Togo - Bud's Big Blue

1900-14 Togo in Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Observations

(From Jim: Bud is well, but has a lot of non philatelic obligations and responsibilities at the moment. With his permission, I will upload  country pages in his complete '69 Big Blue that so far has not been shown. He might add his observations later. Enjoy!)

Jim's Observations

Togo, in Western Africa on the Gulf of Guinea, began as a German Protectorate between 1884-1914- called Togoland.. German missionaries, and then traders had arrived in 1847.

Anecho (Aneho) was the first village on the coast that came under "German protection" in 1884, as the tribal chiefs there were forced to sign an agreement. The Berlin Conference of 1885 during the "Scramble for Africa" era solidified the German claim.

Stamps for the German Protectorate were issued in 1897, using stamps of Germany overprinted "Togo" in black.

When WW I broke out in 1914, the British and the French invaded unopposed on August 7.

The British issued stamps from German Togo overprinted or surcharged "Anglo-French Occupation" October 1, 1914.

Stamps from the Gold Coast were overprinted locally in 1915, and then overprinted from London in 1916.

The French also issued German Togo surcharged stamps in 1914.

On December 27, 1916, separate British and French Administrative zones were formed.

The French issued, between 1916-17, overprinted stamps of Dahomey.

The British and the French allies divided the country between them in 1919, and controlled the part adjacent to their own colonies. The League of Nations formalized the arrangement in 1922, each given a mandate.

The British received the economically less active area, but the original tribal territories of the Ewe, Dagomba, and Mamprusi were united. (Lome, the capital was actually in the British zone initially, but was transferred to the French zone on October 1, 1920.)

In 1956, a plebiscite within the British mandated territory voted for a merger with the British Gold Coast. (The Gold Coast soon thereafter became independent as Ghana in 1957.) British Togo no longer existed.

The French received the more economically active area, including the coastline and the network of railways.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Togo 1897-1939, 226 major number descriptions. Of those, 23 are for the German protectorate, 59 are for the British occupation/protectorate, 41 are during the French occupation, and the remainder (the majority) are for the French Mandate period.

For CV <$1-$1+, there are 106, or 47% of the total.

But there is a bi-modal distribution of CVs for Togo. The 1914-15 British occupation/protectorate and French occupation surcharged/overprinted German stamps (58 stamps) have a high CV (from $30 to many $thousands). Besides being expensive, they are specialty territory, and the stamps should be certified as genuine for the higher values. I will say no more about them here. If interested, consult the Scott catalogue.

If one removes these surcharged German stamps from the CV calculation, then CV  <$1-$1+ increases to 68%.

As mentioned, Togo classical era philatelic history is divided into four parts in the Scott catalogue. German issues are present from 1900-19, then British Protectorate stamps from 1914-1916, then French Occupation issues from 1914-1917, and finally French Mandate output from 1921-1939.

Big Blue '69, on four pages has 109 spaces. Coverage is 48%. Excluding the expensive surcharged/overprinted German stamps in the catalogue, which are not covered anyway by BB, coverage is 65%.

There are seven spaces for the stamps of Germany, six spaces for the British Protectorate, ten spaces for the French occupation, while the remainder (majority) of the spaces are for the French Mandate.

The coverage is the same for the 1940s editions of BB.

There is only one stamp that is "expensive": The 1838 semi-postal Curie stamp @ $20.

Of interest, the 1924-38 pictorial issue is well covered. BB has spaces for 35 of the 37 regular issue stamps, and all 11 of the companion 1925 postage due set. 

For more on Togo, click on the link below.

Togo Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Three Enduring Mysteries of the Cape of Good Hope Triangular Issues, 1853-64 (Part 3)

The COGH, SG19c 4d Steel Blue with BPA certificate 

In my Collection

By Christopher K. Dorn, aka “The Beryllium Guy”

Introduction

This is the third and final article in a short series about the Cape of Good Hope (COGH) Triangular Issues.  The first one was published by the Big Blue 1840-1940 Stamp Blog in Nov-2024 [1] and the Cape & Natal Philatelic Journal (CNPJ) in Jan-2025 [2].  The second one was published on Big Blue in Mar-2025 [3] and by the CNPJ in Jun-2025 [4].  Sincere thanks to Jim Jackson at Big Blue and Simon Solomon at CNPJ for making all this possible.

