How Come I Cant See Watermarks.

I must be doing something wrong. No matter what stamp I look at I have yet to see a watermark. For instance the 1c franklin, I have it narrowed down to 331,357,374 which all have watermarks, so I am looking for a SL or DL watermark (likely not a 357 due to stamp color). I wet it with Ronsonol and get nothing. I have tried this on lots of the Washington Franklin stamps but also get nothing. Any hints or tips?

The W-F watermarks can be tough. You may just be looking for a small piece of a letter. Are you using a black background and good light?

At the edge of the stamp. In the fluid, the mark will be a different shade of grey in a black tray.

Without a photo or description of your set-up it is hard to troubleshoot.
Black tray?
Stamp face down?
Couple drops of fluid?

Yes, the single-line watermark can be tricky if its position is unusual, but as you note, you are looking at 1 cent green stamps. There should be some that jump out. I would recommend trying a Scott 300 which *must* have a double line watermark and get the equipment/technique working.

'How To Detect Watermarks" is here https://stampsmarter.org/learning/H...termark.html
At bottom of that page, are a number of additional online resources for detecting US watermarks.
Don

Black tray?
Stamp face down?
Couple drops of fluid?

yes to stamp down and drops too I will see if I can find a black tray

black tray!!! I saw my firstt 2 DL watermarks. TY

I used black glass furniture coasters like these


I do not think that anyone makes them any more but you can find vintage ones fairly easily. I find them on eBay.
Don

i had 4 of those coasters, great idea!! my wife is upset that the couch wobbles now, I said I cant imagine how that happened

I often use the bottom of an upside down old glass ash tray. Hard to find now; at one time every bar and restaurant had them.

Any smooth black plastic will do; the cover of a notebook, a Vario sheet, the back of a CD case, ........

When one is experienced, yes. But a beginner should use something better.

I use the hood of my Beluga colored Bentley.

In my opinion glass has an advantage over plastic, especially with the US W/F and other hard-to-see watermarks.
Don

"I used black glass furniture coasters like these"

I thought maybe you had 5 dogs

typo fixed

And you haven't hired someone to do your watermarking for you?