#25A Watermark (Bothwell) Paper

Just won on ebay for less than $10.00
To share with those who never saw a Bothwell watermark... like me
You can see the "O" on the back of the stamp.

Question : If there was gum, would it be possible to see the watermark?

... forgot to say this, the seller told me we can see a part of the "B" and a small part of the "T"... I can't see that!

I am not a wizz with shadows, color, contrast... If anybody who has the knowledge of the "how to" could give a hand here, it would be well appreciated

Awesome buy and even seeing the O so clearly and smack in the center is a big bonus. Generally you may get partial letter only and to have full plus parts is a great find nevermind at only $10. I played a bit with colors and contrast but couldn't make the other parts jump- But if my eyes arn't playing tricks the partial B is on the right side and T left side so it may be upside down if back image is scanned right side up. Since there is no gum good ole lighter fluid (ronsonal and a solid black background should show everything quite well without any damage. This one I would mount face down beside another in my album. I'll give ya 3x what you paid---lol

I think the watermark is upside down. I can see the B on the right. Nice.

Is it possible to put a bit of watermark fluid or Rosonal on it while on the scanner? That wouldn't hurt the scanner glass I don't think? Probably I should experiment myself before I suggest others do it.

The paper looks wrong to me, you should be able to see an almost complete front of stamp image from the back side. See this topic:

https://goscf.com/t/22832

Good for you Koala

I think you got a good bargain there. The stamp is fairly well centered too for that issue.

Chimo

Bujutsu

It is upside down

Hi Mystic

I am not certain here, but, from what I have been told, any given letter from the watermark would not necessarily have to be the same as that figure given in the thread you provided.

My understanding is that the positions of the watermark depends on: A - How the sheet was fed in to the printing machine process, or B - How the perforating pins were set when the sheet was perforated up to enable postal employees to be able to break them up (?)

Of course, I am always open to other suggestions.

Chimo

Bujutsu

I've asked an expert at my local stamp club how can we distinguish a Bothwell paper from other papers.

"Bothwell paper is a vertical grain paper, it has never been observed otherwise in the Large Queens, it is a whitish paper and has a distinct "diamond grid" pattern when observed from back. Maybe 8-12% will show a watermark.

The easiest way to determine grain is to breathe on the back of the stamp, it will curl briefly from moisture, in the direction of grain. It is much easier to show someone than to describe, unfortunately".

Coriandre wrote a topic on the Bothwell paper showing 3 great scans among which she choose the #1 being the Bothwell paper but from the "expert" description, the #2 would be the good one!

https://www.stampcommunity.org/topi...PIC_ID=22832

I have many Large Queens with this distinct "diamond grid"... and I am not to sure about the breathing technique.
Need to pratice...

I agree that the watermark looks correct, it is the actual paper that looks wrong, it should be much thinner. On any of the examples of Bothwell paper that I have seen, you can see the coloured image on the front of the stamp from the back side. That is what usually makes it so hard to see the watermark, the colour image shows up better in watermark fluid than the watermark does. I have never seen a Bothwell watermark show up on a stamp that is not wet from watermark fluid either, that image appears to be a dry stamp.

The link to Coriandre topic doesn't seem to work
You may reach the topic as follow :

All forums - Canadian Stamps and Covers - at the upper right of the page, clic on page 3 - the topic is the third one

I start this topic by showing 2 pictures.
It is good to know that the paper doesn't look as thick as it may appear. The paper is thin but not very thin

Mystic226 you refer to Coriandre topic. She believes #1 to be the Bothwell paper (thin, transparent...) and I said #2 is the one and I am more convinced after a bath in the watermark fluid as suggested by X-Ray eyes Puzzler

Obviously, we can see a part of the B and a part of the T... AND,
a closer look let see the "diamond grid" AND ALSO the vertical grain paper as related by "my expert" (don't want to sound snobbish here)

The following 3 pictures say it all.

... and it is not upside down as first thought but more kind of miror effect

Nice pics.

Ah yes, Bothwell as read from looking at the front of the stamp. My mistake, sorry.

Very distinctive tell tale grain and one of the clearest I've ever seen. I do fully agree that seeing the watermark without fluid is extremely odd and most can not even be captured with fluid on the scanner like shown. If you search ebay the couple sellers that have these will draw the mark to show what can be seen with fluid and a good eye. Koala you have yourself one heck of a gem with that one and at the price you paid I dare say a minimum 30-60x return .

lucky capture of course but more happy to bring some light on the Bothwell paper "mystery"

Puzzler, when I wrote you have X-Ray eyes, it is because you could see the B and the T as Nitrolures also did, just by looking at 2 pictures while I couldn't see that with the original in hand