Colours & shades
The shades of the 15h are still the subject of serious debate. Catalogues distinguish five basic shades, whose occurrence is tied to groups of printing plates.
| Shade | POFIS | MERKUR | Printing plates |
|---|---|---|---|
| brick red | 7 | 7 | Plates I, II, VII |
| brownish red | 7a | 7a | Plates I, II, VII |
| red | 7b | 7b | Plates I, II, VII |
| carmine / carmine red | 7c | 7c | Plates V, VI |
| vermilion | 7d | — | Plates III–VI |
Carmine 7c — a disputed shade? (a reflection)
The catalogues list carmine (7c) as a separate shade of printing plates V and VI. In practice, however, this shade is documented in unused condition only quite exceptionally — the vast majority of “carmine” copies passing through collections and auctions are cancelled.
I believe the explanation is prosaic: the pigment of the vermilion printings is heat-sensitive. If a certain shade of a vermilion stamp is exposed to higher temperature — typically when stamps are soaked off covers in hot water — the colour changes to carmine. This would also explain why carmine occurs almost exclusively on used stamps, i.e. stamps that were as a rule soaked off at some point in the past.
If this reasoning is correct, “carmine” would not be an independent printing shade but vermilion secondarily altered by heat. Carmine copies therefore deserve cautious judgement — especially unused examples declared as shade 7c, which I recommend comparing with credibly documented material. I welcome colleagues' opinions and material that would confirm or refute this hypothesis (pepa.matousek@gmail.com).
— the author's reflection, Josef Matoušek
Practical note
Shade attribution is most reliable in combination with plate identification: a stamp from plates III–VI cannot be brick red (7), a stamp from plates I/II/VII cannot be vermilion (7d). Plate characteristics of individual fields can be found in the position gallery.