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2018/01/15 | Categories: Articles

Resolving the problem of evaluating different color shades present in the tobacco-brown Rayons II concluded last year. Certifier Urs Hermann and the Old Switzerland group within the Swiss Stamp Dealer Association intensified research on the topic, and the conclusions of their first meetings made the Honegger catalog of 2017, where we published a summary of these first results.

Two months later, we sat together with Urs Hermann and had the opportunity to review a dozen of samples, which led him to propose a new evaluation pattern for the different shades. Several amendments to the first chart proved useful in the end. The research showed that instead of a single shade of tobacco-brown, there was a whole family of multiple shades. According to the Michel color guide, a first evaluation could be made regarding the different background color shades, and a second one regarding color intensity.

Confirmed background colors per the Michel color guide would be chrome yellow, yellow-ochre and yellow-orange. Accordingly, the color intensity is divided into four grades ranging from aa (weakest intensity) to ad (strongest intensity). Precise numbers also according to the Michel color guide.

Important notice: all tobacco-brown Rayons II were produced on the A1 lithographic stone!

The following chart, which is also present in the 2018 Swiss Stamp Dealer Association’s catalog, illustrates the results of our research:

Colors according to Michel color guide

    * O letter
1. tobacco brown, chrome yellow        
16IIaa 6-0-5 7500,- 1300,- 2400,-
16IIaa 6-0-6 7500,- 1300,- 2400,-
16IIab 6-0-7 LP 4000,- 7000,-
16IIab 6-0-8 LP 4000,- 7000,-
         
2. tobacco brown, yellow ochre        
16IIab 9-5-4 12000,- 2000,- 3500,-
16IIab 9-5-5 12000,- 2000,- 3500,-
16IIab 9-5-6 12000,- 2000,- 3500,-
16IIac 9-5-7 LP 6000,- 15000,-
         
3. tobacco brown, yellow orange        
16IIad 13-5-7 LP 20000,- 35000,-
16IIad 13-5-8 LP 20000,- 35000,-

The fourth group of strong tobacco-brown pieces includes only six known pieces, two of which are kept in the Ernst Müller collection at the Basel Museum of History, and the four remaining are in the hands of private collectors.

This classification will be included in the Swiss Stamp Dealer Association’s catalog.

Friendly provided by Honegger Philatelie AG.

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