2d Blue Sideface UNLISTED

[cas]

Hi Everyone

I recently found the following 2d Blue Sideface in a bulk lot of state stamps. It has "lined TAS" watermark and is perf 11.5. I can't find this stamp listed in any catalog. I've scaned the 2d blue with a couple of 9d blues for comparisions. It has been suggested to me that it might be a bluer version of the 2d blue-green sideface (SG 145a) but i can't see any green in this stamp.

Does anyone have any information about this stamp.

Cheers Cas

2d blue with two 9d 500.jpg (98.57 KiB) Viewed 1014 times

[Ross Ewington]

Hi Cas

welcome to the TPS BB and thankyou for your first post.

sad to say, this perforated stamp with TAS watermark can only be a 'changeling'. It wouldn't take
a great deal of effort to change green to blue methinks...... have you checked to what happens
when you expose a 2d green to direct sunlight for a few days?

regards ...Ross

[cas]

Hi Ross

Thanks for you reply. You may well be right about this stamp being a changeling from a 2d blue-green. I don't have much experience with Tasmania stamps and the dies and inks used. Maybe the yellow die part of the 2d green-blue is not very stable and can be easily faded out of the stamp without affecting the blue die or the black postmark. I'm going to do some test on some 2d greens and 2d blue-greens in the sun (when there are some sunny days on the east coast) and in some liquids. I'll scan the stamps before and after to check for colour changes.

I do have some experience with changelings. I have a large KGV head shade collection. I've noticed with most the 4d yellows (faded from 4d orange) you can still see very small spots of orange/red under magnification. The green 0.5d and 1d can fade to quite blue, but the blue still has a tinge of green especially when compared with a proper blue stamp. Also the bluer the faded green stamp the paler and duller the blue. I've also notice that on faded stamps a black postmark will look slightly grey. So on KGV heads faded in the sun the Red fades easiest, then yellow closely followed by blue, and then black. It seams to me extremely difficult on KGV to fully remove one colour without at least slightly fading other colours.

As I said this 2d blue has no signs of any green (or yellow) even under magnification. The blue colour while not bright is definitely not dull or pale. The postmark still looks black. I should also mention that the three stamps shown where scanned together at 600 dpi (like looking at the stamps under a 200w+ lamp). The left 9d blue has a “line TAS” watermark and the right 9d blue stamp is from a later printing (I don't think its a 9d pale blue).

I'll let you know how the testing went. It may take a couple of weeks.

Has anyone else ever performed fading test on Tasmania 2d green or 2d blue-green sideface stamps.

Thanks Cas

[SteveRadell]

No need to ruin more stamps in the sun, yellows and reds will fade or disappear in most cases.
I understand there are publishings of chemical transformations that can be accomplished.
In general, I hope the fewest number of casualties happen, and that means fewer freaks for the unknowing to query.
I have a great 50c US stamp that went from violet to red nearly matching the 20c, I had interesting hopes for a while...
Steve