Bogus "watermark" on 1881 Jalapa 25c.(3381)on wove paper.

[Farley Katz]

Spuff sent me the stamp to examine.  When viewed through a microscope, it seems cleaner where the  "watermark" lines are.  Attached are two images of the lower left corner  (from the rear), in direct and slanting light (10x).  (The left image is in greyscale.)  I think that portions of  the back surface were scraped away, which is a known method of faking  watermarks.

[Martin "Spuff" Spufford]

Farley,
In the post to you at Newbury Terrace address.
spuff

[Farley Katz]

Spuff-
If you send me the stamp I will be glad to examine it and get it back to you.
Regards
Farley

[Martin "Spuff" Spufford]

I do not have any high powered optical equipment.
I can send it to you to study if you are interested.
spuff
email me at mspuff@xtra.co.nz

[Farley Katz]

Spuff-
Fake watermarks may be made by scraping off a little paper to thin it in the shape of the mark.  Can you look at the back in a microscope (30x or better) to see if there is disturbance in the paper fibers where the watermark is?  Try a raking light.
Farley

[Martin "Spuff" Spufford]

I was sorting out 350 stamps from my 1874-83 collection for cleaning with Chloromine "T" yesterday.
Many of these stamps were put in my stockbooks over 30 years ago and I was horrified to see just how many were foxed.
The next horror was the price of Chloromine "T:" powder.
It is literally more expensive than gold dust here in NZ.
I would appreciate a cheaper source if anyone can mail me some. I was able to only buy a sachet of 100 mg!! which will make only 180ml of cleaning liquid.

In preparation I was washing the stamps and this one sprang out at me because of the clearness of the "watermark"!!

I immediately consulted the "guru" of this issue Steve Brace and here is his response together with both wet and dry scans of the stamp under discussion.

Quote
"It almost looks like someone was trying to duplicate the Lacroix watermark (inverted and reversed) on the wrong paper but then put the PS line underneath it but much too close.  Very curious.  Crudely done, though, and of course the date is way too late for a LAC besides the other wrong elements.

I’m speculating that the reason the “watermark” doesn’t show up against a light but does show up strongly with fluid is that the paper fibers were compressed after the paper was finished and dried.  If it had been created during the paper manufacturing process the wet fibers would be slightly thinned so that the impression would show up if held against a light.
"unquote.

Has anyone else ever come across this type of "watermark" or in fact any fake watermarks on this issue?.

It was indeed a "shocking" discovery when I saw this stamp floating  in a basin with 350 other stamps!!
spuff