I Found Something Really Odd While Watermarking

I was sorting a bunch of #279's and I put one face down in my SG detectamark and seen a weird looking mess of what can only be described as perforation holes straight down the center and across the top forming a "T" along with a bunch of what look like stitches?

here is a picture of what I mean?

What a mystery!

I have very simular on a couple canadian provinces that I thought were stitch watermarks but was told they are perf impressions caused by pressure , possibly by poorly stacked sheets. Doesn't make alot of sense to me but to see a couple really nice examples of the stitch mark the 2 links below show a canadian as well as a US classic . Unitrade lists stitches on many early issues but they can be found on any paper made with the old wire mesh method . The stitch would be to attach 2 lengths of paper so in reality depending on length of the mesh could be 20 stamps in 100,000 that might fall along the stitch line. Not truly a watermark but a premium if found on any issue.
https://goscf.com/t/16647&SearchTer...ch,watermark
https://goscf.com/t/17981&SearchTer...ch,watermark

I think you may be correct about the stacking because if I hold the stamp face down in an angle to a light to can see the hole bumps but that must have been tons of pressure to cause the paper to squish upward through the perforations of the sheets above it! And it looks like a "stripe" of offset horizontal lines running through that but that can only bee seen in the watermark tool. Weird. I'll maybe try to scan it at a high resolution and see if I can extract it enough for you to see what I'm seeing. Thank you.

and to top it off I still cant decide if there is a watermark in that mess or not? Usually they show up really clear even the partial ones in the corners and stuff with this gizmo so I'm kind of scratching my head over this one? Can anyone make out a watermark? -a double line watermark (191)?

I think I see a ducky and a horsey.

OK, This may be a bit overkill but the kids are at school and the wife well... anyways, here are some hi resolution images both pictures from a nice camera {Fuji Finepix S700} so you can see unlike cell phone pics.

So you know and for reference I can see watermarks great with this gizmo. These are the usual images I'll see..





These are some photographic images I done (out of boredom and curiosity mostly )







@1200dpi resolution (all my upstairs scanner can muster sadly)

The front:


The back:
I tweaked the contrast so the little circles would show up.

Wow definatly see S and looks like double line just above to the left. Great little gadget - I've been using ronsonal which works great on known issues but for difficult ones I don't think its reliable. Just hate spending $30-50 on another gadget.

try 99 to 100 for that particular one... I got it in a trade though! :P

Nitrolures, That S wmk 191 is on another stamp and was for reference compared to that mess I was originally talking about with all the "holes"..Still unsure if it has one or not? anyone?

Maybe way off as I'm not firmiliar with these but it looks at least like the P and maybe portion of S if that is possible to fit within 1 stamp. Sometimes I look to hard and make things up in my head too .

yeah your probably right. 191

Actually no, I still cannot locate any type of watermark on this. I know that what you pointed out appears like a wmk. 191 but if you would take the stamp out and turn it around you still the that same shadowing no-matter the stamp so I can safely rule that out but good eye and a huge thank you for your time to make that diagram and such. So I be still scratching my head..oh well I'l just tuck it in my stock book with a note and get back to it some other time. Tjanks again for all your views and suggestions.

Jeff,

I'm all for high-tech but have you dipped the stamp in watermark fluid and, if so, were you still unable to make a determination?

Steve

I ashamed to admit it, but no I haven't. I will however pick some up this week. These "gizmos" are very useful and all, but if there is a hinge or anything that prevents the whole surface from making complete contact with the glass then it would prevent it from working properly. I think that's the case here. Those "holes/bumps" are preventing it form making full contact with the surface, so Ronsonol is probably the way to go here. I don't think it's valuable or hold any sort of premium whatsoever, It's just merely my uber-curiosity that makes me want to know. Thank you for your input and I'll let you know what's up when I find out. I was only trying to determine weather it was possibly a #246 (unwatermarked) or not. That's it, but since the damage to the upper right corner (crease/fold) and the centering is terrible so it may not even really be worth the effort but to me it is! I'm just too darned curious....ha-ha!

Knowing will help you sleep at night!

Your probably right tomiseksj.