As this is a series of articles, for best understanding, it is advised that Parts 1 and 2 of this series should be read first if that has not already been done.  The background information provided in the first article still applies to this installment, but it will not be covered in detail again.  So, let’s start digging into our third mystery!

Mystery #3: The Case of the 4-Pence Steel Blue, 1863-64

Unlike the COGH 1-Penny (1d) Brick Red on Cream-Toned Paper or the 6-Pence (6d) Slate Purple on Blued Paper, our third mystery is not an attempt to answer the question if a particular color-shade variety exists or not, but rather, “What does it look like?”  I am referring to the COGH, SG19c (Sc13b) 4-Pence (4d) Steel Blue on White Paper.

Luckily for me, the first article I ever wrote on the Cape of Good Triangular Issues was about the 4d De La Rue (DLR) prints, which includes the Steel Blue [5].  In that article from 2022, I had the further good fortune to have been able to include images given to me by Stanley Gibbons Ltd. (SG) of examples of the four major color-shade varieties of the SG19 (Sc13) 4d, all of which had been expertized by BPA in the UK.  BPA was highly recommended to me by SG senior staff as the best service for expertizing of Cape Triangles [6].

Consequently, readers may be wondering what has changed in my situation since the time of that 2022 article, which is a perfectly valid question.  The two most important things that I have now that I didn’t have then are: 1) a BPA-certified example of an SG19c (Sc13b) 4d Steel Blue (see Fig. 1), and 2) my colleague and friend Warren Parker, who kindly gave me access to his extensive collection for the two previous “Mysteries” articles, gave me access to his 4d issues as well.

Figure 1:  BPA certificate no. 100,204 for the COGH, SG19c 4d Steel Blue now in my collection

Therefore, because I now have my own certified reference copy of the stamp, and because Warren gave me access to his collection, I was able to make side-by-side scans of the material on the same machine at the same time, under the same conditions.  This is the first expertized Cape Triangle I have ever owned, and I am truly grateful that I not only have the pleasure of owning it, but I am now also able to share images and information that will hopefully help others to answer the question, “What does the color of the Steel Blue 4d Cape Triangle really look like?”

Origin of the 4d Steel Blue Color-Shade Variety

I thought that a logical place to begin this discussion is to look into where this color-shade variety came from.  I understood that it originated with the SG Catalogue, so I posed the question to Mr. Hugh Jefferies, the SG Catalogue Editor, and he supplied the following information.

Steel Blue first appeared as a 4d Cape Triangle color shade in 1927, in contrast to the Slate Blue, which originated sometime between 1890-99, exact date uncertain [7].  I was very happy to learn this, as I thought surely the next step would be simply to get an SG Color Guide from the same time period, and it would be clear what the color shade should look like.

So, with the help of some other collectors, I was able to acquire a pair of vintage SG Color Guides [8].  I was pleased to see that Slate Blue was included in there, but unfortunately, Steel Blue was not.  This Color Guide features 100 different colors, printed as stamps (see Figure 2 below).  Additional research has revealed that this Color Guide is believed to date from the early 1920s [9], which pre-dates the origin of Steel Blue for Cape Triangles and explains why Steel Blue was not included.

Figure 2:  Images digitally cropped from the early 1920s SG Color Guide, showing three of the four color shades corresponding to the varieties of COGH, SG19.  From left to right: Deep Blue, SG19 (Sc13); Blue, SG19a (Sc13c); and Slate Blue, SG19b (Sc13a).  I have added the image for Indigo in this group for reasons that will be explained later in this article.

Important Changes to the SG Color Key Guide

The next dated SG Color Guide that I have been able to get is one from 1969.  By that time, SG stopped having stamps printed to show the colors as in Fig. 2, and they switched to small, solid blocks of each color.  There were still 100 different colors shown, although not the same 100 as in the earlier edition [10].  For more details on the SG Color Guides used, please see the Appendix.

