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Purpose of Tables
These tables compare original colors with reprint colors. A problem for me
has been to correlate the color terms used by the Michel
Catalog (now identical to the Michel
Farbenfuhrer
[Color Guide]) with those used in Hellmuth Lemberger's
Helgoland Philatelie.
As I have noted elsewhere on these pages:
"One limitation here is that the range of color terms for the reprints used by
Lemberger is not quite
identical to the
terms he uses for the originals. Thus no direct comparison between Lemberger
terms
and Michel terms is possible in the case of some reprints. . . ."
These tables will attempt to rectify this shortcoming in
the identification of reprints. By obtaining the older color
chip reference guides on which Lemberger must have relied, to wit:
TASCHENLEXIKON DER FARBEN
(Kornerup and Wanscher, Politkens Forlag, Kopenhagan, 1961),
SCHWANEBERGER FARBEN-F ÜHRER
(22nd Edition, Munich, 1958—predecessor of Michel), and
LIPSIA PHILATELISTISHE FARBENTAFELN
(Vol 6, Verlag Enzyklopädie Leipzig:, 1960). With these three references
it is possible to find color chips for the
terms Lemberger used, such as "russischgrün" or "kupferrot" and compare
these with the
current Michel color chips and usually, but not always, make the match. This
is done below for all the
reprints where possible.
It should be kept in mind that the image on a computer monitor can only
approximate true colors. With a computer the colors are projected onto the
monitor screen. They are brilliantly illuminated. Actual stamps are viewed in
reflected light. Everything is much subdued. Furthermore, if one compares
color guides published
over a period of fifty years, there is often substantial disagreement as to
which names correspond to which colors! As a practical matter, expertized
stamps are needed to make accurate
comparisons. One must build on the work of forebears, just as in the natural
sciences.
I have chosen to start here with the rouletted reprints, of which there are
twenty-one reprintings. They are often difficult to distinguish from
originals, particularly if they have "led a hard life."
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