Small Queen Paper Types

Printing	Location	Characteristics/Description	Type Code
First	Ottawa	Smooth vertical wove, no mesh	FO-A
First	Ottawa	Smooth, stout vertical wove showing fine vertical mesh	FO-B
First	Ottawa	Soft vertical wove showing fine vertical mesh	FO-C
First	Ottawa	Soft white paper, clear horizontal ribbing (visible from the front)	FO-D
First	Ottawa	Soft white paper, horizontal ribbing, but appears completely smooth from the front	FO-E
First	Ottawa	Smooth horizontal wove paper with fine mesh	FO-F
First	Ottawa	Thick, soft blotting paper, thicker than FO-A through FO-F. Displays hairiness inside perforation holes, often with unpunched perf discs still attached, bevelled perforation holes.	FO-G
First	Ottawa	Thin vertical wove with fine vertical mesh	FO-H
First	Ottawa	Soft horizontal wove paper with medium-coarse mesh	FO-I
First	Ottawa	Soft, medium horizontal wove paper with coarse mesh. Felt side is somewhat corrugated in appearance, but not overly so.	FO-J
First	Ottawa	Stout, medium vertical wove with no visible mesh	FO-K
Early	Montreal	Medium, hard, non-porous horizontal wove with coarse horizontal mesh on the back, and relatively smooth felt side. This is very similar to type MM-B, but the felt side is much smoother, without the slightly corrugated appearance that MM-B has. It is also slightly softer to the touch between 2 fingers, than MM-B is, but it is not a soft paper, per se, the way that FO-D, FO-E and FO-F are.	EM-A
Early	Montreal	Thick, opaque, somewhat brownish cream toned  horizontal wove paper with medium-fine mesh, and smooth felt side	EM-B
Early	Montreal	Thin, translucent, hard horizontal wove with medium to coarse mesh.	EM-C
Early	Montreal	Medium, soft horizontal wove paper, with coarse mesh and smooth felt side. This paper feels smooth to the touch.	EM-D
Mid	Montreal	Stout horizontal wove with fine mesh, but not soft to the touch, similar to FO-F	MM-A
Mid	Montreal	Stout Horizontal Wove With Coarse Mesh. This paper has a slightly corrugated appearance under magnification on the felt side.	MM-B
Mid	Montreal	Somewhat thicker soft wove paper, fine vertical mesh	MM-C
Mid	Montreal	Hard medium white wove with coarse vertical mesh	MM-D
Mid	Montreal	Hard medium white wove with fine horizontal mesh	MM-E
Mid	Montreal	Hard medium white wove with fine vertical mesh	MM-F
Mid	Montreal	Thick, hard vertical wove paper with fine vertical mesh, somewhat rough, slightly porous felt side	MM-G
Mid	Montreal	Thick, opaque, cream toned  horizontal wove paper with medium-fine mesh, and smooth felt side, similar to EM-B, but slightly smoother on the wire side, under magnification	MM-H
Mid	Montreal	White stout horizontal wove paper with very coarse horizontal mesh, and smooth, semi-porous felt side	MM-I
Mid	Montreal	Medium stout horizontal wove, with medium visible mesh, smooth to the touch, smooth, semi-porous felt side	MM-J
Mid	Montreal	Medium stout horizontal wove, with fine visible mesh, not smooth to the touch the way MM-J is, smooth, semi-porous felt side	MM-K
Mid	Montreal	Thick, stout wove paper, with coarse mesh and smooth felt side	MM-L
Mid	Montreal	Medium, soft white horizontal wove with coarse mesh, smooth non-porous felt side	MM-M
Mid	Montreal	Similar to MM-B, but thinner, and with fine, rather than coarse mesh	MM-N
Mid	Montreal	Thin, translucent stout vertical wove, with coarse vertical mesh and smooth felt side	MM-O
Mid	Montreal	Medium, stout wove paper with no visible mesh and slightly corrugated felt side.	MM-P
Mid	Montreal	Medium, somewhat translucent horizontal wove paper with smooth felt side	MM-Q
Mid	Montreal	As MM-O, but with vertically corrugated felt side	MM-R
Mid	Montreal	As MM-B, but very thin and highly translucent in that the design can be seen very clearly through the back.	MM-S
Mid	Montreal	Thick, smooth, hard white vertical wove paper that shows no visible mesh. Very slightly porous, but it really is only very, very slight, when viewed under 10x magnification. I would not all this a porous paper by any means. The main distinguishing characteristic of this paper is the complete lack of visible mesh, as well as the very bright white colour.	MM-T
