Great Britain Philatelic Society

New member has a question -

I have a Great Britain SG Spec J103 on piece. It has corner letters TA. I need to know if it has watermark W6a which would make it a J103d.

The piece bears an 1860 “normal” black duplex cancel postmark dated 18OC1865 (Liverpool 466), an indistinct red circular marking tying the stamp to the piece, and some handwriting in ink. Before I attempt to lift the stamp from the piece to confirm the error, I would like to know if it is necessary to do so given the characteristics I’ve described. From the date on the cancellation, I am sure it does not have watermark W7. None of my reference materials tell me if the watermark error occurs on all type J103 stamps with corner letters TA or only some of them; that is, was this watermark error a constant error on all the sheets or were some sheets printed on paper without the watermark error?

I would also like to know, when the watermark is inverted, if the error is known on stamp AL.

Bob

I recently had an opportunity to check the watermark on a Signoscope T1. It revealed a very prominent thistle even through the paper on which the stamp was attached. The thistle was strikingly more prominent than the other three bits, suggesting a very recent correction in the paper-making process.