To prevent counterfeiting! How? It is extremely difficult to identify the watermark by a collector or a dealer, how a postal worker could say that the stamp used on an envelope had a watermark or not?
Besides, the watermark paper was more expensive than the normal paper!
The forgers would not be making individual stamps. They would print off sheets which would be sold to businesses. If the postal authorities suspected and traced these back they could identify the forgeries by lack of watermark and prosecute accordingly.
Most forgeries were poor copies and stood out like sore thumbs, so were quite noticeable. They were not the type of forgeries designed to fool collectors.
Dialysis, damned if you do...dead if you don't 26 Mar 2020 12:38:57pm
re: US watermarks and one more question
The term ‘counterfeit’ typically means a stamp designed to deceive postal authorities. The term ‘forgery’ typically means a stamp that is designed to deceive collectors. Some folks use the terms interchangeably.
I think our hobby is notorious for confusing nomenclature. Other examples include the constant misuse of the word ‘shade’ when describing a totally different stamp hue or tint (I have seen experienced collectors get mad because while they consider themselves color experts they do not use 'Color 101' terms correctly). Other confusing terms include offset vs. setoff. Heck, sometime we cannot even agree on the term ‘mint’. And of course our hobby is multi-lingual so this also adds to the confusion.
It is little wonder why new folks struggle with the terminology.
Don