Help With British Surface Printed ID

Getting into a new area and not sure of Wmk ID, etc. I dont have another to compare, so hoping someone can point me into the right direction as far as color, etc. I know color is a hard when not in person, but can anyone ID this one for me please? Also, the wmk - small or large garter? I think small. Illustration no.14 , SG # ??

Many thanks. Wm.

PS - Inverted wmk, yes?
PPS - the paper seems a tad shiny.

At the top, you see a buckle or clasp. It, normally, is at the bottom. So, you are showing the watermark inverted. To the left of the buckle, at 7 o' clock, is some kind of strap. If it is inverted, it is on the right, at 1 o' clock. Since you are looking at the back of the stamp, you see the mirror image: i.e., the buckle strap shows on the left of the buckle at 11 o' clock.

This is characteristic of the medium and large garter watermarks. The small garter watermark has multiple of these straps, but not in that position.

It looks like your watermark has dots distributed along the garter. There is one on the clasp. This, only, occurs on a medium garter watermark. I think you have the light carmine stamp (1856), SG64. The carmine stamp with medium garter watermark exists on thick, blued highly glazed paper.

The watermark is inverted , so a plus as I don't have many inverts at all that I know of. Thank you for the other info - I'll be studying more later today and making some notes. I haven't looked at other periods lately as I've been plating, so interested to be here now. I did look at stampworld for some info, but not much there. Do you have a favorite site by chance with this period info?

Thank you again - Rgds Wm

Having consulted my specialised, you may have a specialised J48(1) palecarmine. This comes on the highly glazed paper you appear to describe. Usually, the Concise SG numbers are assigned to the colours. SG 64 is a pale carmine stamp. But the specialised links this to the stamp printed on paper that lacks the glazing.

The inverted watermark is not uncommon but adds a some extra value. In the 2001 Vol. 1 £ 375 against £ 300 for the upright watermark.

If there is any interest, here is the back. The front seems to have a little sheen. Im not sure if I know what highly glazed looks like, but I would not go that far - guessing. The paper does seem thicker than ' normal '. All this is a bit subjective though not being familiar with these issues... Some notations on back too.

That looks like an expertiser's mark like they use in Germany, on the right.
Highly glazed will have a shiny surface. The stamp in question is on thick, highly glazed blued paper (J48), or thin, ordinary white paper (J49).

There, also, is a ordinary white wove paper (J50). This was printed in a rose ink.

I am quite sure yours is the J48.

Very nice. Thank you for the help.

Not weighing in on whether it is, or isn't, a German expertizer's mark, but here is the code:



No secret decoder ring necessary.

Roy Hamilton-Bowen editor of the 'Hibernian' handbook of Irish stamps on an Irish 'Symbols' 2d coil stamp. (Yes, for Irish stamps, you should be in Germany. Roy's shop is in Rodgau, south of Frankfurt, in Germany.)


Must be ** (unmounted mint according to khj's post).

The expert mark could be that of Karl Albert louis....
https://briefmarken-pruefer.de/de/5...t-Louis.html

Currently away for the holiday - BUT - I did bring my iPad and now I have some reading to do! Thanks for all the leads , way more than I expected. But one of the reasons I love this board. Many thanks and keep it comin'.


Rgds Wm.

Thanks for the lead... Nice of him to follow up - This is his reply:




the stamp was signed by me with my exertisers name handstamp "K.LOUIS BPP".
According to the rules of the BPP a stamp of a medium value should be signed as such when genuine.

Nevertheless I only signed GB stamps during my first two years 1991 - 1993 as a BPP expert with my name handstamp. From then on I only issued photo certificates, photo opinions (Befund) and little manuscript notes for a stamp.

The stamp you attached a scan of is from the 1855 first surface printed issue with watermark small crown on blued paper.

Did you send him a scan of another stamp than the one above?
Because the one posted above is absolutely not an 1855 small crown stamp.
It has a garter watermark. There are no surface-printed stamps with a small crown watermark.

It can be a small garter, but then this image was made with software that is creating what is not there.

I sent him exactly what I posted above. He must have typo'd is what I guessed. I cannot print the email w/o personal details, but here is a screenshot.

Here are the three watermarks. Note the almost complete lack of details in the garter for the small watermark.

This compares to a very busy image. The size would be closer to the small than the medium one.

Yes, thats true. Im not sure how to get a better image? The above is a cell phone photo from Signoscope. Wmk fluid result was worse and not as visible.