Reversed laid paper ?

Anything to do with the small format Wilding definitives of 1952-67.
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Wilding Mad
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Reversed laid paper ?

Post by Wilding Mad »

Whilst checking various used multiple crown Wilding definitives, I came across the following oddity relating to the construction within the embodiment of some of the papers used.

Some of the stamps affected appear to have reversed lines in them, as if the paper roll had been reversed during the watermarking procedure as per the diagram below or at the printing stage of the stamps, in essence, stamps were printed whilst the watermark was reversed.
834358.jpg
I've only found 3 values so affected by this procedure, namely the 10d,1/-and 1/6d values all being non-phos used around the period 1961-1965.

Here is an example of the 10d
IMG_20190815_190238.jpg
And two examples of the 1/- value, 1 in mono (with captions) the other in colour.
IMG_20210106_095739.jpg
IMG_20200911_102823.jpg
The 1/6d values was taken in mono so as to enlighten the features.
IMG_20190813_150711.jpg
Has anyone discovered this phenomenon before ?
Last edited by Wilding Mad on Wed Jan 06, 2021 10:31 am, edited 5 times in total.
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Wilding Mad
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Re: Reversed laid paper ?

Post by Wilding Mad »

The design of the multiple crown watermark is such that even reversed it would still look the same, therefore it has previously been unnoticed and overlooked in the past, and only by studying the embodiment of the paper can this be determined.

Having gone through 1000s of this particular issue, I have only found a very small % that show this type of 45° angled ribbing, the scarcer of the two (as seen from the reverse) appears to be 'top left to bottom right' with the opposite one being slightly more abundant, and only on the 3 values previously mentioned.

In an effort to qualify my findings I decided to contact the DLR archivist at Basingstoke a Mr.Georgie Salzedo as DLR had taken over Harrison and Sons previously, after several weeks he replied via email stating the following after consultation with their design team

" It comes from the mould cover, instead of the now typical weft of the wire and weave going horizontal/vertical. I think this mould cover would have been 45 degrees which adds bulk and less bulk. The GSM would have been so low that the wire would have been seen " .

The explanation given attributed as to why the ribbing in the embodiment was so visible but did not give a reason for the opposite directions of the 45° lines discovered. I later sent him an email asking him as to how this had happened, but he never replied, that was around 18 months ago !

Even so there can only be two explanations as to how this reversed single ribbing came about.
1) The reel of paper was reversed during the watermarking procedure at the papermill, but some of them were not reversed, therefore giving the two versions discovered.
2) Or reversal took place on some of the reels when the stamps were being printed at Harrison and sons at High Wycombe, to give the two versions of ribbing found.

Here are all the three values in question with left and right versions of the ribbing taken in mono.
836508.jpg
As to which is the reversed paper one can only surmise, personally, I think it's the top left to bottom right, but I could be wrong, therefore both examples would be needed to make sure

This is the reason as to why further confirmation is required on this particular topic in order to confirm my findings and is open for discussion, thank you, WM.
Last edited by Wilding Mad on Thu Oct 22, 2020 9:50 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Wilding Mad
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Re: Reversed laid paper ?

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Having found these three values with a reversed single 45° ribbing, I have since decided to look at them under longwave ultraviolet in order to differentiate the type of papers used to print them, and have discovered that both the left and right ribbing on the 1/- & 1/6d were printed on cream and whiter papers, but the 10d value was a different proposition, as the top left to bottom right could only be found on cream paper with the top right to bottom left on whiter papers only.

From my findings it would appear that the 10d value does not comply as with the other 2 values discovered, however, it does indicate that this particular reversed single 45° angled ribbing was in use on all three values before and after the changeover period in 1962, I have also noticed that with the whiter type papers traces of a contaminant (fluorescent fibres) can be seen, which leads me to suspect that impurities had crept into the manufacture of the paper since the changeover was made with the type of ragging that was used.

Here is a couple of scans of the 4 variations found with both the 1/- & 1/6d values :-
IMG_20200607_121240.jpg
IMG_20200607_122202.jpg
Does anyone have any comments to make with regards to these findings ? As the impression within the structure or embodiment of the paper given is almost like a watermark!

This type of paper is usually classified as wove due to the weft and weave pattern in the embodiment, but these particular ones give the appearance of a laid paper by only having single lines going in a 45° diagonal direction unlike the normal mesh pattern normally associated with this type of paper.
The following description is given by Wikipedia as to the difference :-
Wove paper - Wikipedia.pdf
(69.63 KiB) Downloaded 457 times
Here is a close-up picture of the 1/6d's in question, have you discovered any other values of a similar reversed nature ?
As this type of paper is certainly different from the norm.
IMG_20210908_183559.jpg
And what's more ! Is that you can spot these little beauties without the aid of a longwave ultraviolet light as the reversed ribbing within the papers structure can be clearly seen in the visible spectrum.

Also it would appear that this is one of the few occasions when cream papers are more translucent than normal due to the low GSM of the paper produced at that time as normally they are quite opaque.

Another variety of single lined ribbing akin to laid paper has also been found, but in this instance the single lines were horizontal rather than diagonal as can be seen in my attachment with a relevant caption.
IMG_20201014_235256.jpg
Also with a filtered version.........
IMG_20201015_103500.jpg
With a further picture more at a distance, as the problem is trying to capture the correct image due to the fact that the sheen of the gum has a tendency to interfere when at the correct angle to give the best image of the single type ribbing.
IMG_20201015_165834.jpg
Consequently it should be of interest as to it's assessment, is this a wove paper or a laid paper ?

With regards to the single reversed diagonals discovered, I can only come to one conclusion, and it's that the paper/roll must have been reversed prior to the stamps being printed, and consequently some of the stamps were printed on paper with a reversed watermark.

If anyone can think of an alternative reason for the reversed ribbing found, then by all means do so, it's all grist to the mill. WM.
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