Ryan Davenport wrote :

In the Scott catalogues, lake is darker in colour than carmine.
Here's an eBay guide which attempts to show the difference.

http://tinyurl.com/yb5n3l

The $1 Queen Victoria Jubilee issue from Canada is listed in Scott
and Unitrade as "lake" in colour.

http://tinyurl.com/yhby5t

My old Stanley Gibbons Colour Guide also considers lake to be
darker than carmine.

Ryan




Many thanks Ryan for your quick and very helpful answer.
Now I can see the difference between the two colours.

This led me to another question : why this word "lake" which (at least
in my poor knowledge of English) was only meaning a large pond.

I found the answer on the Merriam-Webster on-line dictionnary site :
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary


Main Entry: 2 lake
Function: noun
Etymology: French laque lac, from Old Occitan laca, from Arabic lakk --
more at LACQUER
1 a : a purplish red pigment prepared from lac or cochineal
b : any of numerous usually bright translucent organic pigments
composed essentially of a soluble dye absorbed on or combined
with an inorganic carrier
2 : CARMINE 2


I will remember that the lake colour is at litlle bit more purplish than
the carmine one.

Thanks again Ryan.

--
All the best,
Pierre Courtiade

to answer me, please replace NOSPAM by my family name