Identify 3 Stamps

Barb, to pin these down properly, you need to get into the murky world of Travancore watermarks. Here is the summary in Gibbons:



If you can identify the watermarks, we'll be able to pinpoint the stamps.

Having said that, the very best in nominal catalogue value you could be looking at would be about a dollar, for the 4 Cash stamp (if it had watermark A sideways). The rest are probably all minimum catalogue value.

OK... so I need to find a "watermark" kit and another couple of catalogs. :(
ARRGH. Why do you keep tempting me to the dark side... collection. I'm trying to divest.

Barb, as usual, it's all Rod222's fault ...

So... watermark kits... tell me more. How, why, where to purchase.

Barb, by far the simplest is cigarette lighter fluid - preferably Ronsonol. (Disclaimer: I do not own shares in Ronson.) Naturally, don't breathe the fumes in. It evaporates fairly quickly, but douse the stamp in it, slap the stamp on a black background, and the watermark will usually show up quite clearly.

However, often with Travancore stamps, you won't need it. Just place the stamp against a black background, or hold it up to a strong light. The Type 3 watermark is usually pretty distinctive, and easy to tell apart from Types A and B. Watermark A is usually not well centred on the stamp: you'll often see only part of the shell, or nothing at all. Watermark Type B is usually well centred, and you'll see it more or less in the centre of the stamp.

Thank YOU! Meanwhile... only to frustrate Rodney.... here are a few more. :)

:)

These are the sort of things that make Rodney gibber and sweat at the palms.

On your last stamp, the 1¼ Chuckram: do I notice traces of blue around the overprint? Try placing it alongside another of the overprints, and see if you can convince yourself that the overprint is in deep blue, rather than black. The deep blue overprints are quite scarce, and well worth having. And it would be one in the eye to Rodney, too.

Aaah! 5 little beauties,
probably weeping because they want to be in my collection.

I see 2 killers and three CDS's
No wishy washy shades here,
bold, courageous colours, ideal for
such stamps with attitude.

I would try and appreciate the Barwani,
but the image? where is it?
a bit like the Kreisler 10" black and white TV
reception of the 1950's.

Rodney, I'm afraid that, where you see 'bold, courageous colours', I see only vulgar and gaudy. Not like the elegant restraint and subtle shadings of the Barwani ...

Not to be obtuse, but you're in the ethernet again... What's CDS? stand for?
I live in a world of acronyms and the language list is getting quite complex. While you're at it ... define Killers and why, what? I don't know what you see that I am looking at.

OK, Barb:
CDS = Circular Date Stamp - your common or garden variety of cancellation, with the place name and date, and sometimes additional information
Killer: Cancellation usually consisting of heavy bars, in a square, circle or oval, usually without location or date information, and intended to 'kill' the stamp - really prevent its reuse. Here is an example of a killer cancelling a Jammu & Kashmir ½ Anna red stamp, and a spray of CDSs around it



And for good measure (and because I should have been more patient searching through my files)



The CDS cancelling Queen Victoria on this India postcard, and the killer pretty well murdering the Jammu & Kashmir ¼ Anna brown (which was needed to carry the letter out of Kashmir, and across the border to Sialkot in British India, whence it was carried on to its destination at Amritsar, the Sikh holy city).

Thanks Tony. Appreciate it greatly!
So you, and possibly Rodney, like "killer" cancels?
That's a whole genre? Yes? Like ID' ing the cancels on the Austrio / Hungary ?
Cancels can add value, or not, to a specific stamp?
And where does one go to learn the subtle nuance?
I'm still struggling with ID and watermarks. Some flaws, I get, others... way out of bounds.
Cancels add not just the acronym, but a layer of detail,
Is this alike the precancels?
of which I've a few, and note there are multiple collectors. and multiple databases.
I'm still looking for embossed cut corner or cover site to be helpful.

Who would have thought a thread could go so far on these issues? They're chucked in a Hagner somewhere in my stamp den as "too hard"

uh! Uh! Uh! Jubilee...naughty, naughty.

They are to be chucked into a Hagner and sent to moi!
Where they bask in the adoration they deserve.

Vulgar and gaudy is Cool...in a philatelic sense.