1929 Series Perfs

The Series of 1922 was redone in 1929 with a new perf size. Scott calls this 11 x 10 1/2. I call it 11 1/4 x 10 1/2. And it seems pretty consistent. I assume rotary press printing requires some wetting of the paper, which results in shrinkage. However, if this were the case, the higher values, rotated 90 degrees from the others, should have the shrinkage along the 10 1/2 side, and this does not seem to be so. Or is this assumption wrong?

As for the 1922 issues, they are a nice clean perf 11 all the way 'round. What changed? Is this reflected in any commemoratives that had several printings over the same time?

Sorry if this is old hat.

Hi,

I think with the advent of rotary press the perf machines changes to accomodate this printing method . Also the reprints may be printed by another company which would expain different perf sizes. Contempory stamps such as the forever stamp as many varities due too the fact that it is printed by several printers hence on different equiptment . If you look at the #2 cent flag over the porch issue and its varities you will understand what I am referring too.

Petrucellij is correct. It has to do with the perforator, not the printer.

It is not really 11x10.5, but 11.3x10.5. And it is not really 11, but 10.9. (not sure if I got the decimals right, and I have not confirmed these measurements for either the 1922 nor 1929 series)

Your perforation measurement is basically correct. In general, for a long time Scott editorial policy has been to "round" the perforation to the nearest 0.5 perforation. I do mean "round" because the manner in which it was "rounded" has not been consistent (probably due to the changing editors over the years?). Even after BEP started using the in-line perforator in the 1970s, Scott did not change. When the die-cut issues began to appear, Scott realized that 1/4 perfs were significant, and then did the proper thing by going to decimal perforations. However, they did not go back and re-edit all the traditional perforation measurements.

If you look in non-US catalogs (such as Stanley Gibbons, FACIT...) they have traditionally used 1/4 perf measurements and/or have switched to decimal perforations.

I started as a Scott catalog user -- when I was working with the perforation varieties of some of the British Commonwealth of the 1950s-1960s, it was frustrating to figure out which way Scott was rounding the perforation (I was never certain until I got BOTH perforation varieties). Later, I learned that many of the non-US catalogs listed the perforations to the nearest 1/4, and that helped A LOT.

k

Interesting background, khj. Thanks--KirkS

Thanks for that explanation. I have already gotten away from relying on Scott for more than cursory information vis-a-vis non-US stamps. I guess more specialized literature is called for in certain cases. Also, I am gratified to know that my perf gauge skills are still healthy, especially since I was up today sorting out some pre 1900 stamps from Austria -- talk about a perforation jungle! I went cross-eyed after about 45 minutes.

Dave

The 1922 ones were made by flat plate (press) printing and measure perf 11 (10.9) on all sides. The 1926 ones were printed by rotary (plate) press printing and measure perf 11 (11.2) x 10.5 [or 10.5 x 11 (11.2)].
The flat plate stamps were perforated by 2, one-way perforators (one perforator for horizontal perfs using perforating wheels and another perforator for vertical perfs using perforating wheels). The rotary press stamps were perforated by 1, two-way perforator (one and the same perforator for both vertical and horizontal perfs using perforating wheels and perforating bars).