About That So-Called Silk Paper

The subject of this thread first came up in a passing remark on a thread devoted to ribbed paper.
https://goscf.com/t/38977&whichpage=2 br /
Since it its a diversion from the topic of that thread, which is ribbed paper, I am referencing that thread for background, and starting a separate thread for discussion of silk paper on stamps of the Banknote issues. I start with a quote from a post by cfrphoto (Clark Frasier Frazier)






I hope you have a good show. We can take this up when you get back. But I want to note my follow-up questions now before I forget them.

1. I have known Ron for many years, and I know he takes, or used to take, periodic trips to Washington to visit the various relevant archives, and got good at navigating those systems. Did he ever say where he caught up with the paper orders? Did they ever provide him with copies of any of that stuff?

2. Your comment about Linen vs Silk suggests to me that you are familiar with the two page article in the 1964 Collector's Club Philatelist by Clarence Taft in which he reports on a chemical paper analysis. In that article, Taft only worked with the black fibers for the stamps Continental had done, but also studied the colored fibers from the revenues having them. He concluded that the fibers on the revenues are linen-like (though not necessarily from flax), but that the black fibers on the postage issues of CBNCo are cotton. Neither fiber would dissolve in sodium hypochlorite which was the key to distinguishing them from silk.
Taft does not mention the other, larger, sparser, colored fibers in the postage stamps of Continental. I have a fuzzy recollection of an article by Stephen Rich on the subject, but cannot recall it enough to track it down. Do you have anything on that? Inasmuch as Taft only studied the black fibers and refers to them alone as the silk paper mentioned in the catalog for these stamps, I am inclined to agree with you that they are the real safety paper type, and that the colored fibers are strays. But it would be nice to nail that down somehow, and to correlate the paper(s) with the orders. Or is that something Ron has already done?

3. You mentioned the ABNCo hard paper. Besides an entry in the order books, does Ron mention anything of its characteristics and time frame? I have a few oddball paper anomalies in my collection, including an American 5c Taylor on paper .0047-55 inches thick, that I would like to track down. I have it grouped with the Continental double paper, but the characteristics are wrong. Anyway. let me know about the American hard paper.

BTW are you sure about the citation to the AP in 1914? The only one I could turn up was a small reference in the American Journal of Philately for 1896 about finding an ABNCo imprint on hard paper. Is that what you had in mind?

Here are a couple of HD scans I did to show some black fiber silk paper from the stamp reverse. You may need to click on the images to bring up the full view.

First a view of the fibers in relation to the whole reverse:



Then a closer look at the distribution of fibers in a small section:




Here is the obverse, heightened for contrast, but it really is a very strong color.

essayk, Is there any "qualification" as such for how much fiber presence must be visible on a given stamp to be accepted as a silk paper variety? Just wondering if the presence of 2-3 short fibers qualifies or if there must be an abundance of fibers spread throughout the stamp. And I guess further, based on your scans, it would appear that a fair abundance of threads would be present, but just curious if this is consistent or if there could be accepted silk paper examples with very few treads. (I've noted what you said on the pages of stamps you posted--just clarifying if this is a consistent trait).

Also, based of on comments from the other thread (as I remember reading) is a more intense color fairly consistent with Continentals on silk paper, or just an indication that it may be silk paper?

A couple of quick answers: The rest will have to wait until after Hartford.

I have copies of two early articles on American Bank Note hard paper. The one in front of me is titled "A new Variety of an Old Stamp" by Daniel J Kaib, APS 3249 in the American Philatelist, Jan 1914, Vol. 27, No. 4. The other article is probably in safe deposit with the stamp and cover. A pair sold in a Siegel auction some years ago, two singles, one used, one unused and a single on cover of the 1 cent are known with either logo capture or selvage. Some 3 cent copies are also known.

I am not sure I have seen the Stephen Rich article about the larger fibers. I found a large red fiber on the back of a 153, but the owner did not want to sell it. Again, I regard the larger, sparse fibers as likely pulp contamination. Ron Burns has set criteria for the number of fibers. As I recall, straw is at least 10, but I also regard that as some form of pulp contamination. The Continental Silk paper should have too many fibers to easily count and the fibers should be visible front and back. As a side note, the experimental revenue "silk" with sparse blue fibers, one or two per stamps would be better classified as a paper type, relatively soft and thicker than most earlier hard revenue papers. This would avoid classifying pairs with and without fibers with different catalog numbers.

Attached is an image of a 178 with Continental silk paper on a cover to Spain and an example of how many fibers can exist in the paper.

Clark

It amazes me that you take so much care to see these tiny bits!

Elsewhere as in Argentina, or the British Commonwealth, collectors have never paid attention to such fibers!

Had no clue the British commonwealth used silk paper, are there separate listings for them ?

@Galeoptix

Are the papers with the fibers you show standard for these stamps, or are they exceptional?

If they are standard, then of course few collectors would give them any attention. If they are exception, that is, only used for a few runs of production, then ignoring them doesn't make sense from the standpoint of completeness. The key is noting differences from the norm.

In US philately, the notice of the silk paper, as also the ribbed, was first published near the turn of the 20th century. Collector's who attend to that today are merely carrying on a century old tradition.

Thank you Essayk for starting this most helpful topic. Not having done any research, I could never know if I was looking at a silk paper stamp or not. Thanks all for the pictures.