The 1969 SG Color Guide is a good news, bad news situation for our quest to determine what a Steel Blue Cape Triangle should look like. The good news is that Steel Blue is, indeed, included in the Guide.  The bad news is that SG seem to have switched their earlier designation of Slate Blue and the later one added by 1969 for Steel Blue (see Figure 3).

Figure 3:  Images digitally cropped from the 1920s and 1969 SG Color Guides, showing the four color shades for varieties of COGH, SG19 plus Indigo.  From left to right: Deep Blue, SG19 (Sc13); Blue, SG19a (Sc13c); Slate Blue, SG19b (Sc13a); and Steel Blue, SG19c (Sc13b).  The numbers after the color names correspond to the listings in the 1969 edition of the SG Color Guide

Presumably, SG decided to change their thinking on what colors Slate and Steel Blue represent based on other needs in the catalogue listings, i.e., stamps other than Cape Triangles described by these color shades.  Per the notes in the 1969 Guide, under the title “Colour Identification in Philately,” we can find the following statement [10]:

Then, too, certain outstanding stamps have come to be recognised under a particular colour name, e.g., France, 1 franc, “orange-vermilion,” Great Britain, 10s. “cobalt,” and the “scarlet-vermilion” and “orange-vermilion” of the early Newfoundland issues.  These classic stamps are generally known by their colour names and alterations would therefore be inadvisable

Based on this statement, and although they are not cited as specific examples, I think that the Cape Triangles described in the SG Catalogues as Steel and Slate Blue fall under this disclaimer.  I think that they would certainly qualify as “outstanding” and “classic” stamps that have, indeed, come to be recognized by a particular color name.

Unfortunately, anyone using an SG Color Guide published in the last 60 years or so has an excellent chance of falling into the trap of not realizing that the Steel and Slate Blue color shades for the Cape Triangles are not those found in these more modern guides.  No wonder there is confusion over what these color shades should look like!

Stevenson’s Comments on the 4d Steel Blue

As with the other two mysteries in this series, let us also consider what Stevenson has written about the DLR 4d stamps overall and concerning the Steel Blue color shade in particular [11):

The stamps generally described as steel-blue and slate-blue seem to be printed on a more deeply yellow-brown toned paper, which may even assist to cause these apparent shades.  There are extraordinarily divergent views as to what exact shade these descriptions represent.

Stevenson’s award-winning book from 1950 is still an excellent resource for anyone interested in understanding Cape Triangles, and I refer to it frequently myself.  In the 75 years since its publication, however, not all of his assertions have withstood the test of time.  In this particular case, I think the issue is that Stevenson offered an observation/ opinion about the Steel Blue color shade based on his experience, and because of the overall authoritative nature of much of the rest of his book, which is well deserved, readers have misconstrued this as fact rather than what it is (i.e., an opinion).

In reality, we have no idea how many examples Stevenson was able to view upon which to base his opinion.  In the years leading up to the book’s publication in 1950, he would have presumably needed to see the stamps in person in order to make observations.  Thanks to the internet, we now have the ability to view many thousands of examples every year, with new opportunities presenting themselves on a daily basis.  While I feel confident that Stevenson has offered his opinion accurately and in good faith, I would argue that due to the era in which he lived, his access to stamps would have been much more limited than what we have available to us today.

With that in mind, all I can say is that Stevenson’s observation that, “….steel-blue (stamps) seem to be printed on a more deeply yellow-brown toned paper” is not consistent with my experience, nor is it consistent with what can be seen in the reference examples from SG (see Figure 4):

Figure 4:  The two BPA-certified reference examples supplied to me by SG for use in my article in 2022.  Left: COGH, SG19b (Sc13a) 4d Slate Blue.  Right: COGH, SG19c (Sc13b) 4d Steel Blue.  Image credits: Stanley Gibbons Ltd., reprinted with permission.  Note the absence of “deeply yellow-brown toned paper

Ironically, I have come to the conclusion that by making this observation about toned paper in his book, Stevenson has effectively created a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Nowadays, collectors and dealers alike seem to claim with some frequency in many online platforms that any 4d Cape Triangle on yellow-brown toned paper must be one of the DLR rare color shades.  As we will see from further examples, while there are certainly SG19 varieties known to exist on yellow-brown toned paper, there is no evidence to support the notion that this condition of the paper is related to identification of said stamps as either Slate or Steel Blue in color.

