Russia A12 (Scott 2008)

Hopefully I have done a better search in identifying this stamp.

What does Horizontal/Vertical Lozenges of Varnish mean?

Again via Scott reference is this stamp a possible 137d?

Must be going blind. I dont see any lozenges. Could you point them out?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lozenge_(heraldry)

I'm not an expert on Russian stamps but believe the lozenges are diamond shaped designs across the stamp. This is easier to see ( for me) on the surrounding white paper than the stamp. If the long way is up and down I think that would be vertical and the opposite being horizontal. Please wait for others to chime in though to be sure.

With the scan I am unable to see the lozenges. If it is wove paper and no lozenges then it should be a 132.

I'm guessing here, so take this with some hesitation until someone with more knowledge confirms or lets us know I'm way off base.

LOL

Well the link wasn't much help, but I have a better idea of what it means.

Holding the stamp up to a strong light shows no patterns whatsoever.

Before submitting this, I tried to be more thorough in looking at all of the A12's I could find multiple times. This was the only imperf. one that matched the colors and description. I scanned all the way to 1923.

Well I think it is safe to say there are no lozenges.

And 132 does match the description and going back to the previous page, I see that entire category is imperf.

I have got to learn how to read this catalog.

Thanks for helping me learn.

gmims,

starting with the 1908 printings (Scott 73-87), the postal authorities decided to coat the face of the stamps with a vertical varnish network of lozenges to avoid washing off of cancellations and re-use of stamps. This network consisted of intersecting diagonal lines appearing as a pattern of (largely colorless) rhombs above the stamp design. The width of these varnish lines is between 0.75 and 1.5 mm.



The varnish network is visible in glancing light looking at an angle of 45-60 degrees. Printings of these ruble values after the Revolution have this varnish network applied horizontally (Scott 87g, 137b, 138b or their imperf variants: 87h, 137d and 138c).

I would say that your stamp is a Scott 132 (with a vertical network), but it is worth checking for the rare horizontal network one. Mind you, in some cases the varnish network is not easliy visible (not to talk of those cases where it has been omitted by error).