As the title says... I noticed that both these terms are used on Bricklink. Was there some discontinuity in the shade of blue pieces at some point (like the grays), or does it really refer to two different types of blue bricks?

Medium blue is the lighter blue colour of Market Street/ the Medieval Market Village house:

The original blue is the colour of the ship's hull in the Harbour set:

I thought that was called "light blue", not medium...

Nope.

Check the colour guide here:

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogColors.asp

Hello!

I agree, colour terms can be quite confusing, especially since the grey shades changed 6 years ago in 2004. TLC uses different names than they're common on BrickLink or Peeron for example. I can recommend the following compilation of colors:

http://www.peeron.com/inv/colors

It contains all name variations of the same colour used on different sites and systems. This can be extremely useful when you need to define one of the newer colours in MLCAD for example. Medium blue or the stone grey series is not included there, and thus has to be defined first.

You'll also find the medium blue in the list, a really beautiful colour if this side note is allowed. Light blue is a more rare colour that is discontinued since 2007. It could mainly be found in the Belville theme. Although BrickLink lists several more items in light blue than there should be, it is very probable that these are listed wrong and are instead medium blue. Many times I already received wrong coloured pieces from BrickLink sellers who mixed them up. But that's a different story to tell.

If you want to see examples of the real colours and the pieces it comes in, have a look at the BrickLink colour catalogue with thumbnails:

Thumbnail Colour Catalogue on BL

Let me close with a little hint: If you see a piece in unusual colour on BL, it's worth the time to send the seller an email to make sure it's not a listing error.

All the best,

~ Christopher

Edited January 6, 201015 yr by Legostein

This is very helpful. That's why my old grey and brown pieces look different. I thought it was discoloring. Good to know it's not.

Hello!

I agree, colour terms can be quite confusing, especially since the grey shades changed 6 years ago in 2004. TLC uses different names than they're common on BrickLink or Peeron for example. I can recommend the following compilation of colors:

http://www.peeron.com/inv/colors

It contains all name variations of the same colour used on different sites and systems. This can be extremely useful when you need to define one of the newer colours in MLCAD for example. Medium blue or the stone grey series is not included there, and thus has to be defined first.

You'll also find the medium blue in the list, a really beautiful colour if this side note is allowed. Light blue is a more rare colour that is discontinued since 2007. It could mainly be found in the Belville theme. Although BrickLink lists several more items in light blue than there should be, it is very probable that these are listed wrong and are instead medium blue. Many times I already received wrong coloured pieces from BrickLink sellers who mixed them up. But that's a different story to tell.

If you want to see examples of the real colours and the pieces it comes in, have a look at the BrickLink colour catalogue with thumbnails:

Thumbnail Colour Catalogue on BL

Let me close with a little hint: If you see a piece in unusual colour on BL, it's worth the time to send the seller an email to make sure it's not a listing error.

All the best,

~ Christopher

Thanks a lot!

There seems to be some mismatch between BrickLink and Peeron. On the latter I can find also DoveBlue...