Part 3 (2/2)

Laid paper shows alternate light and dark lines, parallel and close together. These lines are called _vergures_. There are usually other lines, an inch or more apart, crossing the _vergures_ at right angles.

Ribbed paper has much the appearance of a fine closely laid paper. It is, however, a wove paper with a corrugated surface. In oriental countries, especially j.a.pan, a peculiar, tough, cottony paper is produced. It is sometimes wove and sometimes laid, usually thin and hard to tear. I believe this is made from rice straw. Paper which has thin lines about the distance apart of the ruled lines in writing paper is called _batonne_, from the French _baton_, a stick or rule. If the paper between the _batons_ is wove, it is called wove batonne. If the s.p.a.ce is filled with fine laid lines, it is called laid batonne.

_Quadrille_ paper has laid lines which form small squares. When these lines form rectangles, it is called oblong quadrille.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Paper]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Paper]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Paper]

Some of the stamps of Mexico were printed on paper ruled with blue lines. This was merely ordinary foolscap paper. Many of the early stamps of Russia were on a paper having the surface coated with a soluble enamel. This not only gave a very fine impression but, on an attempt to clean a cancelled stamp, the enamel would wash off, carrying the design with it.

Two stamps of Prussia, issued in 1866, are usually said to be on gold-beater's skin. But they are really on a very thin tough paper which has been treated with sh.e.l.lac, parrafine, or something which makes it transparent, and afterwards coated with a gelatine preparation. On this the design was printed reversed, i.e. only to be seen correctly when viewed through the paper. The stamps were gummed on the printed side.

When they were affixed to an envelope any attempt to soak them off resulted in the paper coming away while the design adhered to the envelope, like a decalcomanie. Essays of this nature were made in a number of countries, including our own, but Prussia was the only one to make and use the stamps.

There are several varieties of paper which have threads of silk or other fibre. The first of these is known as d.i.c.kinson paper, from the name of its inventor. It has one or two threads of silk incorporated in the paper in the course of manufacture. For stamped envelopes two threads were generally used. They were placed about half an inch apart and the envelope was usually so printed that the threads would cross the stamp.

For adhesive stamps only one thread was used. Great Britain and several of the German States made extensive use of this paper. It has never been successfully counterfeited. The best imitation was made by gumming together two thin pieces of paper with a silk thread between them but the fraud was not difficult to detect.

Some of the United States revenue stamps were printed on a paper which had a few bits of silk fibre scattered through it. The paper called granite or silurian has a quant.i.ty of colored threads mixed with the pulp. In Switzerland blue and red threads were used, giving the paper a slightly grayish tone. In Servia only red threads were used but in sufficient quant.i.ty to make the paper appear a faint rose color.

Manila is a coa.r.s.e buff paper made from manila fibre. It is generally used for newspaper wrappers.

It will scarcely be necessary to say that paper is found in a great variety of colors and that such colored paper has frequently been used for stamps.

We cannot consider paper without treating of watermarks, since they are made in the process of paper making and const.i.tute an important feature of stamp paper. Watermarks are designs impressed in the paper pulp. The paper is slightly thinner in the lines of these designs and appears lighter when held to the light. Of course you are all familiar with this appearance from having noticed the watermarks in note paper. On rare occasions the watermark is a thickening of the paper instead of a thinning. In such a case the watermark appears more opaque than the paper. Watermarks in paper used for stamps are, of course, intended as a security against counterfeiting.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Watermark U.S.P. (mirrored letters)]

There are a great variety of watermarks; words, letters, figures, heraldic devices, etc., etc. Sometimes the design covers the whole sheet and at other times several stamps, but usually there is a separate watermark for each stamp. The current stamps of the United States are watermarked with the letters ”U. S. P. S.”, United States Postal Service. This is so set up that the letters read in sequence from any point and in any direction. At one time several of the British colonies in Australia employed paper watermarked with a figure or word of the value of the stamp intended to be printed on it. It can readily be understood that these would sometimes get mixed and result in more of those oddities in which philatelists delight.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Watermark, Crown with letters CC]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Watermark, Crown with letters CA]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Watermarks, Cross and Orb, Anchor, Elephant Head, Pine-Apple, Castle]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Water Marks, Post Horn, Turtle, Geneva Cross]

Here are some well-known watermarks. The letters CC under the Crown stand for ”Crown Colonies.” This was extensively used on stamps of the British Colonies. It has been replaced by a similar design, lettered CA, ”Crown Agents for the Colonies,” which is still in use. A great variety of crowns have been used, as also of stars. The cross and orb are found on stamps of Great Britain. The anchor belongs to the Cape of Good Hope, the elephant to India, the pine-apple to Jamaica, the castle to Spain (where else would we have castles if not in Spain?) the post horn to Denmark, the turtle to Tonga. The Geneva cross belongs to Switzerland but is not really a watermark, as it is impressed in the paper after the stamps are printed. The pyramid and sun and the star and crescent both belong to Egypt. The lion comes from Norway, the sun from the Argentine Republic, the wreath of oak leaves from Hanover, the lotus flower from Siam.

[Ill.u.s.tration: US. POD '99]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Double eagle]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Watermark, Pyramid, Moon and Star]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Watermark, Lion with Axe, Sun, Wreath, Flower]

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