps: Most Valuable U.S. Stamps

10 Most Useful Websites to Find Your Stamps

Belgian Congo – First Stamps