The Seven Seas Stamps “Australia Stamp Catalogue” (ASC) calls them “Watermarks 5, 6, and 7”. Gibbons call these “Watermarks 2, 5 and 6”.  Scott calls them “Watermarks 8, 9 and 10”.  Michel and Yvert catalogues etc, call them something else again.   It is an international MESS and no wonder collectors are perplexed!

It is a rather Monty Python arrangement, totally confusing to all collectors and dealers globally, and it is a shame there is not an outbreak of common sense, which sees all publishers simply align them with the terminology (and images) used here.  That is, to the terms used for decades by the Brusden White ACSC,  the leading catalogues for Australian material of course.

Over 40 plus years as a dealer, I have handled and sold way over a MILLION Kangaroo stamps, probably double that actually, and am one of the biggest stockists of these issues globally.  I can sort near every Roo facially when on an album page, or Hagner, or image.  However that is down to decades of practice and experience, and it can’t be taught by books!

These first three Kangaroo watermarks generally have stamps of all the same colour in each, to make it even harder.  All are just a single Crown over the letter A.   Naturally the usual hinges and gunk and gook on the reverses accumulated over a century, can make them VERY hard to pick apart, to a person not familiar with them. 

A 2/- Brown varies vastly in price between these three watermarks, so sorting them accurately is vitally important.  A Second Watermark 2/- brown sells for FIVE times that of a Third Watermark for example.  The same as a 9d Violet or a 5/- … many times the price, or $100s of dollars more in the case of the 5/- stamp.

1,000s of Roo stamps I see offered on ebay and similar collector describer sites etc, are just plain and appallingly wrong, as of course the amateur sellers simply “self-decide” they have the SCARCEST watermark every time!  Human nature sadly.  Given the choice of owning a $20 stamp, or a $200 one, they of course ……….

And many of the ebay style buyers are just as clueless, so a really perfect storm.  The Blind leading the Blind.  Can’t beat those ebay “Bargains”. (Until it comes time to sell them one day, to a real dealer of course, and THEN the penny drops.  Friendly ebay seller “jiminybob3741825” has long ago closed their account, and decamped with your money!)

An experienced eye can quickly sort them all by typical colour nuances, and/or more often, by the perf characteristics as well in most cases, without ever seeing the watermark.  However for those who need to sort their Kangaroos by watermarks, and are new to it, here are some practical tips following, that you may want to note and try out. 

For detecting harder to see Kangaroo watermarks, all those silly $100s cost price wacko watermark machines are a total waste of money in my view.  If I ever need to look up anything, which is seldom thankfully, I use a $2 black watermark tray, and a few $’s bottle of watermark fluid - or use Ronsonol or Zippo lighter fluid, if you can’t locate specific watermark fluid.  I personally use only those.

The big plus with the latter fluids is, you also often see repairs and thins, or pressed creases etc, at the same time!  Few collectors realise that watermarks are easily sorted via Fluid, and they are safe to use even on mint stamps of course, which absolutely amazes most collectors.  Clearly these illustrated products are flammable, so do READ and pay attention to the labels!

For even faster ID, hold the stamp to a very BRIGHT light.  Those small new style 5000 Lumen super bright LED small flashlights you can buy for $5 or $10 anywhere today are superb for this.  Any such super bright backlight often shines through the thickest of stamp papers, and are FANTASTIC for watermarks, and I use my little $10 unit all the time.

These two methods above cost almost nothing, and between them, sort out 99% of these watermarks accurately and quickly, and you are good to go in most cases.  I repeat, those loopy $100s type gizmo “watermark” machines are a waste of space.  I have not turned mine on for 25 years. Still sitting in the original box with a layer of dust on it now.

The SECOND watermark Kangaroos really should never be an issue for anyone. The SHARP wide corners of the crown are totally distinctive.  As that was a short WWI emergency use, printed on paper made for the wider KGV heads, it means the SECOND watermark almost never sits “well centred” on each Kangaroo stamp - often half a watermark is on each side of the stamp, hence an instant clue.

The photo nearby showing the reverse shows that watermark from the reverse, AND the vertical paper grain.  That leaves the First and Third watermarks to sort quickly - SG 12 and SG 41.  A 2/- First Watermark costs 5 or 10 times the price of a 2/- brown Third, so getting it correct is really important, if you are a collector and do not want to get ripped off on Ebay etc. 

The 1915 SECOND watermark 2/- brown, SG 29 (SG £150) sells in Superb Used condition for about $A250, and the year later 1916 THIRD watermark SG 41, (SG £14) is $A20 or so.  The stamp illustrated nearby has no year date, but I can tell for certain at a first glance, is it the scarce SG 29.  Can you?  NOT being able to, clearly will cost you.

BOTH have vertical mesh paper.  Those 2 watermarks look REALLY similar to all novices for some reason, and are the ones that most collectors get wrong.  Near everything one sees on amateur seller outlets like eBay of COURSE mis-described by the dreamer sellers as “1915 Secund Watarmak, Trew Bargeen et $100".  Durrhhh.  And the eBay Bunnies hoover them up, as they are equally clueless.  $100 for a $10 stamp - true genius.

