Sg449A Pane - Prime Minister Reid - 1969

I am not sure if I have asked this before, and if so, my apologies.

I have the individual panes from the 1969 Prime Ministers series. Under UV light, the SG449a pane (G. H. Ried) appears differently from the other, having a somewhat orange hue. When viewed from the back, there is no discernible difference. ACSC indicates that this issue was printed as standard on Helecon paper but of the four panes, SG 446a, 447a and 449a were also printed on non-Helecon paper.

Am I lucky enough to have found a non-Helecon pane? I am not exactly sure what I should be looking for under UV light, front and back.

Pictures follow:




The difference appears more dramatic in real life than in the image of the front.

Frank.

Hi Frank

Stamps of Sir George Houstoun Reid were issued on Helicon paper, any of the four booklets may differ slightly with UV reaction. The non-Helicon papers are very scarce and with the Deakin and Reid stamps they are seldom seen.

All four stamps showing a UV reaction may appear salmon on the front, and greyish on the reverse, this particular paper is very scarce. It may also show a buff UV reaction appearing off-white on the reverse.

Rob

Thanks, Rob.

'Salmon' describes my Reid pane under UV quite nicely. in retrospect, perhaps I should try photographing it in the camera raw mode to prevent the camera making changes to what it thinks I want to see. Is the 'salmon' effect from the what ACSC calls non-Helecon paper?

The other two panes came out identical in colour to the Watson pane.

Here in Canada, flourescence is a nightmare. We have no, dull, medium and high flourescence along with specific paper types such as Hibrite, and any or all can be on any individual stamp. Then there are several types and formats of tagging added as part of the production process, with varieties including flaws in the tagging.

And, yes if anyone is wondering, I have embarrassed myself. I have asked the same question before, but without pictures with Rod sending me some very useful information which I seem to have forgotten. So, apologies to all!

The ACSC mentions that the stamps were printed on unwatermarked Wiggins Teape paper incorporating helecon, previously lithographed with a pastel green colour to give the effect of two-colour printing. The normal UV reaction is pink on the front and grey on the reverse.

From what I make of it, from the information written in the ACSC, it appears that the "salmon" effect is helecon.

The ACSC value of the salmon reaction is only a few dollars compared to the non-helecon version (which I assume would not react to UV testing) is worth $100 per stamp.

Here's an image taken using camera raw. It is, perhaps, marginally better. I'm discussing UV lamp life on another Topic (https://goscf.com/t/57690#503337) and beginning to think that I need more oomph in that area.



The Reid stamp is distinctly a salmon shade at the bottom. This shade can be achieved across the entire pane by moving the UV lamp.

Hi Frank

It definitely is of a salmon shade, I'll have to research a little more thorough to see what I can find on these stamps.

Rob