Indian Red Paint Color Code for a 1906 Camelback

[New Mexico Brant]

Does anyone have the paint color code for a 1906 Indian camelback? Or does anyone sell this paint? Kind thanks, Brant

[Tom Lovejoy]

good luck, lot's of different ideas on that. I think in 06 it might have been a dark blue ?

[New Mexico Brant]

Thanks Tom for your response; Yes dark blue was offered as was red. I can't remember but green may also been offered that year.

[exeric]

According to Jerry Hatfield's "Indian, Photographic History". Royal Blue was the standard color until 1911, with vermillion offered in 1904. Like Tom said above, good luck finding the correct hue, or shade of Indian Vermillion as color is a very subjective 'science'. I've heard early Indian Vermillion described as a brownish red, but many consider vermillion to be a brighter red. I doubt Indian Vermillion is the same as Indian Red but nobody seems to know what Indian Red is either I painted my '24 Big Chief with PPG, DAR 51049 SC red. and I got that number from George Yarocki, and I thought it looked great. No one knows what dead on Indian Red, or Vermillion looks like as everyone has their own set of eyes, and time, and air pollution has a big influence on how the complex ingredients of paint are effected. Also, vermillion color comes from cinnabar which is a toxic mineral that probably isn't used in paint formulas anymore. I think there is a big can of worms regarding paint 'names' which have nothing to do with actual formulas. Dark Blue is a good example as Indian had a Dark Blue that was almost black, but also had the Dupont catalog that had many different formulas for blue. I would like to hear what you discover, so please keep us posted on your investigation. bigchief2.jpg