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Papermaker's watermark on 1d Chalon (pelure paper)
Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 11:01 am
by bill
There was an example of 1d pelure paper showing part of a papermaker's watermark in
the recent Corinphila auction.
I think David McNamee recorded a couple of others as I found a couple of reports on these.
(London Philatelist in 1895 and one or two in Philately from Australia in its early years.)
Re: Papermaker's watermark on 1d Chalon (pelure paper)
Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2021 7:00 pm
by bill
A little while ago I espied a reference in Philately from Australia, Vol 3 (1951), pp.8-13, on papermaker's
watermarks for Australasian colonies. As far as Tasmania is concerned, we consider the 1d Chalon head
on pelure paper, which is recorded with papermaker's watermark. The above article by RWT Lees-Jones
described a stamp with 'AT', a second stamp with '185' and someone else's copy with 'TM'. All figures and
letters are double-lined.
The author says this points to J. Whatman, a well-known papermaker for over two centuries. I am told
that Whatman still makes excellent laboratory filter paper, among other things. Lees-Jones says this all
points to a watermark of form
J. WHATMAN
185?
where the '?' indicates an unknown digit for the year '185?'.
Also, JRW Purves recorded in Philately from Australia, Vol 25 (1973), p. 95, a double-lined '3' was found
on this 1d Chalon. This suggests '1853' as the complete year of manufacture of this pelure paper. Thus,
the watermark could well be
J. WHATMAN
1853
The variety is rare since the letters and/or figures only occur a few times within the sheet of 240.
Further thoughts are welcome.