cjoprey
Member 
Scanning stamps for my website...
Posts: 1,443
What I collect: Belgium (predominantly), British Commonwealth (older ones), WW (whatever comes my way...)
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Post by cjoprey on Oct 12, 2019 13:33:07 GMT
Hi all, As I've been sorting my Australian States, I found this 6p from Victoria (I believe it to be Scott #117 as it has a clear Crown and lined V watermark, and appears to be dark enough to be ultramarine). The issue I have is that I can't find any reference in either Scott or SG's Commonwealth books to a single imperf edge. Does anyone have any insight into whether this is real, or if I have a fake of some kind?  Thank you! |
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vikingeck
Member
Posts: 3,269
What I collect: Samoa, Tobacco theme, Mail in Wartime, anything odd and unusual!
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Post by vikingeck on Oct 12, 2019 17:46:01 GMT
I’m sure your stamp is perfectly real, not a forgery. However I suspect that in its past career it had perfs on all four sides . The imperf side is not straight cut as it might have been at the edge of a sheet, which leaves me with the thought that some collector , perhaps rescuing it from an envelope , was a tad careless with his scissors.
many GB and Australian stamps from the same era were printed in 4 panes on the sheet with a gutter between the panes . Stamps adjacent to the gutter had an extra wide white margin on the right or left . The so called “wing margin” was often trimmed off by collectors to fit the space in an album page.
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cjoprey
Member
Scanning stamps for my website...
Posts: 1,443
What I collect: Belgium (predominantly), British Commonwealth (older ones), WW (whatever comes my way...)
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Post by cjoprey on Oct 12, 2019 18:48:54 GMT
Thank you vikingeck. I appreciate the clear explanation! Shame it's missing a corner too. Ah well, it fills a hole and the rest of the stamp is in good condition. |
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vikingeck
Member
Posts: 3,269
What I collect: Samoa, Tobacco theme, Mail in Wartime, anything odd and unusual!
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Post by vikingeck on Oct 12, 2019 19:25:42 GMT
If you google “Australia wing margin stamps “ there are images of NSW and Western Australia , I even found a similar Victoria two pence amongst lots of GB wing margins.
Sorry I am using my iPad not my PC and can’t post the images myself
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cjoprey
Member
Scanning stamps for my website...
Posts: 1,443
What I collect: Belgium (predominantly), British Commonwealth (older ones), WW (whatever comes my way...)
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Post by cjoprey on Oct 13, 2019 7:38:17 GMT
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vikingeck
Member
Posts: 3,269
What I collect: Samoa, Tobacco theme, Mail in Wartime, anything odd and unusual!
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Post by vikingeck on Oct 13, 2019 8:32:04 GMT
Welcome back to the weird word of stamp collecting cjoprey ! Fashions change over time. 150 years ago printers found large sheets were inconvenient for small Post Offices to store so printed stamps in smaller panes with wider gutters between, that could be removed as convenient blocks from the larger sheets. Perforations were set through the middle of the gutters rather than on both sides of the gutter producing wing margins. What suited the Post Office did not suit collectors 100 years ago who were nearly all using stamp albums with printed spaces for standard size stamps. Wing margins were ruthlessly sacrificed and an acceptable sized stamp produced to fit the album. Fashion moved. As specialisation away from simple albums meant collectors created their own page arrangements and wow wing margins were acceptable and the ones which had been trimmed were downgraded. However , Postmark collectors like them because they can accommodate a complete strike of the date stamp. Such are the swings of fashion over 150 years! I have collected for 70 years and am still learning! |
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