Mid	Montreal	As MM-B, but somewhat thinner and translucent. Similar to MM-S, but not as thin. On MM-S, many of the design details are visible from the back, whereas on this paper, only the overall design is visible through the back.	MM-U
Mid	Montreal	As MM-I, but somewhat thinner and translucent, similar to MM-U above, but without the slightly corrugated texture of the felt side.	MM-V
Mid	Montreal	As MM-C, but thinner and translucent, like MM-U and MM-V.	MM-W
Mid	Montreal	As MM-D, but very slightly corrugated felt side (vertically)	MM-X
Mid	Montreal	As FO-Q from Large Queen Table	FO-Q
Late	Montreal	Stout Horizontal, non-porous wove with coarse horizontal mesh	LM-A
Late	Montreal	Thick, soft white non porous wove with fine vertical mesh	LM-B
Late	Montreal	Medium non-porous horizontal wove paper	LM-C
Late	Montreal	Stout non-porous hard vertical wove	LM-D
Late	Montreal	Somewhat porous medium horizontal hard wove with visible mesh	LM-E
Late	Montreal	Thin, hard horizontal wove paper with coarse horizontal mesh and slightly corrugated felt side	LM-F
Late	Montreal	Medium, soft, horizontal wove paper without visible mesh & semi-porous felt side	LM-G
Late	Montreal	Medium vertical wove without visible mesh, smooth semi-porous felt side	LM-H
Late	Montreal	Similar to LM-H but slightly thinner	LM-I
Late	Montreal	Thicker, vertical wove with clear fine vertical mesh & smooth, semi-porous felt side	LM-J
Late	Montreal	As LM-J, but normal, medium thickness	LM-M
Late	Montreal	As LM-G but vertical, rather than horizontal mesh	LM-N
Late	Montreal	Hard, stout vertical wove with smooth felt side and coarse vertical mesh	LM-O
Late	Montreal	Medium hard horizontal wove paper, without visible mesh and somewhat corrugated felt side.	LM-P
	Montreal Gazette	Non-porous hard horizontal wove with medium to coarse mesh, visible in angles to the light source.	MG-A
	Montreal Gazette	Medium, soft horizontal wove with coarse mesh	MG-B
	Montreal Gazette	Thin, soft vertical wove with coarse mesh	MG-C
	Montreal Gazette	Thin, very soft horizontal wove with fine mesh	MG-D
	Montreal Gazette	Thicker, opaque vertical wove, cream coloured, hard and semi-porous on both sides.	MG-E
	Montreal Gazette	Thin, translucent, smooth vertical wove paper with no visible mesh that is silky smooth to the touch, similar to some of the early First Ottawa papers. The felt side of this paper is smooth and non-porous.	MG-F
	Montreal Gazette	Thin, translucent, hard horizontal wove paper, without clearly visible mesh, and a slightly corrugated felt side.	MG-G
Early	2nd Ottawa	Soft, very thin white newsprint, porous with horizontal mesh	2O-A
Mid	2nd Ottawa	Yellowish newsprint with horizontal mesh	2O-B
Mid	2nd Ottawa	Grayish newsprint, thin and translucent, with coarse horizontal mesh and a somewhat porous surface. Like paper 2O-N, you can see text through this paper if you lay the stamp on a printed surface. This is also a soft, as opposed to stout paper.	2O-C
Mid	2nd Ottawa	Medium porous brownish toned wove paper	2O-D
Mid	2nd Ottawa	Thin to medium horizontal mesh porous paper. This paper is fairly translucent. Like paper 2O-N, you will just be able to make out text through the back of the paper, as well as being able to see most of the design. The mesh is not distinct on this paper, whereas it will be visible on the felt side of paper 2O-N, as light horizontal ribbing.	2O-E
Early	2nd Ottawa	Medium vertical wove, soft while porous. Fine mesh.	2O-F
Early	2nd Ottawa	Thinner porous vertical wove	2O-G
Mid	2nd Ottawa	Medium, semi-porous horizontal wove with clear, somewhat coarse mesh	2O-H
Mid	2nd Ottawa	Soft, porous, white horizontal wove paper, with fine mesh and smooth finish	2O-I