Figure 5:  Two used reference examples from the collection of D. Alan Stevenson.  Unfortunately, Stevenson did not associate any detailed descriptions with these stamps, so the following are my identifications.  Left: COGH, SG19a (Sc13c) 4d Blue.  Right: COGH, SG19c (Sc13b) 4d Steel Blue.  The above individual images have been digitally cropped from their original source [11] and placed into this composite image to facilitate comparison.

When referring to the DLR 4d stamps, Stevenson also wrote that, “The De La Rue stamps are duller blues, best described as indigo [11].”  I think this is an important point, which may provide a key to making relative comparisons of the four DLR blue color shades, and of course, isolating the Steel Blue as a distinct shade from the other three.  We will delve into that in greater detail a bit later.

Other Historical References & Notable Examples

As with the two previous “mysteries” articles, I have also done some research to find images of stamps in prominent collections that have been identified as COGH, SG19c (Sc13b) Steel Blue.  Here are some examples, shown with their associated sources.

Figure 6  Pictured above are two images of the same stamp, which is a COGH, SG19c (Sc13b) 4d Steel Blue (unused).  Left: Image from the Maxwell Joseph Auction Catalogue in 1982.  That catalogue notes that this stamp was BPA certified in 1968 [12].  Right: Image from the “Lady Hope” Collection Auction Catalogue in 2003 [13].  This stamp is apparently now in the collection of Joseph Hackmey as can be seen on the “Museum of Philately” website [14], see Fig. 7.  The above individual images have been digitally cropped from their original sources and placed into this composite image to facilitate comparison.

Figure 7:  Two reference examples from the collection of the internationally recognized philatelist, Joseph Hackmey.  Left: COGH, SG19c (Sc13b) 4d Steel Blue (unused).  This is the same stamp as shown in Figure 6, but the color shade looks quite different compared to the image in Figure 6.  Right: COGH, SG19c (Sc13b) 4d Steel Blue (used).  The above individual images have been digitally cropped from their original source, “The Museum of Philately” [14], and placed into this composite image to facilitate comparison.

The circumstance of having the same Steel-Blue stamp represented in three different images from three different sources created at three different times is a very good illustration of the limitations of trying to compare color shades when the images do not come from the same source.  With that in mind, because the image of this well-documented Steel-Blue example from the Hackmey Collection on The Museum of Philately website (Figure 7, left) is so different in color compared to earlier images of the same stamp, I have chosen to use the 2003 Feldman image to make further comparisons (Figure 6, right), which has been digitally scanned from a printed photograph in the auction catalogue as the best of the three images of this same stamp.

The first thing to notice again is that none of these examples appear to show the “deeply yellow-brown toned paper,” to which Stevenson referred.  The second thing is that to my eye, these examples seem to compare favorably with the SG reference example (see Figure 8).  The color shades are not an exact match, but the overall appearance and print clarity appear similar to me, which I think is note-worthy.  As both of these stamps have also been certified as Steel Blue by BPA, that would seem to indicate some consistency in their assessment of this color shade.

Figure 8:  Two BPA-certified Steel-Blue examples.  Left: COGH, SG19c (Sc13b) 4d Steel Blue (used) [5].  Right: COGH, SG19c (Sc13b) 4d Steel Blue (unused) [13].  The above individual images have been digitally cropped from their original sources and placed into this composite image to facilitate comparison.  The stamp on the right now resides in the Joseph Hackmey Collection.  Image credits: Stanley Gibbons Ltd. (left) and David Feldman SA (right)

The Maxwell Joseph Collection, reputed to be the largest collection of Cape Triangles ever assembled, had some 20 examples in all, including 2 unused singles, 4 used singles, as well as a variety of pairs and stamps on piece and on cover.  The color shade of the majority of the stamps seems consistent with the BPA-certified example shown at right in Figure 8, but there are a couple of examples that appear to me to be a notably darker shade of gray than the others identified as Steel Blue [12].

