Queensland 1 shilling colours

The 1 shilling comes in a range of confusing colours and shades, which can be difficult to spot, especially on the internet with uncalibrated monitors and screens, but I will do my best to give you some idea.

The main colours are violet, lilac and mauve with numerous shades for each colour.

Stanley Gibbons list the following colours: Violet (SG 171), lilac (SG 172), deep mauve (SG173), pale mauve (SG 174) and the 1895 issue on thick paper was mauve (SG205). Based on price, pale mauve is most common, followed by deep mauve and lilac, with violet being the most scarce.

Robson Lowe lists mauve shades (122), violet (123) and lilac (124). Based on price, violet is considerably scarcer and lilac and mauve are equally common.

Scott only lists violet (70) and a pale violet for the perf 9.5 x 12 issue (73) and the issue in 1895 on thick paper (100).

Bornefeld mentions deep violet and mauve shades. Basset Hull refers to the first issue being a clear cold lilac which varied considerably in subsequent printings to reddish lilac and violet and observed that the Government Engraver had entered a note on a specimen sheet, "colour altered slightly in drying in press." Contemporary magazine accounts describe a deep bright mauve and a distinct shade of reddish violet for the thick paper issue while Badger in 1936 describes deep violet, pale violet, lilac, mauve and intermediate shades.

Violet (especially the deeper violet shades) is the easiest to pick. Deep mauve is also easy to pick, with pale mauve and lilac being very difficult to distinguish. The washed out colour found in many examples is lilac that has either faded over time with exposure to sunlight or else has faded when  soaked to get it off paper.

Here are examples from the Stanley Gibbons colour key:

Here are examples of the colours on the stamps:

Deep Violet

Deep Mauve

Lilac

Here are the various colours side by side. From left to right: Deep violet, Violet, Deep mauve, Pale mauve, Lilac and Dull lilac

Without the colours enhanced for the internet, they look like this:

And here is an example of a stamp whose colour has faded

Here is another perfect example of the colour fading when exposed to bright sunlight. The bottom portion of the block was protected from the sun in whatever was housing it but the rest wasn't and has noticeably faded from the original lilac colour. The cancel is Brisbane Telegraph Counter (T.C), 31 August 1899.