1912 Victoria Mint Block Of 6 - Watermark Inverted

This is a recent block to my WW block collection of Victoria Scott #232 with Watermark 13 inverted. I assume there is no added premium for watermark inverted on this issue, am I correct?

The gum is disturbed, never hinged, but suffers from the dreaded "Crystal Mount damage." Nevertheless, I like this block for what it is.

Linus

Also, Perf 12 x 12.5

Nice item. The Stanley Gibbons preamble to Australia states, in part, "Some stamp printers ... paid very little attention to the position of the watermark ... Reversed, inverted and reversed ... are frequently encountered, especially on the stamps of New South Wales and the later issues of Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia."

So, probably relatively common but nice to have.

Lovely! Thank you. She looks a little sad to me, though. May be the darkness just under her eye. Mouth seems just a bit turned down. Nice item.

Partime - Thank you for that information. I thought I had heard that somewhere, probably on this SCF board.

rdavid - I noticed the dark spot under her eye, also. She does seem sad.

Thanks for the kind words,
Linus

From a post of mine in 2010



Still not found that clipping

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue preamble also mentions that, for some printings, inverted watermark was restricted to odd sheets. Watermark varieties are therefore very rare for some issues and common for others. They simply don't have sufficient information to accurately price them.

Specialist literature and catalogues (e.g. Geoff Kellow's 'Stamps of Victoria', Hutson's 'Stamps of New South Wales', the 2004 Australian Commonwealth Specialists' Catalogue) provide some expert information and collectors also discover which ones are rarer when they search for varieties.

In the case of the 1912 1d on 2d Lilac stamps shown in the original post, the 2004 Australian Commonwealth Specialists Catalogue informs that they were printed in equal proportions of inverted and upright watermarks, so there is no premium for inverted watermark.

fairdinkumstamps - thank you for that information.

Linus