Numeral watermark varieties on Sideface 1870-1

[bill]

Brief notes on numeral watermarks for Sideface follow.

Denominations are 1d, 2d, 4d blue, 10d

Paper was borrowed from New South Wales since the double-lined numerals
paper for the Perkins Bacon issues was unsuitable. Sydney sent a supply of
paper with watermarks 2, 4 and 10. Sydney had limited stocks of 1 paper so
that version was not supplied to Hobart.

The ‘2’ paper was supplied in books of 500 leaves, each with 240 impressions
of the ‘2’ watermark. This was also true for the ‘1’ paper. The ‘4’ and ’10’ paper
were supplied in books of 150 leaves, each with 120 impressions of the ‘4’ and
’10’ watermark respectively. Of course, these denominations would not be so
often needed as the 1d and 2d.

The Tasmanian plates for 1d, 2d, 4d and 10d were all 120-on. The ‘4’ and ’10’
paper was already of the right size for the printing plate but the ‘2’ paper was
not. If necessary, the ‘2’ sheets could be cut into two halves for printing the
2d stamps. This could give rise to different observations for the positions of
the watermarks on the printed stamps as issued to the public.

We consider varieties of watermark in these stamps. They are known with
inverted and/or reversed watermarks. Basset Hull recorded some of them
in his book but his list is incomplete. He did not record any irregularities in
watermark positions for 4d or 10d. (See page 66 of his book.)

To date, we can record the following:

1d on ’10’ paper. This is found with inverted and with reversed watermark.
1d on ‘4’ paper. This is found with inverted and with reversed watermark.
2d on ‘2’ paper. This is found with reversed watermark. It is rarely found
with inverted watermark as Basset Hull noted.
4d blue on ‘4’ paper. Only 7,920 of this ill-fated stamp were issued. Thus,
the number of sheets (120-on) was a mere 66. A single example has been
seen with inverted and reversed watermark. Such varieties are quite rare.
10d on ’10’ paper. Examples are sometimes seen with inverted or reversed
watermarks

For stamps printed on ‘4’ or ’10’ paper, the sheet was of the right size so the
orientation was not so important. Hence, watermarks can be found inverted
and/or reversed. Sideways watermarks are apparently not recorded. These
remarks apply to the 1d, 4d and 10d stamps but not the 2d.

For stamps printed on ‘2’ paper, we wonder if the sheets were cut in halves
before printing. The rarity of inverted watermarks indicates that the sheets
were not inserted in the printing press in one direction for a sheet followed
by insertion in the opposite direction for the second sheet. (This happened
for the Tasmanian ‘numeral’ type duty stamps issued from early 1904 as for
many Victorian postage stamps; see Geoff Kellow’s book for details. Thus,
inverted watermarks are normal for the numeral type duty stamps.) Again,
sideways watermarks are apparently not recorded for the 2d.

Soon afterwards, the 4d blue was withdrawn and reissued in yellow (1876).
The 10d was not printed again, except for use as official reprints. Easton’s
history of De La Rue’s stamp printings up to the end of 1901 quoted De La
Rue as referring to an average of 34 reams to each of 7 denominations out
of a total of 236½ reams of first TAS paper sent to the Colony. That would
surely include the 10d, of which numbers printed on TAS paper were zero!
Such is the weakness of the ordinary average (mean). The 1d and 2d plates
had by far the most wear and tear as the stamps show so plainly.

[bill]

An example of the 4d blue Sideface with inverted watermark is recorded on the BB at

https://www.tps.org.au/bb/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=122

That post is dated 13 October 2009.

As shown there, the watermark looks normal as seen from the back. From the front,
the watermark would be reversed as in the example mentioned in the previous post
in this thread. It seems that examples of this variety are few and far between.