Australian KGV Stamps Explained.

KGV COLLECTOR: What process do you use with UV lights and what camera. I have a Nikon D70 which they say is a good camera for UV photography. I have several lenses but would need filters. If it's a trade secret that's cool and I understand.

Tell me what you can without divulging proprietary information

Conn

Thanks for asking King Conn.

The camera must be colour reproduction perfect and held by a tripod. The filters are for bright U.V reactions and dull ones as well. The time exposure will vary with each U.V reaction. Before I buy this stuff the people who are going to sell it to me are going to have to prove it can be done which is the big question. This endeavour could prove to be as difficult as identifying the shades themselves or possibly harder. It is still a dream at the minuet but a well thought out one. Penny reds are my true love in stamping and like yourself I love a challenge. It keeps us fresh and ready for the next one that comes along. Your attitude to stamping is very refreshing for me because I also like to think outside the square. A bit of an insight! KGV

There is a complete simplified set of KGVs [that's one of each denomination & standard colour issue] on offer in a SCF Donation Auction & other stamps by KGV & family finishing at 10pm Saturday 8th May 2010. Help support our family forum.

KJV Collector
Questions:
1) Is the URL : http://kinggeorgevstamps.blogspot.com/ ?
2) Saturday 8th May 2010. What time zone?

Conn

Forget the above. I found you on the other thread.

Please to make it very clear the auction mentioned above is a SCF based one and nothing to do with our personal endeavors. King Conn sorry about the confusion mate! But it is still good to hear from you!

Wow this is a very impressive thread!

Are upside down water marks any good or better than right side up
Conn

King Conn! Yes they are worth more than the normal watermarks. Mostly the stamp has to be in good condition to attract a good price. Some are so rare that any condition will bring a good price. A 2d orange is a stamp with inverted watermark that is worth $1000s some of the penny red shades are in the same boat and even in poor condition will bring a good price. A penny red that is worth looking for is one that has no watermark which includes no marginal line as well and in good condition with a common shade is worth $5000+ in poor condition $1000. A 2d orange with no watermark and even with a marginal watermark line is worth $1000s. Sideways watermarks are worth even more. It is an interesting part of KGV collecting. What denomination and colour have you found King Conn?

How about this KGV? I'm on another forum where this has just surfaced. It's a used 1d green, clearly C of A watermark, clearly reversed. A very rare find, with an SG CV of £450. Found in a packet of used 1d greens.

The stamp on the left is normal.

Rare finds are still to be made

Really nice image jubilee. Yes the last printer of KGVs was very fussy about all manners of stamp printing and he is very hard to get a mistake out of.

This is what I have so far













I HAVE SEVERAL TWO PENNY SINGLES

Conn

Nice to see your inverted watermark collection growing King Conn!

More penny reds the better with the shade differences they make a stunning collection. I have only about 20 and I have been at it for some time now. There just not that easy to come by. Really nice scans of the watermarks.

The 2d reds are very common because of the booklet printings but it still increases there value by 100%. CofA wmk is easier to get than small multiple wmk just by a little bit. They are common enough for me to have 2x32 page stock books of them. I now include them as a standard printings in a complete set of KGVs. I have never tackled 2d red shades though. This also would make a stunning collection. There are so many ways to collect KGVs! It is great stuff because we will never run out of ways to collect them!

I find the collecting of Australian KGV stamps most fascinating. and frustrating. There are so many facets involved that I have many hours of fun and interesting studying and collecting. For example shades of ONE PENNY KJV's. do you number them. I can't use the chart because I have printed it with three different printers and they are all different colors. Well I'll figure something. Anyway the subject has certainly caught my interest and will give me a lot of fascinating and interesting times. When I get the time which I hope will be soon.

Thanks for all the info KGV Collector.
You would make a good mentor

Conn

Conn the big secret to penny red shades is the dates printed on them. The dates as a general rule are used postaly at the time the stamp printer used that particular ink mix shade type. Even with UV long wave lights the dates are what truly opens up a positive shade match. A good penny red shade book links the shades to a stamp usage date span. I tried using 1 small UV light and got nowhere, now I use 10 but 4 would work just, 6 is a good light coverage work area but it all depends on how good a memory you have, mines not to flash so I need a lot of lights. The UV lights I am talking about are 6 watts and 180mm long. In a few more months I will be back at them again! I am very much looking forward to it!

KGV is right. It's actually easier to identify many 1d red shades on used stamps than mint ones. Of course, the really rare shades, like the Salmon Eosin, are hugely valuable mint, and many shades are difficult to identify with postmarks! Makes no sense, does it?