WATERMARKS.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2660, 19 May 1908, Page 7

WATERMARKS.

WHAT THEY ARE AND ALL

ABOUT THEM

Jhe discovery of the watermark %vas the result of an accident—probably a thousand .years ago. Parchment was then made of vegetable pulp, which was poured in a liquid state into a sieve ; the water dripFed out from below, and the thin layer of that remained was pressed- and dried. When dry it was found to bear upon it the marks of the libre that composed the bottom of the sieve.

1 hew? fibres seem to have been twisted reeds, and the mark they left 011 the parchment took the form of wide lines running across and' across diagonally. In those days the watermark was regarded as a blemish, since the fibre was thick coarse, and the deep impression made on the paper proved, a drawback in writing. .The qui 11 of the scribe found many a yawning gap to cross :on tha surface of the manuscript— I "switchback scripture"' it has been I termed. But when wire was substituted for fibre in the sieve, the lines of the watermark grew thinner and less conspicuous. The possibilities of the usefulness of the watermark became apparent by j degrees. It was first found to be jof service in preventing the forgery ; of books and manuscripts ; many a , bogus copy of a rare work has been , detected because the counterfeiter failed to take into account the water- : marks of the oriigbuil. The watermark of many a precious manuscript in the world's museums is alike its ; glory and its safeguard. And in the sphere of banknotes and paper- ' money everywhere the watermark is most useful in protecting the notes ! from imitation.

The term "watermark" is in reality a misnomer, since the mark is actually produced by wire. Wire is fashioned into the desired pattern, figure, or lettering ; this is inserted beneath the sheet in the last stages of its manufacture, and while the paper is still capable of receiving the impression, and the wire device stamps itself into the sheet. Ordinary notepaper, t held up to the light, reveals hundreds of parallel lines running up and down, betraying the fact that the paper was made on a wire foundation : to this the paper owes its smoothness and its even texture.

In the manufacture of postagestamps the watermark is of immense advantage as a safeguard. The wires tha.t produce the marks are kept 'strictly under lock and key ; they are brought out only v. hen wanted, and an inspector kerps an

eye 011 them till their task is done, When they arc at once locked i;p again. The stamps go out in thousands of sheets to all parts of the Empire : in some of the ColoniesIndia, for example—there are natives clever enough to produce excellent imitations of everything about a stamp save the watermark. Watermarks on old postage-stamps are not always decipherable at first sight ; but, as a general rule, they can be made visible by having a little highly rectified benzine poured over their surfaces.

Few purchasers of stamps, with the exception of seem to Ic aware that there is any watermark, at all on English stamps ; the assistant at a loral post-oflice in Kent confessed he had never noticed one, and he is not alone in his difference. !Vct there has been a watermark on British stamps ever since their introduction in 18-10.

j The watermarks of some stamps are not always true watermarks. They aiv sometimes impressed after manufacture—as, for example, in the ! 1861 i stamps of Switzerland.

In the Soudan the stamps were until recently watermarked-frittr a Maltese Cross, but the natives being chiefly Mohannif.'diins objected to any form of the Christian cross appearing on 1 heir stamps, and last year the device was changed to the Turkish Crescent and Stars. -In this little incident is shown the tact and the wisdom of British rule. Ihe authorities were not at all averse to adopting a foreign symbol if by so doing the natives under their supervision were rendered more contented. —"Answers."