The “Lady Hope” Collection had 19 examples of Steel Blue, including a used block of 6, which is now also part of the Joseph Hackmey Collection [13][14].  Once again, in looking at the photos of the 20 examples in the Maxwell Joseph Catalogue and the 19 in the “Lady Hope” Catalogue, I note the absence of deeply yellow-brown toned paper.  If anything, the Maxwell Joseph images appear slightly bluish in tone, but I think that can be attributed more to the photography than to the stamps themselves, as the “Lady Hope” image of the same stamp shows neither deep yellow-brown nor bluish toning of the paper.

It should also be noted that there is no mention of the Steel-Blue color shade at all in the Dale and Lichtenstein Collections Catalogue [15], which I find surprising, considering the importance of those holdings.  I am not sure why this would have been the case, as the existence of the 4d Steel Blue was already established by SG some twenty years before Alfred Lichtenstein passed away in 1947.

Examples of Stamps on Hand

Now that we have seen some images of stamps from reference sources, let’s take a closer look at some actual stamps that can be viewed together under various kinds of light and lighting conditions and scanned side by side.  For sake of comparison, and to try to illustrate the color differences, please see images of four stamps shown in Figure 9.

These stamps offer the added advantage over the previous reference examples, of course, in that they have all been scanned on the same machine, at the same time, and under the same conditions.  This makes their side-by-side comparison better than what can be managed using images from a variety of sources.

Figure 9:  Used and unused 4d stamps from my collection, which hopefully show the four different color shades for the DLR printings.  These are all my identifications.  Top Left: COGH, SG19 (Sc13) Deep Blue.  Top Right: COGH, SG19a (Sc13c) Blue.  Bottom Left: COGH, SG19b (Sc13a) Slate Blue.  Bottom Right: COGH, SG19c (Sc13b) Steel Blue.  This last stamp is the one for which the color shade has now been certified as Steel Blue by BPA (see Fig. 1).

In looking at the images of the stamps in Figure 9, I hope at least that the Steel-Blue shade can be readily differentiated from the other three, which was my primary intention.  The overall difference seems clear to my eye, where the color seems deepest starting with the Slate Blue, followed by the Deep Blue, then by the Blue, and lastly by the Steel Blue.  Building on Stevenson’s comment that the DLR 4d blue shades are best described as Indigo, I think he is right.  In fact, I would go one step further and opine that these four shades can be differentiated from one another by how much Indigo they contain, with the Steel Blue having the least.

In addition to my own collection, which is admittedly a bit limited in its total quantity of 4d DLR stamps, I was once again given access to view and scan examples from the collection of my fellow Stamp Forum (TSF) member, Warren Parker [16].  I had the chance to meet Warren again in January 2026 to see his 4d issues.  Warren has a more extensive collection of Cape Triangles than I do, and he has identified 9 or 10 examples as Steel Blue.  And because I was able to scan his stamps using my machine, we can readily include his in side-by-side color-shade comparisons.  See Figure 10 below.

Figure 10:  Side-by-side comparison of stamps from Warren’s and my collections.  Left: COGH, SG19c (Sc13b) Steel Blue, lightly used, from Warren (his identification, and I agree).  Right: COGH, SG19c (Sc13b) Steel Blue (my unused/ no-gum certified copy from Fig. 9).  Both images have been digitally cropped from larger scans.

Personally, I think that Warren’s Steel Blue compares quite favorably with my certified example.  Not only does the color shade look pretty good, but I think that the print clarity is also similar.  Why would that latter point matter, readers may ask?  Well, my opinion is that there is so much variation in both color shades and print clarities for Cape Triangles in general (the so-called “wide range/ band”), that for a rare shade, since these stamps are by definition far less common, there should be a narrower range (i.e., more consistency) in both color shade and print clarity.

