Great Britain Philatelic Society

I was looking at an old reference book - 'The postage stamps of King Edward VIII' by W. Ward, circa 1940s I believe, and he mentions 'Errors of watermarks'. Specifically without an 'E' and with a double 'E'! In all my years of collecting KE8 I have never seen such material nor any reference to such material apart from this one. Does anybody know if such material exists or is it just a product of fanciful (or hopeful) imagination?

Hello from Queensland.

I have been collecting KEVIII stamps for half a century or more and have not come across any mention of the errors of watermark.

I have not seen the publication you mention by W. Ward but have the handbook by F. Hugh Vallancey (1948) , two GBPS publications King Edward VIII by Lt.-Col. J.B.M. Stanton (1958) and King Edward VIII by A. J. Kirk.

Also various items from stamp magazines etc. but I have seen no mention of the watermark varieties.

Robin Restall did a lot of research on KEVIII and though I corresponded with him regularly over a period of ten years or more, often discussing KEVIII, he never mentioned any watermark variations.

If they did exist at all then I am sure they would be listed in Stanley Gibbons and I have the last three editions of 4 Kings and have seen no mention of the watermark varieties.

I will see if I can find that publication you mention on the web, out of curiosity, so thanks for bringing the subject up.

Maybe, meantime, some other members may have input
Regards.
Ron

Thanks Ron. I have most of Robin's E8R notes and books and like you I had never heard of Ward until I found a copy in Robin's E8R library. Happy to scan if you would like to read it. More of a short pamphlet than a book! Regards Barry

G'day Barry,
Sorry, I did not recognise you

Glad to hear that you have the notes and books from Robin and that they have found a good home.

Thanks for the offer of a scan and I would appreciate that for the sake of curiosity.

I did look on line and there is a copy available for something like 20 quid, but if, apart from the watermark note, there is nothing different it would not be worth it.

I miss the contact with Robin, not least from his sense of humour and general outlook on life.

Regards
Ron.

Hi Ron
Happy to send you a scan. Do you still have my email address? If not contact me via the Consultant email address and let me know your email address.
regards
Barry

Hello again Barry,
Look forward to that.
E-mail sent to confirm the address.
Regards.
Ron.