Queensland 2 shilling brown - perforation, watermark and paper

PAPER: Two types of paper were used. The first type was produced by De La Rue and was an intense white, more or less coarse and crinkly with little or no graining apparent from the back surface and was used until April 1896 when the second paper was produced by Alexander Cowan and sons following the transfer of the contract to them. It was a wove paper, not as white as the first, smooth to the touch and with a graining very apparent from the back surface. The watermarks for both types of papers were the same, Stanley Gibbons type 6, crown over Q, first introduced in 1879, and the same dandy-roll was used for both.

Stanley Gibbons type 6, crown over Q watermark

The De La Rue paper was used for both the 1889 and 1890 issues while the Cowan paper would have been used for the later printings of the 1890 issue as the paper was only received in around May 1896 and was used from August of that year. The Cowan paper was supplied in books of 500 sheets each of 120 watermarks. The placement of the watermark is very haphazard, occuring all over  the stamp. On the right hand stamp below, for eample, the watermark is in the bottom left-hand corner, whereas on the left hand stamp it is in the centre, fractionally over to the right.

The difference between the two papers is really quite marked. On the left is the Cowan paper  and on the right the De La Rue paper, which is noticeably whiter. When you have examples of both in front of you it is possible to see the difference from the colour alone.

On the left is the Cowan wove paper with the De La Rue paper on the right. The stamp on the left has graining whereas the stamp on the right has none, being smooth to the touch. For further information on the De La Rue Crown Q (2nd Type) Paper see here and for the Cowan Crown Q paper, see here.

PERFORATION: For the 1889 issue the perforation 12 was from a single line machine manufactured by Messrs. Hughes and Kimber, London and obtained in January 1874. In 1890 the new vertical comb-perforating machine gauging almost exactly 12.75 x 12.75 was introduced. It was obtained from J. Buncle & Co., Melbourne. The perforations are designated by Stanley Gibbons as 12.5, 13. It appears that these machines were used interchangeably as I have many examples of the perf line 12 machine being used on stamps with the Cowan paper. For further information on the Hughes and Kimber single line machine see here, for the Buncle comb-perforating machine see here.

Perforation 12 line

Perforation 12.75 Comb