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Good Morning all



I can only find this as SG 545aa

However several ebay sellers are offering a pair described as SG 575 at a price significantly lower than the 545aa cat value eg

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sg575-3d-deep ... 35bbe6c319

Can anyone clear up the mystery?

Many Thanks

Richard

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When a man comes to me for advice, I find out the kind of advice he wants, and I give it to him

Hi there

Very nice pair. The SG specialised catalogue notes that 575 (S70) comes tete-beche with a gutter which were from booklets never issued. However there are also notes that later issues were also tete-beche.

First id the watermark.
Tudor crown wmk :- crown E2R where the crown has a flat pie shape outline
St Edwards wmk :- crown E2R where the crown is taller with a very round outline at the top
Multiple crown wmk :- rows of very rounded crowns.

If you have dificulty with this a large scan of the back & I might be able to help more.

Second check to see if there is any form of phosphor band, normally visible, but you may need a shortwave uv lamp to check, there are also colour variations of the banding if present which may be identifiable by duration of afterglow. Since these seem to be mint there should be no removale of bands by soaking.

Hope this helps

Feebletodix

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Weaponsmith for the DemiGods from the plane of Silliness

Many thanks Feebletodix

I can't see any graphite lines - herewith the scan of back



I can't make out any watermark

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When a man comes to me for advice, I find out the kind of advice he wants, and I give it to him

Yes there are definatley no graphite lines on the back.

From the scan I too cannot make out any watermarks. The thickness of the paper makes me think it is a later issue. Looking at my earlier examples they often are more opaque from the reverse and the watermark general clear.



The two ½d I have shown are multiple crown which can just be made out on the first stamp. The second shows the thinner paper. I was going to start a thread on these because of the difficulty I had when I got a box of about 20,000 Wildings.

Back to yours. Try holding yours up to a bright light source and look through it at the areas without ink around the bust in the oval or in the border between the stamps, it may well show up. (edit) It may be inverted or sideways so rotate as necessary.

Since this is one of the thinner papers you really need to check the phosphor bands on the front. Put them on the palm of your hand and hold it up to daylight so you are looking across the flat of the stamp. The bands should stand out because of the difference in refraction.

Hope this helps.

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Weaponsmith for the DemiGods from the plane of Silliness

Definitely no bands

Under a very bright light ( so bright that looking at the reverse is almost like looking at the front ) still no wm visible

Should I chance lighter fluid?

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When a man comes to me for advice, I find out the kind of advice he wants, and I give it to him

I don't like lighter fluid on any stamps let alone mint so I would not advise it.

You may be getting to much light from around the stamp so it blots it out, argh this is difficult from a distance and I really do not want to mislead you because the Tudor crown watermark is very expensive.

No gutter between the stamps rules out the S70/575 multiple crown booklet, and the lack of phosphor bands would suggest it is S68a/545aa St Edwards crown.

What is your intention to sell it?

Do you have a local dealer/collecter you trust to have a look?

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Weaponsmith for the DemiGods from the plane of Silliness

You might be interested in this thread http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=834

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Collector of: GB Mint, Commonwealth Used, Dragonflies and Charles Darwin, anything else that looks interesting.

Thanks Colin - most interesting

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When a man comes to me for advice, I find out the kind of advice he wants, and I give it to him