5¢ Washington Head
Flat Plate
Imperforate
Watermark Check - There is no need to check the watermark on this stamp, other than to authenticate (see below), this stamp is double-line watermarked and printed by the flat plate method.
| Watermark | Number | Privately Perforated by the Following Companies/Types |
| double-line | 347 | Brinkerhoff I, II, IIa, IIb; International Vending Machine Mailometer I, II, III, IV; Schermack I, II, III; USAV I, II, III |
| none (carmine error) | 485 | None |
Private Perforations - Vending and Affixing Machine Perforations
Caution:
The 5¢ imperforate, Number 347, may be faked by trimming the perforations from any of the 5¢ sheet stamps, although to be double-line watermarked it would need to be a Number 335. It is unlikely that the mint stamp would be faked since the mint perf 12 D/L stamp actually has a higher catalog value than the mint imperforate stamp. This is not the case for the used stamps, however, and care must be taken to insure authenticity. Collecting in pairs is always best, although margin copies or four large margins usually insure authenticity. Remember the 5¢ imperforate stamp must be double-line watermarked to be genuine.
