What's Going On With My Windsor Stamp Album?

I recently got hold of a Stanley Gibbons Windsor album. It has spaces for all the GB stamps, and makes allowances for varieties in shade, watermark, perforation etc.

What I find strange is, many stamps - eg the Wilding definitives, have one space for normal watermarks, and one for sideways. OK - but I'm finding several inverted watermarks as I check my stock for the necessary varieties. So why would they include spaces for sideways, but not inverted? I'd assume both are errors. They also include a space for one stamp with misplaced graphite lines, which is also an error, like an inverted watermark would be.

Added to this, one or two stamp spaces are given over to a stamp with "one phosphor band, left or right". If both exist, why wouldn't it have one space for each?

Bearing in mind this is Stanley Gibbons, I find these anomalies difficult to understand. What are they thinking?

For many of those issues, sideways watermarks indicated booklet pane usage and were not errors. Inverted watermarks, or inverted sideways watermarks, were errors and not normally issued.

I think its quite similar to nice US albums that supply spaces for some of the more common varieties, but not all. I mean, some of the color varieties could take a couple pages to list them all.

Booklet panes - hadn't thought of that. The album has spaces for booklet panes, but only where more than one stamp type is included. So, I guess a pane of just 1d stamps would only be represented by that one sideways example. I think that must be the answer.

Doesn't explain why my copy of "Collect British Stamps" doesn't mention them either as panes or singles, though...

I'd be interested in seeing your sideways watermarked stamps as they might normally be assumed to be from sideways delivered coils of stamps.

There's not much to see, sadly. The watermarks are multiple little crown designs. I'll bet Wilding collectors out there know exactly where they originate (I'm pretty new to all this watermark business!). Some of the perfs look cut along the sides, so I guess that means coils which deliver the stamps right way up.

Knowledge of the denominations would assist the identification. Up to the early 1960's all sideways watermarks were from coils of stamps. After that a few booklets had sideways watermarks as well. So your stamp could be from a coil or a two shilling booklet.

I've mounted all my sideways watermarks in a fast-bound album, and tossed the rest into a bag with hundreds of others, so difficult to get a scan. I have one denomination left to sort through - 3d purple. If I find some sideways ones (I probably will) I'll take a scan so you can see.

This is not exactly related to the OP's situation but it may open things up to a general discussion of this album. This is a post I made on another board to which I never got any reply:

'Just wondering if anyone else is on the mad quest I am on- trying to fill as many spaces in a Gibbons Windsor Great Britain album as I can?

I have been at this for years- I now have perhaps 80% of the pre-1970 spaces filled. I will not pretend I haven't taken shortcuts- many of the QV stamps are seconds/fillers but most of those look presentable. I know some spaces will never be filled, I won't ever obtain a plate #225 for example. I still hope to get a PUC high value however.

I now have several pages filled in the Victoria section. Would like to hear from others and what your experience has been.'

As for the original question, I think it probably was addressed with the answer being that the stamps in question are from booklet panes. What I fail to understand is why the Windsor requires me to buy both 'type'copies and plate number copies in the surface printed section.

I don't have any illusions about filling my album! I'll never have some of these stamps - £5 orange, prussian blue silver jubilee, let alone a plate 77 penny red. As for all the many, many shades over the years - I'm just guessing as I go. Take the 1912 half penny stamp, whereby there are spaces for green, bright green, deep green, yellow-green, and blue-green. It's over-complex, I feel.

My original query was why some varieties are included, some not. I think there's an explanation in that the sideways watermarks are not errors, so are included, whereas the inverted ones are errors and are not included. Fair enough. But then today, I mounted some Scottish regionals. The first Wildings have a space for "3d deep lilac, one phosphor band at left or right". So why doesn't it have one space for each? They are different!

To answer the query above, here are some scans of three sideways watermarks I found today. All are multiple crown watermarks.






I don't know if it's clear, but all three appear cut at the top and torn along the edges. I guess they were attached side by side in a coil which issued them sideways, except maybe the middle one which could be from a booklet (it appears torn at the bottom). I don't really understand why that gives rise to sideways watermarks though.

Just to clarify one point... inverted watermarks will make up 50% of all your booklet stamps due to the process of printing. That make inverted watermarks intentional and not error as regards to booklet stamps.

I have not had time to look at your stamps properly but if you check the watermarks and indicate which direction the crowns point ( pointing left or pointing right as seen from the front) it will show the possibility of identifying certain booklet stamps from coil ones.

I don't think the Windsor album has spaces for ANY inverted watermarks, so intentional ones in booklets are being mysteriously ignored. I don't get it at all.

All three of these examples have the crowns upright if the scan is rotated clockwise. (In other words, the base of the crowns is closer to the right of the stamp, as we see it above.)

Inverted watermarks are quite common in this Wilding series of stamps. The only source would be from booklets and, as previously stated, half of all booklet stamps will have inverted watermarks.

Up to 1961 the only source of sideways watermarks was from coils. Then some booklets were printed with sideways watermarks as well. As mentioned,due to the printing process of booklet stamps, half of those sideways watermarks would have the crowns pointing left and half pointing right.



If your sideways stamps have crowns pointing right as seen from the FRONT of the stamp then they are definitely from a booklet. Pointing the other way means either coil or booklet and my eyes cannot see enough to see if your scan has any characteristics that might identify whether coil or booklet.

Maybe I didn't describe it well, but I meant to say the crowns were pointing left from the front. If you could see the watermarks from the front, they'd be the other way to your image.

Looking at the perfs, I think stamp 3 is cut top and bottom, and torn on the sides - so it must be sideways-delivered coil? And the other two are cut bottom and top respectively, but torn on the other three - so I'm guessing booklets for those.

Thanks for all the info - fascinating stuff!

"Maybe I didn't describe it well"
I understood perfectly as your contribution was clear enough. My last posting was more as a contribution for anyone else to comment on who could possibly shed more light on a more positive ID.
Of course it all depends on how much depth you want to go into collecting Wildings... there are so many variations that only a dedicated Wildings album would suffice.
For instance, regarding the 3d value, there are three variations in the multipositives alone regarding the positioning of the queen's head in relation to the frame. It would be theoretically possible to find the almost exact printing date (and possibly then the origin of your sideways watermarked stamps as the date of booklet/coil issues may also be known). As it stands your sideways watermarked stamps may only need be labelled "sideways watermark from coil or booklet" and any inverted watermarked Wildings labelled "inverted watermark from booklet".
Should you ever feel the need to progress into the Machin issues, you will be reassured to know that there are only over 9,000 varieties