To sort a FIRST from a SECOND or THIRD watermark Kangaroo is the world’s simplest task.  The latter two printings were are on VERTICAL mesh paper always, and the First Watermark, alone of all Roos, is on HORIZONTAL mesh paper - always.  See the reverse of a Second Watermark shown nearby.  Tons more discussion here - tinyurl.com/RooWmk

They hence are SO easy to sort apart, I fail to understand how folks mess it up so regularly.  You can SEE the paper mesh direction easily with the naked eye in the scan here, and can indeed often see it from most scans. And the fastest, simplest, cheapest, and most certain test, is just to observe the ready PAPER CURL.

Place any Kangaroo stamp, mint or used, back of stamp upwards, in the upright palm of your hand.  Within seconds, your body heat makes all FIRST Watermark stamps curl noticeably from top to bottom, and SECOND and THIRD watermarks curl side to side.  It is THAT fast, that accurate, that cheap, and that simple!

The same “curl” test works to sort out many other papers, such as the notoriously tricky New Zealand "Arms" stamp series etc, where the actual watermark is far less easily seen visually, as the paper used on those is so thick.  I sold this New Zealand £4 Arms stamp shown nearby on my Rarity Page recently.

The stamp is the very scarce 1935 New Zealand 1935 “ARMS” £4 Light Blue.  It is on the thick, chalk-faced “Cowan” paper, with very obvious HORIZONTAL mesh.  You can see that grain readily with the naked eye.  The much later, and half the SG cat value, VERTICAL mesh version, SG 212, is often passed off by less informed sellers, as this quite rare stamp - SG F166.

£4 was a FORTUNE in 1935 for a mint stamp, during the Great Depression - a month’s wages for those that DID have a job.  A mint hinged pair of £2 Roos of same era at £4 face, is cat £8,500 in SG!   It is one of the highest face values in entire KGV reign, indeed most KGVI collectors seek this stamp too, as in the KGVI album, and Murray Payne KGVI cat etc.

WHY the Gibbons catalogue value for this rare stamp is only £750, is one of life’s mysteries, although it has risen 25% in the past 2 editions, so most better stamps perform WAY better than bank interest!   You probably can’t find another mint example on sale globally, at ANY price, as these were always very scarce.  The most ‘common’ 10/- Roo costs more than this mint, and endless examples of those are on the global market each week.   

Stampboards member Allanswood is a great graphic artist.  He came up with the very accurate diagram shown nearby of each Australian watermark, and incorporated a perforation gauge into it - pretty handy, as Stanley Gibbons have now stopped making their famous “Instanta” gauges it seems, along with the SG Stamp Colour Charts, as reported last month.

The perforation gauge is needed for the many different KGV and KGVI heads, and the 1934 Victorian Centenary issues etc, which on y range from 10½ to 15.  tinyurl.com/RooWmk has his many varied submissions shown, before we got to this one illustrated, after many tweaks and suggestions along the journey.  Nearby is a fuzzy copy of the ALMOST final artwork as I recall - there were later amended drafts, that I have lost. 

My hope is to print 10,000-20,000 of them on a thick, stout, 420 GSM hard varnished C6 postcard size, so they will last for decades.  We can distribute them via magazines, and Auction catalogues etc, so you get them into as many hands as possible globally.  All we need now is an Auction house/dealer sponsor etc, who wants their name and logo etc on the reverse of them all, and who will get a few 1000 for their own use!  Couple $1000 super well spent, for decades of positive exposure.     

This COVID-19 madness has of course had a devastating effect on global stamp shows.  Near everything, repeat EVERYTHING seems to have been cancelled globally.  Regular club meetings, Nationals, and even large Internationals - as our cousins in Auckland experienced, just as NZ 2020 had started earlier year, and the rug was pulled by the authorities etc.  All cancelled.  Sad.

For many stamp dealers, doing shows and nationals etc, are their main source of income and sales.  As a fairly lucky break, I have never bothered, and sitting at home, am doing 2 or 3 times my usual sales volume as in recent years.  Gazillions of collectors are stuck at home full time, or working 2 or 3 days at home and buying supplies and stamps online is where they gravitate to right now.

I’ve sold more Hagners and stockbooks in the past 6 months than I sold in the past 6 YEARS!  But the dealers who rely on face to face interaction at larger shows, or in retail shops, have really suffered, and I feel for them.  It is nothing THEY have done wrong, it is just this nasty virus impacting the lives of simply everyone reading this, globally.  And limiting close contact with others.

I have been a member of the Philatelic Traders Society London (PTS) for over 40 years, and to their credit, they came up with an interesting initiative to try and create awareness and interaction between dealers and collectors, that ordinarily would have met face to face in London.  They launched it on October 1, and called it “VIRTUAL STAMPEX”.

