Sharing A Few Hong Kong Stamps And A Question For My Learning

Hi Dorset - thank you :) I appreciate it.

Hi. I'm having trouble with these. Are they both WM 2?

And the lip test worked. Chalky below.

The left stamp is definitely wmk 2, Crown CA. The right one looks like Multiple Crown CA (wmk 3) since the crown and letters are a bit smaller and there appear to be bit of an A at the upper right. If the cancel has a year date, that should help. Back in the day, it was rare for people to hang onto stamps for years, plus stamps were often bought and used on mail on the spot at the post office.

Thank you hy-brasil. I was hoping that was the case :) yes the one on the right looked to have a postmark date that would fit. Hoping you or someone could tell me what coarse impressions of the KGVI stamps means? I am going to look up an example image but thought I would ask. Thanks.

Coarse impressions are just that, though just slightly heavily printed in spots like the hair and more breaks and a little unevenness in the background lines. Comparison at arm's length shows the difference better in the background lines. Then again, I've had some rougher-looking KGVI stamps but they weren't from the right time period and didn't have the right perf gauge.

http://bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.co...ongKong.html
scroll down here for the comparison image and click to blow up. Beats me if I can eyeball these two and clearly tell the difference. The difference in perf gauge is the key.

Thank you. I triple checked the perfs and I believe they are all 14. So not coarse. You were 100% correct that the modern stamps have very tricky WM. The first one I can tell is WM 314 upright. Second one- I cannot tell first I thought sideways but the more I looked at it, I now think upright.

10c has Upright wmk. You clearly see the right side (left as seen from the back) of the crown in the margin.

The 5c shows an upright crown at the top right of the picture.

Got it! Thank you. Ok - This one is sideways. I see CA popping up?

Geleoptix once remarked many watermarks show up when using a scanner against a black background.

Ok. I'll try that. Thank you NSK.

You can do a 'wet scan' by placing the wet stamp directly on the scanner platen.
Don

Using a name or description of the watermark as well as the Scott number means you are posing the question to more people. I am finding the more I try reading watermarks the more I can identify..... or is it just that I am more unaware of my mistakes.

Good point Noocassel. I tried the scan of the back (without the fluid) and still was not 100% sure on several. I might need to try the wet scan as Don suggests. This particular watermark is 314 and comes upright on QEII 1962. Same QEII design also has the 314 sideways and those are from 1966-72. struggle is real for me with WM :) I see them one way then I say "wait!" I think I see XXX. Sigh.

Nora - the problem is that, to most Commonwealth collectors, "314" doesn't mean anything, whereas "Crown, Block CA" or "Crown, Script CA" etc do.

Ahhhh got it. 314 = multiple St. Edwards Crown and CA upright.

Thanks for the suggestions.