This is just my opinion, of course, and I understand that others may choose to see it differently, especially if they have stamps that are less similar to the certified examples, and they think that theirs should qualify as a rare shade.

Summary on What Steel-Blue Cape Triangles Should Look Like

Points of my argument:

·       I consider SG to be the pre-eminent authority on the Cape Triangle color shades, because they are the ones who originated them.  Other catalogue makers have either copied SG or based their listings on those that SG created in the first place.  This is precisely why I went to SG to ask what the COGH, SG19 varieties should look like.  I think that their opinion in this matter counts more than anyone else’s.

·       In my opinion, there seems to be good, general consistency in color shade and print clarity for Steel Blue stamps among BPA-certified examples from prominent collections of Cape Triangles where it is included.

·       By aligning the Slate-Blue Cape Triangle color shade with the version of Slate Blue shown in the 1920s SG Color Guide, it then becomes possible to see where Steel Blue should fit in the COGH, SG19 color-shade-variety spectrum and not confuse it with the 1960s-and-later version of Steel Blue.

·       The 1960s-and-later SG Color Guides do contain a disclaimer that certain classic stamps are known by their historical color-shade names, which can explain why such stamps will not align well with those later versions of the SG Color Guide.  I think this disclaimer clearly applies to both the Steel and Slate Blue 4d Cape Triangles, and it underpins the reasoning for aligning the Slate-Blue shade with the 1920s version, rather than the later one.

·       Side-by-side comparison of stamps from my colleague Warren’s collection with my certified example shows consistency in both color shade and print clarity, as well as a general absence of deeply yellow-brown toned paper.

Counterpoints to my argument:

·       Despite the fact that SG originated this color shade for Cape Triangles in their catalogues in 1927, the SG Color Guides provide no direct help.  The origin point came after the early Color Guides were devised and printed, so the shade is not listed there.  By the time SG introduced newer Color Guides in the 1960s, they changed what Steel and Slate Blue color shades should look like, more or less switching the two.  Consequently, I have only been able to figure it out using the indirect method of aligning the Slate-Blue shade first.

·       While it is true that the 1960s-and-later SG Color Guides do contain a disclaimer that certain classic stamps are known by their historical color-shade names, which can explain why such stamps will not align well with those later versions of the SG Color Guide, Cape Triangle color-shades are not explicitly cited as examples falling under this provision.

·       Stevenson opined that Steel-Blue Cape Triangles were generally printed on deeply yellow-brown toned paper, which he further speculated may have even been the cause of the rare color shades of Steel and Slate Blue.  As I have not found this to be the case, I imagine that strict disciples of Stevenson will view this as a negative.

·       Expertizing sources other than BPA have certified Cape Triangles as Steel and Slate Blue, which are very different in appearance from the SG-endorsed BPA examples.

·       The Dale & Lichtenstein Collections, which are historical significant to this area of our hobby, do not mention the COGH 4d Steel Blue stamps at all.

·       Many online collectors, dealers, and other stamp-related sites have identified Cape Triangles as 4d Steel Blue, but they are very different in appearance to the BPA-certified examples. 

Figure 11:  Side-by-side comparison of two stamps from my collection.  Left: COGH, SG19a? (Sc13c) Blue, used, on yellow-brown toned paper.  I have tentatively identified this as Blue, but the toned color of the paper makes the Blue appear darker, at least to my eye.  The seller of this stamp had identified it as Steel Blue, and perhaps it could be.  This is the only example I have been able to find on toned paper similar to what Stevenson described.  Right: COGH, SG19c (Sc13b) Steel Blue (my unused/ no-gum certified copy from Figures 9 and 10).  Both images have been digitally cropped from larger scans.

Conclusion

Unlike our first two mysteries, where the existence of two specific color shades was in question, this time, we are attempting to figure out what the Steel-Blue color shade should look like for a Cape Triangle.  I think this has been a more challenging issue to address, compared to the first two, as the evidence is less clear cut.

