how many colors  

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Bright blue,pale blue, red...parchment (you call oatmeal)I think.I recall perhaps a seafoam?

(I think these are all...
(I think these are all correct!) Red Orange, Brown, Seafoam Green, Elephant Grey, Lemon Yellow, Parchment, Greige, Olive Green, Ochre Light, Brown - can't remember the official name!
The contract shells had loads of different colours which I can't remember all but these included Pink, light Blue, Terra Cotta, Yellow and Green.

just found this!
i've...
just found this!
i've always been curious myself...
http://www.eamesoffice.com/vintage/sales_materials_detail.php?id=27

rock land
thanks for the post that was great, being in the business i get 100s of the standard colors, but very rarely see any of the special orders, after 40 years i wonder were t hey are hiding? ,
I would love to see some of those wild colors,

from the Eames office
We...
from the Eames office
We scanned this page exactly as we found it, inserted into a binder with a 1962 Herman Miller illustrated price list. We are tentatively dating this page of actual fiberglass chair samples to 1962, although it is possible that it was produced later.
We borrowed this from a collector who wanted to keep the page intact, so we didn't try to move and reglue any of the samples. Over time, some of the samples slipped, and the original owner of this catalogue page simply "taped" the samples back into place.
STANDARD SHELL COLORS
OG-Olive Green Dark, OC-Ochre Light, RU-Raw Umber, SB-Seal Brown, RO-Red Orange, NB-Navy Blue, LY-Lemon Yellow, GR-Greige, PR-Parchment, SF-Sea Foam Green, EG-Elephant Hide Grey.
CONTRACT SHELL COLORS
BK-Black, TC-Terracotta, LG-Greige Light, OD-Ochre Dark, MG-Grey Medium, PN-Pink, GL-Grey Light, TQ-Turquoise, LB-Light Blue, MB-Medium Blue, TL-Tan Light, TD-Tan Dark, LS-Sea Foam Green Light, BY-Brilliant Yellow, YG-Grey Yellow, KG-Kelly Green
The STANDARD SHELL COLORS are the only ones listed in the 1962 Herman Miller Illustrated Price List. That there are additional colors on this chart, "Contract colors," which are not accounted for in the 1962 Price List with which this page was found may be explained by noting the appelation, "Contract." These additional colors may only have been available to "contract customers," which usually implies an order of 1000 or more chairs, for a building or an institution. It may be that all of the colors on this chart were indeed available in 1962, but the CONTRACT colors were only available to CONTRACT customers, not to those ordering a few chairs.

Good find 🙂 I knew I was...
Good find 🙂 I knew I was right with most of them but couldn't remember all (especially contract colours) It's always nice to know the 'official name' for a colour.

red?
i could be wrong, but isn't there a brilliant red in the mix?
of course, you did mention the samples being from 1962, so there were likely more colors added to the palette later on.

is the bight red rare ?
is the bight red rare ?

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I know the very bright blue is expensive...

The ones I've got...
Welll, this is interesting the shells I've got seeem to be a mix.
I've got the Red/Orange and the Brilliant Yellow and the Greige. But I've also got a Red that is light;y towards a pink. I've been calling it Watermelon. It looks much less pink than the chip in the photo. I wll really try to get some shots taken this weekend!

I have what I think LRF...
I have what I think LRF listed as "Seafoam Green Light." I'm glad you posted this, because I have called it that simply because I have seen Seafoam and it's a much darker version of what I have. I have three sides in this color, and have always wanted to find one more to complete the set. I love this color, but I never ever see them for sale. It must be a rarer color.

Olive
Could be a faded red? I have heard there is no color called "salmon" but I see them listed often. I think it's usually just red or red-orange sun faded. I could be wrong.

No, I don't think so
I have the read/orange onese and they are quite bright and not at all faded looking. The ones I'm calling watermelon are also richly colored and not faded from what I can see. Topside and bottomside the same and all that. Maybe these are the 'pink' ones. Anyways, I'll do my best to get pix tup this weekend.

Certainly
one chair of a given color might fade, due to its history, while another of the same color would remain pristine. . . ?