The recent thread on the 1d Downey heads inspired me to go through my own Downeys with a fine comb. I turned up two interesting cases, and I'm wondering if anyone who has access to more specialised catalogues than the SG Commonwealth catalogue that I use can tell me if they're listed varieties and, if so, what their CV is.
The first case is probably SG 325. Although, mainly on account of the cancel, I can't tell whether it's Die A or Die B, it's more likely to be Die B (and so SG 325) on account of the inverted watermark. Although the SG catalogue doesn't list a booklet variety for this stamp, apparently it was issued in booklet form and these stamps had inverted watermarks.
What is interesting here is that the Downey head halfpenny stamps normally have a broken line in the lower right dolphin's tail. Example:
In the case of my stamp, this line is continuous, not broken. (My scan probably isn't clear enough for you to be able to tell, but I can assure you that this is the case.) I'm wondering now if this is a listed plate variety.
As for the second stamp, it's SG 335), a booklet stamp with the Simple cypher watermark. However, my stamp is perf 14 (to be precise, 14.25) all the way around, not perf 15 X 14, as it states in Gibbons. I also wonder if this is a listed variety.
Posted 02/23/2011 7:36 pm