Early to Mid	2nd Ottawa	Soft, porous horizontal wove paper, with fine horizontal mesh and semi-porous felt side. This paper is not as soft as the early First Ottawa paper, but it does feel silkier than the Montreal papers.	2O-J
Mid	2nd Ottawa	Thicker, opaque brownish cream horizontal wove, with medium to coarse horizontal mesh and a semi-porous felt side	2O-K
Mid	2nd Ottawa	Medium, brownish-greyish-cream horizontal wove paper, with medium to coarse mesh, porous felt side. In practice, this paper differs from 2O-P in that the felt side, although fully porous, still appears somewhat smooth, whereas 2O-P paper appears rough under magnification.	2O-L
Mid	2nd Ottawa	Medium, white horizontal wove, with little to no visible mesh, semi-porous felt side	2O-M
Late	2nd Ottawa	Thin to medium white horizontal wove, with coarse mesh, which shows as light ribbing on the felt side. This paper is fairly translucent, in that if you place the stamp face down over the print in a book, you will just be able to make out the text through the paper.	2O-N
Late	2nd Ottawa	Medium vertical wove, with medium-coarse mesh and ribbed, porous felt side	2O-O
Late	2nd Ottawa	Thicker, opaque, brownish cream toned horizontal wove, with medium to coarse horizontal mesh and a fully porous felt side. In practice, this is very similar to 2O-L, except it is slightly thicker and is more porous on the felt side.	2O-P
Late	2nd Ottawa	As type 2O-M, but fully porous felt side	2O-Q
Late	2nd Ottawa	As type 2O-E, but porous felt side	2O-R
Late	2nd Ottawa	Porous horizontal white wove paper, with fine horizontal mesh and porous felt side. This is similar to type 2O-L, but it is less toned, being closer to a true white.	2O-S
Late	2nd Ottawa	As type 2O-S, but the mesh is coarser, being easily visible to the naked eye.	2O-T
Late	2nd Ottawa	Stout vertical wove paper, with clear medium-coarse vertical mesh and semi-porous felt side	2O-U
Late	2nd Ottawa	As 2O-U but with fully porous felt side	2O-V
Late	2nd Ottawa	Somewhat hard, crisp horizontal wove with indistinct mesh and a semi-porous felt side. It just appears porous under magnification on the felt side, but lacks the rough appearance of the later papers that show loose fibres on the surface. This one doesn't show any loose fibres. The sole example of this paper that I have seen is from an early printing with medallion dots at both 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock.	2O-W
Late	2nd Ottawa	As 2O-L, but the mesh on the back is not clearly visible unless the stamp is viewed against backlighting, It is uniformly opaque in appearance. The main difference between this and the next type (2O-Y) is that the felt side, though fully porous still appears somewhat smooth.	2O-X
Late	2nd Ottawa	As 2O-P, but the mesh on the back is not clearly visible unless the stamp is viewed against backlighting, It is uniformly opaque in appearance. The main difference between this and the next type (2O-X) is that the felt side appears fully rough on the felt side, whereas type 2O-X still appears somewhat smooth.	2O-Y
Late	2nd Ottawa	Porous greyish horizontal wove paper with VERY strong horizontal ribbing.	2O-Z
Early to Late	2nd Ottawa	As 2O-C, but the mesh is not visible unless the stamp is held up to backlight. The felt side is fully porous and the paper is slightly translucent.	2O-AA
Early	2nd Ottawa	As 2O-N, but extremely thin.	2O-BB
Mid	2nd Ottawa	As 2O-P, but vertical, rather than horizontal wove, and a slightly less porous felt side, being only semi-porous	2O-CC

 

This table is an evolving work that will expand and change as we continue our study of this issue.

Papers 2O-L and 2O-P are often referred to as newsprint, but these differ quite significantly from types 2O-A through 2O-C, in terms of the appearance from the back, which reveals that the true newsprint is quite a coarse weave, which shows many "weak points" under magnification, where there seems to be little fibre at all, whereas papers 2O-L and 2O-P are much more dense, and thus appear smoother from the back side, as well as the felt side.