Scott #21 - Bothwell Watermark.

Hi..Question, I have what I believe is 3 Scott #21..But according to Unitrade, it is more valuable if it has Bothwell Watermark..Look at the picture from Unitrade. you will notice that 5 of the stamps do not have any indication of Bothwell water mark on it...What happens if my 3 stamps are in that range..How does one know if it is Bothwell Watermark or not..???




HERE ARE MY STAMPS.

I would like to see the fronts of these stamps. I think they are 1/2c Small Queens. If they are you will not find these watermarked. The Large Queen 1/2c does come on Bothwell Paper both watermarked and unwatermarked. There are very few watermarked examples recorded.

Watermark..Here is the front of these stamps.

The three stamps are 1/2c Small Queen issue. They will not have watermarks. The right stamp in the pair has really nice centering.

Wert, here is a scan of the back of a LQ on Bothwell paper. Note the distinct diamond pattern in the paper weave.



GJP

gportch...got it, and thanks watermark also for your help.

Wert, I may be mis-interpreting your question, but if you are a novice with watermarks (like me), just remember that the Bothwell paper is distinctive in its appearance (as mentioned).

However, only some stamps on the entire sheet (that sheet is much larger than the scan you show - and is watermarked in a fairly small area by the maker before stamps are printed on it) will fall over the watermarked area of the paper.

That is why they are more expensive (few stamps fell into this area - and are actually still around today). Maybe 13 stamps from a sheet of 400.

Some stamps I have seen for sale only have a small part of one letter (eg. the "L"). I can only assume that the more of the watermark on the stamp, the better for value.

I think that there is only one large intact multiple of 18 stamps that shows the whole watermark as shown in the picture above and it appears to be in the Brigham Collection.

Wert, you stamps are not on Bothwell paper. They are not large queen number 21 but small queen number 34. Bothwell paper is very scarce on Scott 21 and, only a few stamp on a sheet of 100 are watermarked as the Unitrade picture shows

Thanks for all the infomation guys.