Help With Lagos Queen Victoria

Hi all. As a new collector, I would often buy very inexpensive WW lots/bundles to build up my collection and to help me learn. I came across these Lagos stamps and have been trying to catalogue them. They are indeed in ROUGH shape and one appears to have been poorly altered (yikes my first obvious tampered with stamp). Can you let me know a couple of things as I am a bit confused in my Scott Catalogue. Am I on track with the scott numbers I notated? Where do I verify Watermark 1, 2 and 3? I do not see them at the top of Lagos page (do I go to British Crown Colony?). Let me know if I have provided enough info. Thanks all - again, this is learning for me. If I don't ask, I won't learn.

Depending on which version of Scott you're using, there will be a small section devoted entirely to Commonwealth watermarks. In my 2008 Classic Specialized for example, the "universal" Commonwealth watermarks are on page 41A. Check your table of contents.

Thank you so much classic paper. I believe it is WM 2 - but I want to confirm - one I am definitely not sure of. I will check my table of contents.

Found it!

Nora, From what I find, all stamps for this colony before 1882 had the Crown over CC (Crown Colonies) watermark (1). From 1882 onwards, they have the single Crown over block CA (Crown Agents) watermark (2).

Isn't Scott nr 8/16 a two pence stamp? Your stamp is 2½d, Scott 19.
Your first 6d appears olive: Scott 26; Scott 11 is green.
The second one appears to have a very reddish value, Scott 28, instead of Scott 27?

Hi NSK - Hope you are well! Hmm, you are correct - I messed that one up - it is Ultra sc 19 - also the stamp that was crudely "patched" = sc 27 lilac and violet. (not red). Thank you for confirming the Olive - I was not certain.

I remember you telling me that some of the jubilee GB stamps bleed terribly and fade if soaked. Is that the case with these? I am tempted to soak a few of them to get ugly hinges off and clean up...but I don't want to damage them further. Thanks as always.

"The second one appears to have a very reddish value, Scott 28, instead of Scott 27?"

At first I thought red - when you look at the stamp closely even with light magnification it looks red - however, I used stronger magnification, and there I found a small piece pasted on the corner (at least that what is what it looks like to me - and it's like they wrote on it with red pen or something to add in the SI) - why do people have to be shady like that - all part of my learning. I am going to do a close up that stamp - I am a little embarrassed that I just noticed it when I have glanced at these before - but that is ok we are all friends here.

Here it is

That 1 shilling stamp appears to have been washed very thoroughly. The others are not bad at all.

You may have a point about the red being fiddled with. The "Si" does appear different and pen.

The violet/purple colours are mostly lilac. Green and lilac were the most commonly used pigments and double fugitive. Both water and chemical cleansing would damage the colour. That is why they were used on values that had much revenue use.

The front of the Scott Catalogue is a good place to find some of these answers. There are many Common Design Types listed (and pictured) at the front of the catalogue, including stamp designs and watermarks. It is a handy section when dealing with attributes that cover more than one country, Like French or British colony stuff.

It looks like someone used lipstick there, or a child having a colouring session. Maybe a COVID-1900 lockdown activity.

That lower left corner looks like it came from another stamp and then Si was written in to make it look like it had always been there.

Now, I understand why the circular datestamp is not circular in that corner. It is an amalgamation of a top right corner of a different stamp and the stamp with the lilac value.

YES! Dios Mio as I would say. What in the world. I mean really?! It's so bad that I must keep it :)

Your #19 has a German seapost cancel, deserving of a small premium. Agree that that's a #26.

As for rough, despite the problems mentioned already, this is a respectable group to acquire in this day and age without having to buy them one by one. Heavy or messy cancels seem to be the usual thing for Lagos.

For your daily trivia, that looks like a Great Britain #89 that provided the corner for the 6d.

Agree with hy-brasil on the provenance of your lower left corner of Scott #19. It looks like the GB 1881 unified issue.

Thank you hy-brasil and NSK. hy- Thank you for pointing out the German seapost cancel - I will look that up and learn about it. I do feel better about them - plus, a couple are not bad and in the future I might work on a British Colonies album or maybe a QV page. This was actually a fun/funny process to go through. Nora.

You mean, "shelf."

Unless someone has already mentioned this, that corner is coming from a Penny Lilac. You can see the familar pearls quite easily.