There have been a couple of postings regarding the proper classification or listing of chip colors. I too would like to see a standard description adopted, be it the Paulson colors, or whatever. But let me put something forward to you.

Back in my Archaeology days we used to use a standarized color guide to describe and attribute the various shades and hues of soil. Yes, soil. It's not just brown and grey ya know. To do this we used a Munsell Color Chart. Here's an excerpt from a webpage on Nubian Archaeology describing the use and process. (Note: the stuff about moistening would of course be left out for our use.)

Munsell Color Chart

A Munsell chart helps researchers describe the color of pottery or soil. Everyone has a different idea of what "orange-yellow" looks like. When describing a color, researchers compare it to a standardized book of colors. That way, everyone knows what color the pottery or soil is. In Nubian excavations, these color charts are most often used when describing the color of pottery.

The Munsell chart is organized using Hue, Value and Chroma to describe colors. Hue identifies the color's approximate place in the rainbow (how red or yellow or blue it is). Value identifies how light or dark it is, with values near 0 being white. Chroma identifies how much color there is, from very faded to very colorful.

Munsell charts are designed for use in natural sunlight, without sunglasses. To get the best description, samples should be moist. If they are not moist, the colors will look dull or seem faded, making the Chroma reading incorrect. If a researcher does not moisten a sample, that fact is recorded with the color description.

To use the chart, the researcher holds the sample underneath the page that is likely to have the correct Hue. Next, she compares the sample to individual color blocks until the best match is reached. Then she records the Hue, Value and Chroma like this: 10YR 4/6 (Hue of 10 yellow-red, Value of 4, Chroma of 6).

Maybe the and the prominent publishers of the various guides could get together and establish just such a research tool.

Just my opinion.

==Mike==
R-5986