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Weave patterns The impression of this fine weave - the pattern left on the paper by the sieve - was recognized by early collectors and described s "wove" paper. It resembles a pattern of rhomboids. NB the "laid" paper can NOT originate from either type of paper machine but might come from a later stage of preparing the paper for their final destination. ALL stamp paper are "wove" in that respect. Another term used by philatelists is "mesh". The weave comes either from the "long wire" OR from the sieve wrapped around the cylinder of the "round sieve". The weave is often visible a the back of a stamp BUT can also be found at the front. I.e. the sieve side got printed upon. Studying stamp paper and having a particular stamp in your hand, the first thing to do is establishing the direction of paper of the grain. In a rectangular size stamp it can either be vertical or horizontal. What to look for? While in the paper making process, the fibers of the pulp eventually "choose" a preferred direction like flowing wooden logs in a river! As the heavier fibers sink towards the wire / sieve, we will find "grooves" where these fibers were before they got "torn" off .
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The felt side of the paper usually gets flattened, made smoother in a calendering section of the paper machine. The mesh leaves a faint pattern on the paper. It was woven using standard patterns from the textile industry. Originally, a linen weave (also known as plain weave) was used since the 1860-ies. Around 1937/1938, paper makers - probably starting in Canada as a major player in the paper manufacturing industry - introduced twill weaves instead of linen weaves. The material - changing from metal to synthetic fibers? - probably made it easier or cheaper to produce the long wires. Linen weave:
Twill weave:
The diagonal blue lines follow the tops were horizontal and vertical threads cross. Our eyes "see" these diagonal lines especially where you turn the stamp a bit and look under an angle at the surface of the stamps. The diagonal lines are "virtual"! The rhomboids [linen weave] or parallelograms [twill weave] are also a product of our eyes and "virtual". The linen weave is always symmetrical whereas the twill weave is asymmetrical. On top of that the twill weave has a tendency of getting stretched more at the left of a long wire OR the other way round. This results in the horizontal lines being askew a little. An important aspect of the weave pattern is its density, The number of threads per horizontal cm / the number of threads per vertical cm. Usuallly some 30/20 hor./vert. per cm. But we find occasionaly a different density as in the case of some war-time stamps. The density of the "coarse mesh" is 24/20 and the angles of the "diagonals" are -50/50 instead of -60/60 degrees. |
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The twill weave can occur in 2 positions: - the steep diagonal running from bottom left to top right:
- the steep diagonal running from bottom right to top left:
The brownish diagonals can be seen as well but you need to have trained eyes. Linen weave pattern on the back of a Straits KGV 10:
and twill weave (IIId) on a Kedah 1949 10c:
Coarse mesh:
1949 Penang 10c |
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In discussing Malaya definitives and the coconuts in particular, we have to bear in mind that all stamps were printed by De La Rue, UK although some printings were made in subsiduary printing houses due to wartime circumstances. Stamp paper for typography is basically different from stamp paper to be used for other printing methods. Offset-litho, recess or photogravure require their own types of paper, but these types of paper have all the above mentioned aspects in common and differ in less obvious for us characteristics. Malayan stamps of the 1935-1949 period almost all have a linen weave with the 30/20 density. So far only one copy with the twill weave has been found.
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Linen weave 24/20 (coarse mesh):
So far found only for only for the 2c and 15c BMA on chalk-surface paper. Post-1949 stamps mainly have the twill weave, but in the early years some may also have the coarse mesh. as shown above for Penang. |
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Uncoated paper with a vertical direction of paper
The curling is axial and convex! I.e. along the axis of the stamp and with the face bent upwards. Coated paper had in the beginning
The curling is axial and concave! I.e. along the axis of the stamp and with the back bent downwards. |