Anything new and innovative in these strange times is to be applauded by all, and you can visit their site here - tinyurl.com/Stampex20 for more overview of exactly what Virtual Stampex was all about.   Lots of leading dealers globally actively took part.  Well done all.  It seemed to work wonderfully.  I spent a few hours poking about - many “standholders” had chatrooms where collectors could ask questions etc.

Many of the savvier dealers offered 15% or 20% discounts to clients, who used a special Virtual Stampex promo code when ordering things etc.  I certainly did, and saved quite a bit of money.  The site will be up until at least the end of October I understand, so you can visit it and see what went on.  As I type, there had been 75,000 booth visits.  Most impressive.  Nothing will replace a real live stamp show, but top marks for trying to do something, and so well organised.

Nearing 3 score and 10 years, I do NOT have accounts with twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, or Instagram etc, so am not nearly as plugged in as many of the more tech savvy folks about, but I do have a good deal of big picture vision I like to think, as can see these things are GREAT for the hobby.  I founded and own stampboards.com – easily the world’s largest stamp Bulletin Board with over 22,000 members, who have added 7 million messages, and over 1 million stamp images.

So, I do my tiny bit to keep philately exposed to a truly global audience, and the more folks we get interested in the hobby, the better for us all!  Stampboards of course had many members drop in on the Virtual Stampex and it had reports there from PTS Chairman Suzanne Rae, about what was going on, and it was adjudged to be a great success, from all those who reported back, as can be seen here - an interesting read - tinyurl.com/Stampex2020

 STAMPEX is an institution in Europe, and run by the PTS.  It is Europe's largest stamp Event, and has been running for over 60 years.  Stampex International ordinarily takes place twice a year at The Business Design Centre in Islington London, with some of the biggest names in philately as regular attendees.  Dealers and collectors globally have it on their “Must DO and See” list on their calendars.

To show the changing nature of this hobby, the Chairman of the PTS London, in the 40 plus years I have been a member, has been male, and an elderly male at that.  Nothing wrong with that as I have typed here before - it simply reflected the average stamp dealer globally.  And none had blue painted finger nails!  These things are changing.  Just like the hobby.

The subject of a recent widely reported "Guardian" newspaper article was Suzanne Rae, 37, who for 2 years has been Chairman of the Philatelic Traders Society London (PTS) and was just re-elected mid-October.  PTS are now 91 years old, and run the vastly successful STAMPEX mega shows in the UK twice a year etc.  The black and white shield PTS member logo, is synonymous with reputable Stamp Dealers and Trust.

Anyway, having a 37 year old, tech savvy, with real world Business acumen Millennial, heading up the PTS has seen a lot of positive changes.  The PTS have now been nudged very firmly into 2020, with a Facebook page, and blogs and Forum. And right now, a successful Virtual Stampex behind them, and other such modern things and devices, that many collectors and dealers actually use often - and it was embraced far better than I’d have predicted.  Well done.

Many assume the high catalogue figures in Stanley Gibbons for scarce pieces are simply fantasyland stuff, and nothing close to them is ever attained.  Oddly, for many of the scarce offerings, the market value is indeed near full catalogue.  Many Australia State imperfs in top shape fetch well above full SG price as I point out here regularly with examples.

Spink London had a sale of eclectic worldwide pieces in October that some chap seemed to have accumulated like a wealthy stamp magpie.  No pattern or common regions .. just unusual stamps, and many of them you do not see each day.  The Northern Nigeria £25 KEVII mint he had TWO examples of, one far more toned than the other, which those who inspected the better one confirmed was pretty badly browned, but a rare stamp. SG19, cat £60,000

It was invoiced at close to £50,000 - although anyone is a genius who can work out actual Spink invoice costs, with the myriad of highlighted chunky Buyer Fees, 20% VAT on Hammer price, and VAT on Buyer Fee, and on other things in their fee soup conditions, another 3% fee to bid on line via Saleroom.com, another 3% fee to use a credit card etc, etc, and goodness what for insurance and shipping, on top of it all.

The same collector had a set of a set that collectors are unaware of – the 1967 "Independent Anguilla" overprinted stamp set 16.  This set with small condition issues, and no Certificate, was invoiced for about £21,000 on an estimate of just £4,200.  Near FIVE times higher.   Full SG Catalogue on this set is £25,000.

It is an issue that was surrounded in dodginess and skulduggery at the time, and was essentially cornered by the Postmaster there, and certainly never met the usual criterion for catalogue listing of being freely available at face value.  However, it somehow DID get into Stanley Gibbons catalogues, and this bullish price proves forever, the benefit of that.

Papua New Guinea had a set of Emergency overprints issued mid-1990s, that WERE sold at face value, and most were long sold out before the stamp world ever heard of them, that look cheap at few $100 the complete set.  Lots of postal used and covers exist.  I reported them to the global stamp world - a very interesting read, and most collectors are not aware of them:    tinyurl.com/PNG1994