Unknown (To Me) Watermark On 6 Pence New South Wales

This appears to be a Scott 29, 6 pence gray Victoria.


The watermark should be a large "2" or "alternatively an "8". This stamp however has a large backward numeral "6". Has anyone seen this before?

According to SG, the watermark should match the face value of the stamp. So it should be 6.

The double lined watermarks generally match the face value of the stamp. They are known where they don't match the face value. In almost every case the watermark used matched the size of the stamp.

From memory the watermark bits were handmade by Perkins Bacon, who also created the dies for the diadem series.

The 2d De la Rue issue is known with this watermark, double-lined 2 and 5, due to paper shortages.

So thanks very much. Just another case of me seeing the pictures but not reading the text. Scott says the same about watermark numerals matching the value. It was under the watermark and not with the stamp itself.

So I have another Diadem that I am having trouble with. It is a 6 pence violet, either imperf or with the perfs cut off. It appears to have no watermark. The dark area to the left on the watermark image looks to be from a thin

If there is no watermark then you also need to study up on what forgeries exist. Easy to do with a Google search. Many if not most crude early stamps from all over the world were forged back in the day.

stampforgeries.com has a host of these...

Thanks Casey. I was thinking maybe it was a cutout from postal stationery, but now that you mention forgery I think that is it. The etching of the head of Victoria is not as high a quality as on the genuine. Also the line down the middle of the white hexagon does not appear to be a feature of the 6 pence genuine stamp. So would these forgeries be meant to fool collectors or the postal authorities?

Definitely a forgery Willwood42.