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M255c Batchelor & Son - Britannia watermark
This is one of the few pairs of moulds that belonged to Joseph Batchelor & Son of Ford Mill, Little Chart, near Ashford in Kent. The moulds were made by E Amies & Son in 1/1924 and a label on them notes they were transferred to J Barcham Green Ltd in 1959.
The moulds are very unusual in having an offset deckle divider making two sizes of paper - 353 x 434mm & 353 x 580mm - but both with the same watermarks.
The Britannia watermark is often found in laid papers dating back centuries but particularly in ledger papers. This is a nice example of the mark illustrating how the wire is shaped and the various features like the shield with cross, waves, orb, spear, sprig of leaves (?) in a cross shape, decidely odd bosoms and a curious expression reminiscent of a Matt cartoon character (for Daily Telegraph readers).
The watermark Batchelor & Son Kent illustrates how much of a letter could be made with one piece of wire (see the H for example) and notice how the K has been distorted by part of the wire profile rolling over the laid line.
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