Still, I place my faith in the guidance from SG, the originators of this color shade.  The Steel-Blue example with which they provided me in 2022 is the cornerstone on which the rest of the argument is based (see Figures 4 and 8).  Based on that image, I sought a stamp that looked similar.  I found one, bought it, and sent it to BPA for expertizing, and it came back as a genuine example.

The importance of this development is that now I have my own BPA-certified example, and I can then use it for making side-by-side comparisons and scanning the stamps in question using the same machine, settings, and conditions.  That is exactly what I have done for this article.

All of that said, there will doubtless continue to be confusion over what Steel Blue should look like for Cape Triangles.  This stems from the fact that the actual color shade from certified examples does not align with SG Color Guides published since the 1960s.  In addition, Stevenson’s comments about these stamps generally occurring on yellow-brown toned paper have compounded the problem.  In my research of these stamps over the past few years, I have not found any evidence to support this notion.

In fact, none of the BPA-certified examples I have seen appear to be on yellow-brown toned paper, nor do the examples from prominent collections.  Consequently, I am discounting Stevenson’s general statement, as it is not supported by the evidence from SG and BPA.

With that, I would like to leave readers with a final image, which hopefully illustrates the situation of the COGH SG19 (Sc13) color-shade varieties, side by side with examples taken from the SG Color Guides (see Figure 12).

Figure 12:  The four stamps from my collection, shown side-by-side in Fig. 9, shown here digitally cropped along with images from the 1920s and 1960s-1970s SG Color Guides.  I have ordered colors left to right, starting with Steel Blue, which I perceive as having the least amount of Indigo in it and progressing to Slate Blue, represented here as having the highest Indigo component to its color shade.  I have switched the positions of the 1960s-1970s versions of the Steel and Slate Blues to fit the sequence.

I hope this exploration into the nuanced depths of Steel-Blue color shade research has been worth the journey.  As I have written previously, color-shade differentiation is a difficult area for many philatelists, owing to the myriad of factors that impact color-shade perception, such as condition of the stamp, lighting (for photos and viewing actual stamps), scanning equipment and their settings, displays for viewing images, etc.  I think this will continue to be a challenge.

Future Projects

Stevenson called for a “simple yet truly scientific basis” for distinguishing the color shades of the DLR printings of the 4d Blues [11], which are the COGH, SG19 (Sc13) varieties, and I hope this article is another step along the path to finding that basis.  I think that color quantification by some method is now achievable, and I am planning to work with others more skilled in understanding color analysis to see what can be figured out for these stamps.

Luckily for us, we have access to more advanced analytical tools than Stevenson did back in the 1940s-1950s, so I believe we now have the means to tackle this question.  But until that day comes, our third mystery will also continue to work its spell on us….  Happy rare-shade hunting!

Acknowledgements

I would like to take a moment to express my sincere thanks to my TSF colleague and friend, Warren Parker.  Warren very kindly arranged to meet me personally to see his 4d Cape Triangles, as he did previously with his 1d and 6d examples, and he generously allowed me to scan all of his material using my machine.  In addition, fellow philatelists and Cape Triangle enthusiasts Peter Newroth of Victoria, British Columbia and Ray Getsug of St. Paul, Minnesota were instrumental in helping me get access to the multiple versions of the SG Color Guides, which have been essential to my research into these rare color shades.  To all these gentlemen, please accept my sincerest thanks for your help!

 References & Credits

[1]      Dorn, Christopher.  “Three Enduring Mysteries of the Cape of Good Hope Triangular Issues, 1853-64 (Part 1).”  Big Blue 1840-1940 stamp blog (Jim Jackson, Editor), posted 20-Nov-2024, accessed 11-Feb-2025.  URL: https://bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2024/

[2]      Dorn, Christopher.  “Three Enduring Mysteries of the Cape of Good Hope Triangular Issues, 1853-64 (Part 1).”  Cape & Natal Philatelic Journal (CNPJ), Vol. 28, No. 4 (112), December 2024.  Website: https://www.capenatalstamps.com/home/journal-topics-2024-dec

