Australia Sideways Watermark

This was a little pricey, but I needed a copy for my collection. Sideways watermarks are rare, but not really for this one. Identified as Scott 51b, ACSC 33aa, Mint Never Hinged.

Front Scan:


Through Scan showing full sideways watermark, plus a partial one:


I wonder about the vertical perforation spacing at the top of this stamp. It appears to be different than all of the others. Any comments from our Aussie friends?

My example is used & IF genuine is rare . But I'm not confident .

Thanks for the example Al. It looks like the same perforation pattern, so I guess that was the rule for these items. That cancel does look a bit dodgy, though.

These are new to me, I do not recall seeing them before.
I have seen examples of "comb perforator slippage"
generally in the last line of punctures before the table hit the stop pin.

Aussie Al,

The perforations are normal. The slippage occurred anywhere during the vertical travel of the perforator. Here's an annotated image showing that there is symmetry from one side to the other on your stamp. Nothing suspicious. I applied one line parallel to the top perforation holes then copied it 3 times replicating the top row thus confirming no suspicious shifting of the perforations on only one side.



Cancel is a bit strange looking but it seems to be a steel type with relatively sharp corners on the letters. Genuine, but might not have been contemporaneously applied ergo pre-dated.

You'd have to identify the date-stamp to determine its correct period of usage.

I bought this 1915 1/ Kangaroo Third Watermark with Sideway Watermark SG40ba BLOCK OF 4 in the 1990s. It's not the perfect centring, but am still happy to own the BLOCK. Wonder how much it cost now?

Hi Partime, Are you still looking for this? I will keep an eye for you and let you know if I am able to spot one (definately not from ebay as you would have buy one by now) with good price. I still keep in touch with the stamp dealer who sold ths BLOCK to me back in the 1990s.

Nice block, Ninhao, though well off center. I'm always on the lookout, but the bank account prevents me from too many high end purchases, so I usually just look for used or hidden varieties.

In my latest ACSC, 2021, this is a block of 4 of the 33aa, watermark sideways with marginal lettering. An individual stamp is valued at AUS$275 in mint condition ($500 in used). The explanation says that about 50 sheets were issued, and evidence of surviving imprint blocks makes this number seem small. So, I am surprised that the value is not actually a little lower. Still, something to keep in the collection.

If you were to give a slightly better front scan, we may be able to see if any varieties are lurking. Thanks for posting.

Yes, the perforator slippage could be quite normal. However, it appears that for this particular issue, the slippage has only be seen (so far) on the top row of one row of stamps. Interesting to know, but no change in scarcity or valuation.

Hi Partime, That's the best scan I have (600 dpi). I will share a better scan when I have a high-end scanner. Agreed with you that it is sometime very hard to go for the expensive items. However philatelic is meant to be fun. It is always good to look for those hidden suprises in the common issues. There will always be hidden treasures waiting to be discovered. Just need lots of patience and certainly eagle eyes. A high end and powerful scanner will certainly made the journey easier. Happy Collecting.

A high end scanner is probably not necessary. 600 dpi is a bit low, but 1200 dpi is probably all you need. Here are some pics of my 1 1/2 brown, 3L26 that you mentioned in this thread

https://goscf.com/t/80712

The first picture was scanned at 4800 dpi, and the closeup shows some pretty good details in the area of interest. This was sent through our Free Image Optimizer:


Here is the same area, but scanned at 1200 dpi. This was also sent through the Free Image Optimizer:


And this is the raw image scanned at 600 dpi. This did not need to be put through the Free Image Optimizer as it was already small enough:


So, you can probably do ok without a higher dpi scanner if you know how to crop and just scan the area of interest.

If you need a bit more info, I wrote this many years ago. Some of the info is out-of-date, but could be useful:

https://stampsmarter.org/Learning/SCF/help1.html

Hi Partime, Thanks for sharing the information on scanning. I will start looking for a scanner which at least offer the 1200dpi. I have bookmarked your link and will certainly put into good use in the near future.

Easter is coming soon. Wishing you and family a good Easter Break. Keep fit, stay healthy always. Most of all, enjoy our hobby.

Rod Perry suggested that the sideways watermark issue was made in 1927. The stamp trade became aware of the error and bought up stocks of mint material.

There would be real value in a clear, dated copy from 1927 but many of the used examples are from 1933.

While they may have been used on mail correctly, the use of older mint stock was likely a contrivance of the trade.

Undated copies such as yours would have to be viewed with suspicion, according to the late, great Rod Perry.