A large set of data, comprising the spectral reflectances of real surface colours, has been accumulated. The data comprise 16 groups with different materials and include 85,879 measured spectra. From these data, CIELAB colorimetric coordinates were calculated under CIE illuminant D50 and the CIE 1931 standard colorimetric (2 degrees) observer. Several published colour gamuts including those developed by Pointer and ISO reference colour gamut [ISO Graphic Technology Standard 12640-3: 2007] were compared using the present data set. It was found that the Pointer gamut is smaller than the new real data in most of the colour regions. The results also showed that the ISO reference colour gamut is larger than the new real accumulated data in most regions. The present finding indicates that there is a need to derive a new colour gamut based on the newly accumulated data for common applications. (C) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.