US Washington Franklin Laid Paper 6c Orange Stamp

Chris and all, I want to be clear about my posts. I'm not in any position to be supporting either supposition regarding whether there was laid paper used in the W/F series. I'm not qualified to do that. I'm just participating in the discussion; I'm not attempting to sway opinion. Now, as to your question, any PF opinion I've read (on their site) where the submitter's position was contrary to theirs, they would, after the "We are of the opinion that" state that "it is not....." whatever the submitter thought and then go on to state what their opinion is. I'm not speaking for the PF on this particular opinion however because I don't know what there thought process was. I would think that if they did not have an opinion on it being laid paper, they would state that, but again I can't say what their thoughts were, only what's written in their web site. Perhaps you could call the PF 1-212-221-6555 or email them at philatelicfoundation@verison.net and invite them to either join this discussion or tell you what the cert. is saying.

Here is a PF certificate of mine for you to review. Note they are saying what I thought, wasn't.........

Here is an article from Linn's Stamp News that discusses ribbed/laid
paper in the W/F series. More interesting reading along with the articles from Larry Weiss.

In my limited experience with PF certs, by stating "it is genuine" is a CONFIRMATION of the submitter's stated identification. On "bad certs" I have, all state something similar to the aforementioned "it is not..." statement. I have yet to delve into W/F at this sort of level, but to my eye, I see the OP's stamp to have been improperly stored on one of those self-stick photo album pages. That crappy adhesive is absorbed by the stamp and leaves regular parallel "watermarking" as seen in his photos.

Laid paper as such - mechanically manufactured - does NOT exist! What we see as laid/ribbing/corrugating or whatever you call it - is the result of a later treatment - maybe in the paper mill still, maybe during printing, maybe even later when sticked onto the corrugated surface of a cover....

Usually the ribbing is across the direction of paper [grain] as shown here in the first examples and probably just as the Polish stamps of the 1930-ies can be spotted from quite a distance when you look at them. Looking through a magnifying glass at close distance the ribbing may have disappeared / flattened out at time but on eye-focus distance the ribbing is still there! The ribbing in the Polish stamps was applied deliberately and so was the ribbing in Brasil stamps in the 1956-1958 period; but still NOT during the paper manufacturing - done in a later [or much later] stage...

For the USA stamps, I found a site relatively good: stampsmarter.com
Good description of the type of paper used.
2 years ago I brought here a discussion about my 1 cent B Franklin, which appears to be ribbed paper, and even today I'm between ribbed paper and soft porous paper, because on the side one of the stamp we can see and feel the lines in diagonal.One day I will send to APA for evaluation.
Here I have a 3 cents Small Queen and the paper is completely different from any I find and bought.Looks some lines horizontally, and we can't see the small hexagon of thd woved paper.
I would like to have different opinions on this if is possible.

thin paper, and the stamp is MINT, NH,NG.No faults, what you see is in the paper, stich wmk?
no thin, or any modification was made on this stamp.

Basic rule is,

Watermarks are made at the wet end of the paper machine, typically by a dandy roller. These marks are visible in fluid but leave no marks on the surface of the paper.* These are often called "laid" paper.

In the cased of surface marks on the paper, but no watermark, then it is likely due to some follow on-process such as misalignment of the dryer section, cutting section, automatic stacking equipment, etc.** These are often called "ribbed" paper.

* -- There are exceptions where the paper does show the marks on the surface, such as in the case of a worn press felt.

** -- Stitch watermarks are also something of an exception as they are created by the dryer belt, but quickly worn away within a few minutes in service.

I hope this helps.