kgvistamps
Collecting King George VI from all countries, and King Edward VII and King George V from the West Indies. 29 Sep 2019 09:32:42am | re: GB KEVII chalky or not chalky that is the question .
When you saw non-chalky with a shine, how did you know it was non-chalky?
I usually try the silver test first. Take a piece of silver and lightly drag it across the edge of the stamp by the perfs. Chalky paper will sometimes react and the result it a pencil-like line. That being said, it doesn't seem to work as well on KEVII era stamps. So for those I look at them under a good strong light and look to see if there is a coating. Sometimes it will show up. Many times the coating does look shiny, so that is why I was curious about your result. In some other cases, you can see tiny bubbles that were caused by the coating. In other cases, try dragging your finger across the stamp. The chalky paper will tend to be smooth while the ordinary paper tends to drag.
Ultimately, expect to find different results. Chalk coating is not really chalk, and it is also not consistent. Dr. Miles Glazer, a chemist, researched the different coatings on Bermuda high value KGV stamps and found the actual chemical composition varied among the printings. Unfortunately, to do this you have to cut up the stamp and run an expensive chemical analysis - so it didn't catch on with the collector community. So for now the rest of us just have to rely on best effort methods.
  1 Member likes this post. Login to Like. "Learn more about King George VI stamps at www.KGVIStamps.com" www.kgvistamps.com |
londonbus1
29 Sep 2019 03:38:08pm | re: GB KEVII chalky or not chalky that is the question .
Slingback77,
On the purple example at the very top you will see the result of a 'Chalky' test. Not so handsome when the stamp has value, sadly !!
  2 Members like this post. Login to Like. |