My GB Album Journey - Novice Version :)

Recently I decided to delve into Great Britain. As you know, I have been collecting for about a year and a bit. My main passion = Mexico. Plus I have a US album that I work on as well as France (in addition to exploring World). I have done a lot of work on my French album and it makes me very happy:).

From the start of my journey, through what I was gifted and sorting bulk/Kilo, I realized I had quite a bit of GB and Colonies. I started studying up on GB, cataloging etc. and GB certainly made me happy - so I decided to start a homemade album (print my own pages) and acquired a more updated Catalogue. I wanted to document my learning journey - so posting my first WIP pages. I also wanted to use this as an opportunity to ask questions as I learn. Hopefully it is ok to place this topic here. I thought about just adding to Rod's GB Steiner Pages, however, I worried that some of the really large topics might slow the site. Additionally, my posts will be entry level :). A lot to learn, but I am definitely enjoying it.

More work in progress pages: Thanks all. I realize some might be in wrong spot, but I read and researched and tried very hard with the watermarks.

|Very good.The reason for the paleredition of king George the 6th stamps was because the printing ink was diluted 50% to make it last longer due to wartime shortages, or so I heard. the real fun begins when you look for the watermarks on Queen Elizabeth Wilding definitives. Give yourself a big Gold star if you can id a watermark on a 3d (pronounced threpknee)Lilac. I can't do it with this stamp and alcohol or any watermark fluid.

Nora,

That is a very nice collection.

I notice the King Edward VII stamps do not mention perforation. The 1/2 d., 1 d., 2 1/2 d., 3 d. and 4 d. orange exist with perforations 15x14 as well as the ordinary 14. These may be on a 1911 page.

You might also want to check you 1934-1936 King George V photogravure stamps. The values up to 2d exist with large, intermediate and small printed areas. It looks like your 1d scarlet is the large variety (maybe intermediate).

The Wildings are not just interesting because of the watermarks, they come with phosphor bars and graphite lines. They even come with both. The phosphor comes in three colours of afterglow (green - more a greenish blue -, blue and violet). The violet ones come in two widths (8mm and 9 1/2 mm). The multiple crowns watermark stamps, both with and without phosphor also exist on a creamy and whiter paper. So, if you think you have multiple examples, it might be worth giving them a second look to see whether you have one of the varieties.

With the many plate numbers incorporated in the designs of many Victorian stamps, the type differences of the classical era (always check you Queen Victoria 5d "Jubilees" for the types: this was printed from two dies; die 1 is much rarer than die 2) and printers (Edward VII had three, two for each value) and "shades" there are many opportunities to add extras to your collection.

A few of the Queen Elizabeth II commemoratives exist with phosphor bar varieties (one side bar stamp, often have a wide bar printed across two adjoining stamps, giving rise to a right and a left bar stamp), examples from two presses that are discernible and plenty flaws, some of which are major, listed flaws.

Typical Irish Maltese Cross.
Suggest BELFAST Postmark.

Rod, could it be Dublin II?

NSK
I don't have a Dublin ll, but you may be right.
Looking at the Dublin l, the inner Maltese cross, not the diamond
is not so "squeezed" as the Belfast.

Dublin looks like the offender.

Postmark : Squared Circle
Upper Holloway S.O. (Sorting Office)
Circa 1896
Time Code at top = C7 = 3:35pm ? forgotten my codes

Edit: Stanley Gibbons Specialised Catalogue, Vol. I, 12th Ed. (2001), p. 52

Thank you very much.
I am going DUBLIN l
There is a distinct difference in the internal cross width, between top and bottom, as shown on the poster's image.

Sometimes the width of the loop can be measured eg : BELFAST V CORK

...Update I do Have Dublin ll, I'll post a scan..

Now I am going DUBLIN ll
The points and the differing inner width, East v West

Note: Although not visible in OP image, Type 1 and 2 offer the following
Type 2 has a constant break in the outer cross.
Type 1 has a constant dot between inner and outer cross

Source : Goldsmith. Danzig Page 74

Thank you friends - all great feedback. NSK - I want to make sure I understand where I need to double check work so I can correct:

"I notice the King Edward VII stamps do not mention perforation. The 1/2 d., 1 d., 2 1/2 d., 3 d. and 4 d. orange exist with perforations 15x14 as well as the ordinary 14. These may be on a 1911 page."

- so I need to check the stamps below for perfs - some of these may go on the next page which is 1911 (only) - Correct?


Here is the next album page:


"You might also want to check your 1934-1936 King George V photogravure stamps. The values up to 2d exist with large, intermediate and small printed areas. It looks like your 1d scarlet is the large variety (maybe intermediate)."

NSK - you are correct upon further inspection the scarlet 1D is larger, does that place it in another year or area? will I find that distinction in my Scott?

Thank you - and more to come. I appreciate you all.

Nora - if you're going to play around with these for a while, it would probably be worth your picking up a cheap ebay copy of Gibbons's GB Concise catalogue or its Commonwealth catalogue.

Nora,

Yes. The second row of five boxes on the second page is for stamps with horizontal perforation 15. The vertical perforation is 14 on all stamps. After King Edward died, new stamps were designed for King George V. Because the new stamps were not available, the stamps of King Edward VII were still being printed.

De La Rue had lost the contract for printing stamps to Harrison & Sons. As Harrison was busy with the new stamps, the "provisional" printings were performed by Harrison and the stamp printing branch of the inland revenue service at Somerset House. Harrison printed most of the monocoloured stamps. They had two perforation gauges. The 15x14 prevented tearing when removing singles from the sheet.

The first stamps of King George V were the 1/2 d. and 1 d. "Downey Heads." Because they were blotchy, these were re-engraved. Also, different watermarked papers were used. Die 1, before re-engraving even has varieties 1A and 1B.

I am not familiar with Scott. Most British catalogues have a footnote that mentions these sizes. The large format (1934) did not allow for good perforation. The size was reduced (intermediate) in 1934/1935. This was still not good enough. So, in 1935, the size was reduced once again. Values over 2d were not introduced before the second reduction in size.

Look out for inverted watermarks. Most come from booklets. The new machine used required some sheets to be inserted upside-down. This was not always done. The large-sized stamps with inverted watermark can only come from sheets. These have high catalogue prices.

The SG specialised catalogue lists all. The booklet and coil stamps also have slightly different sizes, but those differences are difficult to measure.

Hi Geoff. yes something for me to think about - I have been lucky finding newer Scott color catalogues between $11-$15 so maybe I can get a good deal on Gibbons as my print Album pages do not include Catalogue numbers.

Nora.

There is a free online version of the Stoneham catalogue. That is even better than SG Concise with all stamps in colour.