My GB Album Journey - Novice Version :)

Nora,

Your collection is great. That is a lovely "Arms" £1 stamp.

I think I see a few phosphor Wildings (1/2 d., 4d., maybe 1d.).

The watermarks you show are the "Royal Cypher" also known as "Simple Cypher" at left and "Block Cypher" at right. The "Royal Cypher" watermark was used for the 1912 - 1924 stamps and the "Block Cypher" on the 1924 - 1934 stamps.

The "typographed" that Scott appears to use for the latter issue - I remarked this in rod222's thread - and that Steiner may have copied, is an oddity. The 1912-1924 series was printed in typography as well.

All British Stamps from those printed by De La Rue in the mid 1850's up to 1934, except for some high values (Seahorses and PUC) were printed in typography. It is a synonym for "surface printing."

These stamps, to UK collectors are known as Mackennals, named after the designer of the stamps. They, also, are known as "Profile" stamps. Sets are identified by their watermarks (Royal Cypher, Multiple Cypher and Block Cypher).

Look out for the 1/2 d and 1 d. Those exist also with a "Multiple Cypher" watermark. Those are much more expensive. The 1d exists in an experimental coil printing that is expensive and very few people know about.

The "Block Cypher" 1d and 1 1/2d also exist on an experimental paper that has a slightly different size watermark.

Nice complete set of "Wildings." The "Multiple Crowns" or "Multiple St. Edward's Crowns" watermark was introduced because regional (Wilding) stamps were issued. The previous watermark had the E2R cypher below the St. Edward's Crown. Regional stamps were issued for Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Wales and Monmouthshire, and Scotland. Since Queen Elizabeth was not queen of Scotland, Queen Elizabeth II was not the second queen of Scotland with that name. Consequently, the royal cypher was dropped so not to offend the Scots.

Agree, a real beauty, sadly missing in my lot.

Thank you Gentleman. I am going to really try to see those Phosphor lines. Im not giving up :)

was happy to do a few watermarks and complete a page - so satisfying.

NSK:
Of the three that you point out. I believe I see the Phosphor Lines on the 4p - I took a close up hoping you might confirm. Appreciate it.



Also - question on this overprint Royal Insurance Co. - could you shed light on this? - would this be mounted in BOB pages? I believe you/someone gave me info on this one a while back before I started my GB Album - I cannot seem to find it.



Thank you in advance.

Nora,
that is a "Commercial Overprint"
Yep! Back of book.
Make a page for them.
https://commercialoverprints.com/?s...43;insurance
https://commercialoverprints.com/ro...any-limited/

Nora,

To me, the 1/2d looked the most likely candidate. In the picture, you see a slight discolouration in the side margins. That tends to be the phosphor.

The angle at which the light falls on that 4d Wilding is not optimal. However, I do think those are phosphor bars. The bar at the right side of the stamp extends to the left side of the serifs of the vertical leg of the R (at top) and the base of the 4 (at bottom). The bar at left extends just past the E (at top).

As for the 2d Mackennal, that is just an ordinary stamp with commercial overprint. They were used to pay taxes. Companies overprinted the stamps to prevent clerks from stealing them and selling them back to the Post Office. The writing on it indicates it was used to proof the tax was received.

The stamp is from die 1.

I am not a big fan of this "Back of Book" terminology. I agree with rod222 that a page of them would add to your collection. I, however, would insert the page behind the one on which the basic stamp appears.

If I recall accurately, the webmaster at Romaniastamps.com, made a comment about 10 years ago "Back of Book" "Whatever that means"

It stuck with me, I guess it is a phrase that was concocted for sundry material, and a place for it.
It appears to have stuck.
I sit on the fence.

It was created for catalogs that separate different types of postage for different uses, primarily Scott which decided that airmail stamps were different than postage stamps which were different than postage dues, etc... I lay out my pages with pretty strict chronological sequence so all the issues from one year are together, but it is a pain to go through a dealer's stock when they have them in Scott order. Note that other catalogs do the same thing, but in different degrees. Postage dues are often in the back of their listings as are booklets or stationery.

I am torn about the "BOB" - I actually would prefer that all the variations stay together within the same year. I most likely will organize my albums with the years together.

More lovelies added to my Album -

Hi Nora, Was just looking through this topic. Nice collection and thanks for sharing. Looking through mine, I can see we share a very similar set. though you have a few I do not have and vice versa.

That 2 1/2 lilac is quite well-centred. Many Victorian stamps have bad centring. The colour is stunning. This set was the third issue for "unified" use as postage and revenue stamp. The Post Office and the Inland Revenue Service were afraid to be defrauded of income. The former applied heavy obliterators to cancel stamps. The latter required the use of double fugitive ink. Lilac and green were the only double fugitive inks at that time. The colour of most soaked stamps has run.
This set is getting extremely rare to find well-centred and with such good colours. Prices for unmounted and mounted mint have increased a lot over the years. The used stamps are following. It is an excellent find.

All your Victorian stamps appear to have good centring for that era. It is a lovely collection.

Nora - you should remove your 1/2d Jubilee from the 1880 set, ma'am.

GeoffHa is correct. Above the 1880 (Provisional), 1884 (Lilacs and Greens) and 1900 (Jubilee) examples. Note the ornaments in the corners and the portrait frame in the Jubilee Issue.

NSK - Thank you. Yes, I thought the 2 1/2 lilac was sharp and I had not seen many well centered as I scour through ebay/Hip for acceptable and affordable stamps- a good find. It does have a light thin on the upper left corner I believe - but for the price I paid I am ok with it.

Sir. Geoff - Thank you for pointing that out - I have corrected my mistake and La Reina is now where she belongs. :)

Yes, miraculously unchanged between 1840 and 1900!