How to Determine Tonkinese Colors
Step 1: Determine the Base Color. Look at the points (extremities: face, ears, tail, and legs) and ignore the body. Select the base color of platinum, champagne, natural, or blue.
Step 2: Determine the Coat Pattern. Look at the body color and contrast it to the points. Select the pattern based on the degree of contrast: point, mink, or solid.
The combination of base color name and coat pattern name give you the total color
name. For example: Champagne Point, Natural Solid, Blue Mink, or Platinum Mink.
Details for Determining Color
Step 1: Determine the Base Color
To determine the color of a Tonkinese first look at the points and ignore the body.
Select the base color: Platinum: face is frosty gray Tonkinese Color, Champagne: face is medium brown Tonkinese Color,
Blue: face is slate blue Tonkinese Color, Natural: face is dark brown.
Step 2: Determine the Coat Pattern
Look at the degree of contrast between the points and the body color. The pattern
names of point, mink, and solid are misleading. All Tonkinese are pointed cats and
none are truly solid. Visualize them as varying degrees of contrast, ranging
from a strong contrast to a low contrast which can appear almost solid.
In this example, all three kittens are the same base color (champagne), but each
is a different coat pattern. Note that the points are the same color in all the
kittens; it's the point to body contrast that varies.
Champagne Solid (left): low contrast, body color may be a slightly lighter shade of the point color, with very little contrast between body and point color. Eyes (as an adult) are green to yellow/green.
Champagne Mink (lower right): medium contrast, body color should be a rich, even, unmarked color, shading almost imperceptibly to a slightly lighter hue on the underparts. There must be a distinct contrast between body and point color. Eyes (as an adult) are aqua.
Champagne Point (top): high contrast, body color should be off-white, any shading relative to the point color; overall body color should be in marked contrast to the point color. Eyes (as an adult) are blue.
How to check body color:
To compare the contrast of tail to body color, wrap the tail along the side of
the body furthest away from you and view the colors side by side.
Point to body contrast varies within each base color group. Champagnes have
the highest degree of contrast of the four base colors and were used to illustrate
the pattern and age differences in the examples above. Blues have the least, with
Platinums and Naturals falling in between. A Champagne Solid may have the same
amount of contrast as a Blue Mink. A Blue Solid may appear solid, but a Champagne
Solid illustrates that they are not truly solid. Points all have light bodies,
but the body color varies; the Naturals have the darkest tone and the Platinums
have the lightest. All of the colors darken with age.
Eye Color
Eye color does not determine coat pattern. Body color, contrast and shading to
the points do determine coat pattern. The CFA Standard defines the appropriate eye
color for each coat pattern and not every cat will have the specified eye color for
its pattern. A Natural with a fawn-to-cream body with aqua eyes is a Natural Point
with eye color not to CFA Standard, not a Natural Mink with a super light body.
How to check Eye Color: Cradling the cat and looking at
the iris from above may help you to see the color more accurately. Looking at the
eyes in natural light is helpful, but not a foolproof test; the color of the light
varies based on atmospheric conditions.
