Is This Hard Paper Or Soft Paper

I like it!

StampNube wrote:



Smart move on your part if you really can't tell.

But by your diction here you provide another example of what appears to be a misunderstanding. Do you know why the Bank Note Issues were given that appellation? [Hint: it has nothing to do with banking per se.]

They are called that because, in distinction from all the other US issues of the 19th century, they were designed and printed by security printing companies which contained the words "Bank Note Company" in the common form of their name. National; Continental; and American - Bank Note Company.

Calling them "Bank Note" Companies had nothing to do with their involvement in banking. Such companies came to be called that in the days before we had a national currency; mainly the first half of the nineteenth century. Before national currency, Americans traded in local currencies which were issued and backed by local banks and similar institutions of monetary trade. Those banks went to security printers to produce the actual bank notes; hence, bank note companies.

Today, people who collect the "broken-bank notes" produced at that time, now without fiduciary value, refer to it by the term "Obsolete Currency." Since you come from a family of bankers I would not be surprised if you have encountered a fair sampling of that. But among stamps the Bank Note Issues have nothing to do with banking. Indeed, I have some low denomination Bank Note Issues which were used on personal and corporate checks to pay the tax on written checks at the time. In the US that was an illegal use of postage stamps at that time, which shows you how far removed from banking these issues are.

Great info essayk.

Nube - Please share the results of your submission when returned. Best of luck.

I will rogdcam. Thank you

I got so many questions about the flip test that on my recent attempt at guiding the viewer on how to tell the soft/hard difference I did not mention it. I tried making a video of the process, but the video does not give you a good indication of the degree of tension you should feel on the stamp. Plus it only works some of the time, not all the time. There are more accurate methods one can employ.

StampNube, great that you mentioned the connection between the banknotes and the banknote companies. A handful of 19thC vignettes (approved and unapproved) were lifted off banknote vignettes, and some of the vignettes were engraved by engravers who worked on both banknotes and stamps.

Hi. I have 4 stamps, (previously) identified as 156, 157, 159, and 161. However, a closer look at the paper seems to imply otherwise.

The 2c stamp seems to clearly be hard paper as it is almost translucent with the light behind. The problem with that stamp is that I cannot see the secret mark. The stamp is definitely brown.

The 1c has a more mottled look, so this must be soft paper? The secret mark is likely there, but it is very faint.

The 6c has a mottled look as well, but it is such a lightly colored stamp, it is hard to tell. The secret mark (4 shade lines in left scroll) seems to be there, but it is very faint.

The 10c also had a mottled look. It definitely has the secret mark and is not #209. So it must be 161 or 189.

Just wondering what you all think. I got the best pictures I could with a lighted background.

I think you may have found the intermediate paper used during Continental Bank Note's contract.
These stamps are often found among the Officials. I made this photo years ago when I collected Officials. You can see hard paper on the left and soft paper on the right, intermediate paper in the center.
You may have seen this before as Don Dennen asked my permission to use it as an illustration on a page of StampSmarter. Had to open the ole laptop to find that scan! Posted it from the laptop too.

Hey Phil, yes, I have seen that photo before. I struggle with the intermediate. It just seems that my 1c, 6c, 10c have a look more like the soft paper, even after comparing with the intermediate. I need to work on a better method of getting a picture. One without having to hold the stamp in one hand and trying to take a picture with the other.

Lol! Yeah, I tried a few times! I finally cut a banknote stamp sized hole in a piece of black plastic. We've all got some somewhere. Getting a perfectly sized square cornered rectangle cut was the hardest part.



Edit, I used a tripod for the camera.

I just found your Christmas Query today, two weeks into the New Year. I'm a faithless philatelist, I guess. Anyway.

Except for Scott ID numbers your observations on the 1c and 2c are spot on. 182 and 157.

On the 6c look at the image from the reverse. In the perfs along the top you will see numerous tiny hair-like fibers protruding. That is a tell for soft paper. 186

The image resolution on the 10c is not as clear as that of the 6c so the comment about fibers is not reliable here. Your observation that it has a "mottled" appearance from the back is not obvious to my view, but the density of the printing in the vignette background is more characteristic of soft paper than hard. To be sure a closeup of the Lower Left quarter of the stamp showing the perfs would help us see the fibers better. As is, I am leaning on 188 as the ID number.

Thanks, essayk. I'll go back and get better pictures and detail of the 6c and 10c thus weekend. I definitely updated the designation on the 1c (it was given to me as 156, but that was obviously not the case).

get a plate of glass from a small picture frame and set it up on a table were you can slide a light or flashlight under it. you can then lay your stamp on top of the glass and shine the light through it. I have a glass table top that I use.