Scott 229 German 40 Vertical Watermark

Hi, I am new here and wanting to say hi. Love the site. I have a question. I have this stamp which is listed as 229in the scott's catalogue but the strange thing is that I dont see a listing Watermark 297 Vertical. I have this stamp but there is no pricing or even listed for that matter. Is this a RARE stamp?

See watermark entry at Scott 177.

See Bullet 5 within the section entitled "Understanding the Listings" at the front for the catalogue.

Hello and welcome to the forum. The first thing I do when I think I have something is to compare it to others of the exact same stamp, or the same series to see if it truly is different. If all have the same watermark orientation, then it is almost definitely not rare. Good luck.

This issue can be found with two watermarks.

One has taller (6 mm) letters, a shorter (15 mm) posthorn, and is perpendicular to the paper structure. This is the common watermark.

The other has shorter letters (5 mm), a longer posthorn (17 mm), and is parallel to the paper structure. This is the rarer watermark.

The Michel catalog is recommended to be used.
There are two watermarks for your stamp and as I appreciate the visual description, I hope it will help you:

I don't yet own Michel's Deutschland-Spezial for the DDR. My copy of Michel's ordinary Deutschland-Katalog represents the two types of this watermark as horizontal and vertical, designated X and Y, with letters 6mm and 5mm high respectively.



Is that the same as what PostmasterGS and Cupram have posted above? Or does Michel-Spezial also differentiate two types of the horizontal (X) based on letter & posthorn size?

In addition I usually find it difficult to see this watermark clearly enough to decide between the different types. Any helpful hints or techniques to try?

Well, further search on this Forum provided exactly the answers and the information I needed. Here's a great thread: https://goscf.com/t/27771&whichpage=2