Matchbooks, Tin Cans, and Other Old Things

I am in the process of redoing a design project I first completed in college; throughout this first stage I've been looking for inspiration in a book about vintage matchbook covers and another on antique tin cans. I'm also looking for other things that have an aged appearance, such as the sheet music and the newspaper clipping above. Mostly what I'm drawing from these is not only the idea of something old, but something classic and timeless. Color explorations are going on as well, looking at the various shades of color coming from these artifacts and drawing connections between them. What makes these colors work together? How do they differ from those that are taken straight from the "digital age?" In truth, whites are not really white and blacks are hardly black. Many painters believe that using manufactured blacks muddy the paint and  produces color that is untrue to our perceptions. This belief can be applied to anything where color is used; blacks should be made by combining other colors, thus the hues of these mixed colors appear in the "black." After I scanned the sheet music and clipping I used the eye dropper to sample the "black" ink. In taking a closer look, none of the samples were 100% black. Each sample has a shade of purple, red, or blue depending on where I clicked and proves that our perception and understanding of color is largely skewed.