Please Help

I am so happy to have found hipstamps and this forum. I inherited many thousands of stamps as a kid. Many questions exist. Now many years later I finally have help. Thank y'all for taking a look. I really appreciate it. This one in question, is pretty old. I don't see the watermark or do I?1531408899610
1531408958392

Comments

  • 5 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • In order to see watermarks, you need to use watermark fluid or lighter fluid and a small black tray. Put a small amount of fluid in the tray and immerse the stamp - the watermark will become evident. However, watermarks on GB issues are generally quite easy to see if you hold the stamp up to a lamp (face of stamp toward the light).
  • Also, this particular design exists, I think, in only two variants, both with the same watermark, but with differing numbers of full dots in the corners. This one has sixteen dots and so would be Scott #89. (The one with fourteen dots, Sc. #88, has a much higher value.)
  • Thank yall very much. Will later fluid wash off gum or damage stamp?
  • No, but always use lighter fluid in a well ventilated area.
  • Sorry to poke my nose in two weeks after the event, but as Doug says above, this stamp only had the "Imperial Crown" watermark, which is about a third the size of the stamp. It was used on just about all GB definitives from 1880 to 1912. A good catalogue will have an image of this watermark. The penny lilac is a very common stamp, even inverted watermarks are not rare (but I still don't have one.....).
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