UK Wildings 1952-1971

Hi Turbo,

Don't bother with that, it is aimed at beginners and not much more than an illustrated list. If you can get it go for the Great Britain Concise Catalogue above that scotzm posted. That is a real bargain and should have what you need in there. You can always add specialist catalogues and books like those I posted as you feel you need them. Or grab 'em if they pop up cheap on ebay or Amazon. Only spend when you need to. There are many collectors of the early Elizabeth II stamps particularly the Machin issues, which are myriad. There are also specialist Machin stamp albums and catalogues available should you wish to extend on from the Dorothy Wilding issues. If you do go the Machin route, oh the fine time you will have sorting those out.

Terry

Hi Terry,
Thankyou for the information, I have no less than 1million machin's off paper(all denominations and pre-denominations) that I have put into packets(in just under 2 years), I have OCD as you can tell....Many find OCD a burden but I knew it would come in handy one day, I have lots of machins on paper too, which I will soak off paper in the future (not sure of when though) may I ask another question?= im presuming not all machin's will have a watermark on them? also whats the difference between a Specialized book and the concise? sorry for so many questions.
Turbo

The Specialized catalog will get into paper types, ink types, different printing companies, different cylinders used for the printing, where on the sheet the stamp came from etc etc (not all of these apply to the Wildings, but just as an example of how detailed it can get).

Whether you want the Specialized is up to you - but it is very expensive so you might want to start at a bit more basic cost level.

I am currently working on my old Wildings and Machins.

I collect used, both individual stamps and booklets. The ONLY time I need anything more than the Stanley Gibbons Concise is when I am trying to identify a particular booklet. If all you have are individual stamps, pairs, etc., you will be FINE with the Concise. I just bought an updated one (mine current one is from 2006) but that is only because I want to do my Machins soon, and stopping at 2006 is inconvenient!

For Wildings, a 2010 or 2008 edition of SG Concise should do you just wonderfully. And 2.75 is a deal, by the way, so grab it! My brand new one just cost me about 35 pounds.


On watermarks: there are three Wilding wmks, known as the Tudor crown (a flat-topped crown with ER initials), the St. Edward crown (a crown with a rounded bubble-like top and again ER) and the Multiple crowns (a bunch of the St. Edward type, with no initials). All of them repeat all over the stamps (there is nothing that is just one crown and one set of initials). Looking at the stamp from the back, the initials will appear reversed on a NORMAL stamp.

Then they did issue some with Graphite lines down the back (not part of the watermark, but literally a black line on the back of the stamp). Those are not super common, and are easily spotted.

That is IT. Nothing else to be seen. The various watermarks do appear inverted, sideways and very occasionally inverted and reversed. [Reversed of course means that from the back, the initials will appear the right way around.]

So basically, for each value (e.g. 1/2 d. orange, etc.) there are only three common varieties: Tudor, St. Ed., and Multiple. You probably have thousands of each type, but for the most part they will all just be repeats of these three types.

So if you start by dismissing all the normal ones and putting aside the inverts, sides and reverses for later, you will clean out at least 90% of your Wildings and then you can worry about the happy oddment.

And if you find lots of the oddities, let me know -- I love them and I am still missing a few!

JanS,
Thankyou very much for all that information, I think we will get on just great, I have no little than 1 million stamps off paper ready to be watermark checked, wildings,revenues,pre decimals and decimals, im not sure what types have watermarks so I will be testing them all, I will be using the Ronsonol method, if you could add me to your friends list that would be great, and send me a message of what kinds you are missing so I can make a note of this, please go into detail of each one you want, colour, denomination, watermark, that kind of thing, if it is possible could you send me a message to my inbox? I have added you to my friends list. thankyou again,
Turbo

Hi TurboJay,

JanS has summed it all up superbly. If it helps, I go about sorting before soaking in this way. I remove and discard all damaged stamps and those with heavy, unreadable and obliterating cancels. I then sort the remaining stamps into those I want to keep on piece to preserve the whole cancel, and those that have all or most of the cancel on the stamp itself (especially "socked on the nose" cancels}. This process cuts down the number of stamps that I eventually need to soak.

I only soak a few stamps at a time, say 20 to 30, to eliminate handling damage. I use two large photographic processing trays (bought new and unused). Fairly hot water with a shot of washing up liquid in one and cold water in the other. Stamps in the first to float off paper then in to the cold water to remove any wash liquid and to harden the paper fibres. I have a piece of shatterproof glass that I had cut and the edges polished and I lay the wet stamps on this face up. Over the stamps I lay a clean white cotton tea cloth lightly patted down. Do not put anything over it to press the stamps at this stage.

When the stamps are dry pop them between the pages of a large book overnight to flatten them. Use a book with smooth but unpolished paper surfaces. Avoid anything with shiny or heavily textured paper surfaces. This method suits me and there is no need to spend out on drying books.

Terry

Hi Terry,
Thankyou very much for giving me your method, this will save me alot of time as I do get in a muddle when soaking them off the paper, still got no less than 150-200kg to soak but I will do this once I have watermark tested the others, Thankyou again Terry,
Turbo

Scotzm,
Just a quick update on the 'world of books picture you took of the cat for me', ordered it last night, they told me to contact them, I did, they refused to give me my £2.75 back and insisted that I pay another 24p ontop, they said this= 'You will not be getting your money back, just pay the extra .24p and we will send you it', Im not going to cry over £2.75 or the 24p ontop (£2.99), but this is not on, I will be pursuing this further, not for myself but for others who have not done anything about it before, if they make a habit of this then they will indeed crank up there profit margin's,
Turbo

Get the catalogue first. Where was it listed? ebay? Amazon? If either report the seller to them.

Terry

Hi Terry,
It was listed on 'world of book' webpage, scotzm has taken a screenshot of the price it was, now go to the link, they have put the price up to £2.99, and are holding my £2.75 for a ransom haha, I will buy it through there ebay page and leave feedback accordingly, thankyou for telling me to get the book first, as I did forget about that, just to clarify the situation, I did pay for it when it was priced £2.75 with free postage stated,
Turbo

Sorry to see you have problems with World Of Books. It is usually a simple process of adding a book or books to your shopping cart then going to check-out. I have dealt with World of Books for years and never had any problems...in fact they sent me a wrong stamp book once and then sent the correct one by next post and said I could keep the first one. I get LOADS of Gibbons "Stamps Of the World" from them to give to a local stamp club. Most volumes ( a 4 volume set) costs me £1 - £2 plus postage and they are always punctual and helpful.
Very mysterious! I peruse their lists every week.

scotzm,
Thankyou for the input, now strangely they have lowered the price to £2.75 again, Im not sure what is going on here, ill update you once I hear a reply from the email I have sent. Take care
Turbo

Hi,
Just to update you, no reply to the 2 emails I have sent in requesting an explanation, still no refund given also
Turbo

Hi,
Another update, I have bought the book of ebay from the same seller, they still have my original £2.75 from the first purchase,
Turbo

Hi,
Last update here, I bought the book of ebay, they did state it was in 'ok condition' , This book is pristine condition no marks on what so ever, looks like its just been opened out of the plastic wrapper, I told them to keep the money they originally took from me as a bonus, I have since left positive feedback for them too, I highly recommend these people, (I am in now way shape or form linked to their company), Take care all,
Turbo