Paper Types?

OK so between looking for secret marks, figuring out Types I,II,III, perforations, grills A,B,C,D,E,F,Z and now grill I.

I now have to figure out paper types???!!

This is getting complicated,

So how do you determine soft porous paper?

If looking through the stamp up at a light source it should look like molted (spotted) newspaper. There is a snap test also. Flick the stamp and a crisp snap would be the other while soft porous would be hard to get a crisp pop. Also, if available a UV light source can help to narrow them down.

A better explanation can be found here.
http://www.1847usa.com/BanknotePaperTypes.htm

Also look at the perforations. Even without magnification, hard papers generally have very sharply cut perforations with very few fibers showing at the separations and generally none showing in the holes. Soft papers will often have some partially clogged or unevenly cut perfs with many more obvious fibers visible. Once you see some examples of both the differences will become more obvious.

All of the above is correct but I was thrown another wrinkle the other day. First the secret marks vary. Scott doesn't tell you this. The one cent has the small dash in the ball. The dies wore down and sometimes they are barely or non existent. The 3 cent Washington has varying degrees of shading as shown in the picture. Then the other day I was sorting through 3 cent Washington's and found one that looks like soft porous paper but snapped like white wove. It is a double paper that I'm sending in for an opinion. Also they have ribbed paper and silk paper. Silk paper has 4-6 threads per stamp and I have yet to find the color. One source said they were black and another said red. When you get into the banknotes you will need more ammo than a Scott book.

Sorry about the hair. That isn't included when you buy the book!

There's an interesting article, "The Topic is Paper" done in 2002 by Calvert M. Haun. I think I got if off of the New York Collectors Club site but I'm not sure--here's the address thats on the bottom of the pages (26 pages long) that I printed several months ago when trying to find information on experimental papers used on the Washington/Franklins. I'm pretty sure its acknowledged there were more than the blue papers, but this is the only publication I've been able to find that mentions any other paper varieties for the W/Fs. Interesting reading.

http://www.nystamp.org/Topic_is_paper.html.

It didn't show up on the post I just did---there are dashes between the words "Topic_is_Paper" in the web address I posted about paper varieties.

Quote:
First the secret marks vary. Scott doesn't tell you this

I looked at the secret mark and it did not look like a cresent............

Which issue? The secret mark on the Franklin 1 cent looks like dash. But if you see any color no matter how faint in the ball then it is a secret mark. When I seperated the 3 cent I had 3 different types of shading on the white wove paper and another lone stamp that had an over inked area that left it to my imagination. The 10 cent Jefferson was the easiest. That's probably because I had so few of the (about 8).

I was just looking at some lincoln memorials on bluish paper and even with good scans I'm lost. Another one you need a known example in hand to compare and b sure. Wonder if the usps & printers ever expected to be under such a microscope 100+ yeras later.

Nitro, This is about the best for blue paper difference. On cover usage from 1909 with 332 on left and 358 (blue paper) on right.

Bluish paper is another that once you have seen a few in person they will become familiar and jump out at you when in a group of normal stamps, and even alone they become much easier to spot. But it is almost impossible to learn them from scans.

Romania :

Schaubek (I think) lists 1930 King Charles air, as AZURE PAPER

Anyone au fait with the paper, or the term?

Thanks.

Azure paper normally refers to a pale pastel blue color paper but I have never seen it referenced to stamps.

Bravo Russ!
yes, I think I can see a tinge of blue.
I could not recognise it on my used examples.

So Romania may be the only country to employ it.

I'll post the scans tomorrow under Romania 1931

2016 New Paper in Large Format Envelopes ?

Latest Mail arrived in paper, from North America, unbranded, with a sheen to it, looks like silk,
up to the light can also have a "fibreglass" look about it.

Tough as old Jerky, and near impossible to rip.

Anyone have an idea on its make-up?
Thanks