½d green; hair variation

Material relating to the philately of the reign of Edward VIII.
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Robinr
Posts: 155
Joined: Fri Aug 27, 2010 6:00 pm

½d green; hair variation

Post by Robinr »

Dear All,

While browsing a handful of ½d greens, I noticed that the light outlining the forepart of the king's head varied. I scanned and enlarged and finally selected four stamps representative of the range.- from the left, there is no lighting along the edge, then it gradually increases until the fourth stamp has a full pale edge to the stamp.

I only have sheets for three cylinders, 7, 25 and 26, and a good part of 10. All no stop. I carefully looked at the edge of the hair of all these (Found a couple of cute accidentals, but nothing dramatic). What struck me was that every single stamp seemed to have been individually and finely and very carefully retouched with a pale line along the hair so that it stood out from the background. Every single stamp seemed to be different. The majority have the hair between the third and fourth shown here, or perhaps the second to the fourth.

But the first stamp on the left, has no retouched line at all. I did not find a single mint stamp like this.

I guess it is not significant, and seems larger than life on a rainy afternoon, but it could be a constant condition, and I'll certainly keep it in mind. If anybody finds it interesting enough to check some sheets, please let me knoe the results.

Thanks a ton.

Cheers, Robin
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