Don't cry for Argentina 2a - General José de San Martín

Similar to the 'labrador' issue, the second large series of Argentina is the one depicting General José de San Martín.
They were roughly issued between 1917 and 1927.
Most catalogues only mention the main types, and the Argentina catalogue mentions zillions of subtypes, paper varieties, ...
Therefore I made a determination table to distinguish the most common variations.

The idea is simple, start at the top, if the answer is YES, follow the green line, if the answer is NO, follow the red line, until you reach the according (sub)type. I used the Argentinian numbering, as they mention most types.
The table can be useful for other catalogues too, if you alter the catalogue numbers of course.

Determination table 'José de San Martín

So, let's start at the top:
The stamps to determinate are of course the ones depicting General José de San Martin (in a rectangled frame - not in an oval frame).
First image is an open background, second image is a full colour background.

We follow first the 'green line' and come to the second question... does the stamp mentions '1816-1916' or not?
If 'yes', we arrive at the first type of stamps, if 'no' we continue to the next question.

Left we see '1816-1916' at below the image, right we see 'CENTAVOS' (or PESO).
The 1816-1916 stamps got catalogue numbers 282-290.
For the second type (more common), we go to the next question.
Is the watermark a vertical hexagon (honey comb)?

vertical hexagon

If 'yes' we found the second group (N°s 291-298), if 'not' we contintue again.
Is the watermark a horizontal hexagon?

horizontal hexagon

If yes, there we have the third group (N°s 299-312), if 'not' we keep on searching...

4th question now is, if there is no watermark at all...

no watermark

for 'yes' (there is NO watermark), we end up in group 4a : N°s 314-320 or 4b : N°s 383/84.

If there is a watermark, but not the hexagons we discussed before, the watermark is some kind of 'sun' or it is a text.

First we answer the question, is it a 'sun'?

multiple sun

RA sun

All 'suns' lead to the 'yes' side, all others (texts or partial texts) leads to the 'no' side.
New question : do we see a 'multiple sun', like the 1st picture above (sun with a face)?
If 'yes' we are in the 5th group of stamps N°s 339-345.
If no, check if the sun has RA in stead of a face (see 2nd picture above).
Do we hear a 'yes' , then it is group 6 (N°s 373-378).
If there is no RA but a different type of sun, we have a 'fiscal sun' and group 7 (N°s 350-354)

fiscal sun

If the watermark is no sun at all, but something that looks like text, we have two more possibilities:
If the text looks like SERRA BOND it is type 8 (N°s 326-328), if the text looks like Wheatley Bond, it's the last, 9th group (N°s 329-337)

SERRA BOND watermark

Wheathley Bond watermark

Without any doubt, these watermarks can be difficult to distinguish.
In my next post, I'll explain more about the 'General José de San Martín' with plain background.
Stamps that were not discussed in this article.

to be continued...