Help Needed To ID British 4d Stamp.

Could someone help me id this stamp.Have tried looking for it in the net but to no avail.Thanks.

King Edward VII 1902
4d green and chocolate brown
Stanley Gibbons 236
My uneducated guess.
Is this chalk-surfaced paper also? That will lower the price.

Thank you puzzler.Think it is chalk paper, based on the scientific fact thet chalk surfaced paper distorts colour when soaked in water.Looking at the stamp,think there is a distortion of colour especially the green.Have no other means or method to actually confirm.Least with your help I know the details of the stamp.Thanks again.

The green ink was highly fugitive: it disappeared when the stamp was soaked, as happened in this case. Gibbons includes a note after SG 196 on this subject: "The above prices are for stamps in the true dull green colour. Stamps which have been soaked, causing the colour to run, are virtually worthless."

I have a GB 2005 Concise with the same note but I had thought it applied to the 1884 QV high value stamps. I am not at all familiar with chalk surface paper.

Many a good 4d. KEVII have been ruined by soaking, I am not exempt from this group. Early on I got a bit too eager and figured I would soak a few KEVII stamps, a technicolour rainbow in the water......

My advice, don't soak any QV, KEVII or KGV stamp without being certain it is not printed with a fugitive ink or on chalk surface paper.

Here is a mint 4d. followed by a couple pages of 4d's that won;t be going for a dip anytime soon.







Have a good one,

Skilo54

Nice stamps skilo54,but my 4d stamp is of diffrent colour.Your green is abosulutely flat green. Mine the green is more like yellow light green.Am wondering whether the soaking could have changed the colour so much.

Yes, indeed the soaking did cause that loss of colour. That was the whole idea. The printers, De La Rue, were very proud of their doubly-fugitive green and purple inks. They were intended to fade or badly discolour if anyone tried to wash the postmarks off. De La Rue and the British Post Office weren't thinking of stamp collectors - only of protecting the revenue against the reuse of stamps.

Got it tonymacg. It is a very usefull advise.Will make sure to never soak certain stamps.Thank.