[3]      Dorn, Christopher.  “Three Enduring Mysteries of the Cape of Good Hope Triangular Issues, 1853-64 (Part 2).”  Big Blue 1840-1940 stamp blog (Jim Jackson, Editor), posted 13-Mar-2025, accessed 16-Feb-2026.  URL: https://bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2025/

[4]      Dorn, Christopher.  “Three Enduring Mysteries of the Cape of Good Hope Triangular Issues, 1853-64 (Part 2).”  Cape & Natal Philatelic Journal (CNPJ), Vol. 29, No. 2 (114), June 2025.  Website: https://www.capenatalstamps.com/home/journal-topics-2025-jun

[5]      Dorn, Christopher.  “Cape of Good Hope Triangles: The 4-Pence Blue De La Rue Issues, 1863-1864.”  Cape & Natal Philatelic Journal (CNPJ), Vol. 26, No. 3 (103), September 2022.  Website: https://www.capenatalstamps.com/home/journal-topics-2022-sep

[6]      James, George.  Stanley Gibbons Ltd., London.  Personal interview on 22-Jun-2022.

[7]      Jefferies, Hugh.  Stanley Gibbons Ltd., London.  Personal email dated 28-Sep-2022.

[8]      Stanley Gibbons’ Colour Guide for Stamp Collectors (Improved Edition), Item No. 2077.  Stanley Gibbons Ltd., London, undated.  Referred to in the text as being from the 1920s (see [9]).  Please see the Appendix for an image of the cover.

[9]      Stanley Gibbons’ Shades.  In History of The Australian Commonwealth Specialists’ Catalogue, website accessed on 22-Feb-2026.  URL: http://www.acsc-history.info/misc.aspx 

[10]    Stanley Gibbons Colour Guide for Stamp Collectors, Item No. 252.  Stanley Gibbons Ltd., London, 1969.  Please see the Appendix for an image of the cover.

[11]    Stevenson, D. Alan.  The Triangular Stamps of Cape of Good Hope.  H.R. Harmer Ltd., London, 1950.

[12]    Postage Stamps of the Cape of Good Hope: The Collection formed by Sir Maxwell Joseph including Postal History from 1652 and 1900 Siege of Mafeking.  Sotheby’s, London, 1982.

[13]    The “Lady Hope” Collection of Cape of Good Hope Triangulars.  David Feldman SA, Imprimeries Réunies Lausanne SA, Switzerland, 2003.

[14]    Hackmey, Joseph D.  CAPE OF GOOD HOPE: The Triangular Stamps of the Cape of Good Hope.  Museum of Philately: https://www.museumofphilately.com/collection/102/154, accessed on 17-Feb-2026.  Pages 154-156 of 161 feature the 4-Pence Steel Blue.

[15]    The Louise Boyd Dale and Alfred F. Lichtenstein Collections - Sale Thirteen - Cape of Good Hope.  Harmers of New York Inc., New York, 1989.

[16]    Parker, Warren M., posting as @wm on The Stamp Forum (TSF) website.  Personal meeting on 10-Jan-2026 at the Orco Expo stamp show in Buena Park, California, U.S.A.

[17]       Stanley Gibbons Colour Guide for Stamp Collectors, Item No. 252.  Stanley Gibbons Ltd., London, 1978.  Please see the Appendix for an image of the cover.

Appendix

To make clear which SG Color Guides are being cited in both the body of this article and in the reference section, the following images of the covers of those publications are provided here:

Figure 13:  These are scanned images of the covers of the SG Color Guides from the 1920s [8], 1969 [10], and 1978 [17].  The publication date for the 1920s version is taken from the “History of The Australian Commonwealth Specialists’ Catalogue” website [9], as it does not appear on the item itself.  Both the 1969 and 1978 versions have the publication year printed on the backs, so these dates are documented.  When scanned, there was no discernible difference between the color shades in the 1969 and 1978 versions, although the production methods were clearly different.  In the 1969 version, the color-shade blocks were printed separately and attached to the pamphlet.  In the 1978 version, the color-shade blocks were printed directly on the pamphlet.