Tasmania T Perfins

I picked up a bunch of perfed Tasmanias the other day, mostly T, a few OS and A perfs here and there. Quite a bit of variation can be found in the Ts...there is a book on Australian official perfins, but I don't have it. Here are some varieties on the 1d Wellington, with slightly out of the ordinary cancels:

A fairly small town:


Not a small town, but different from the lion's share of Launceston cancels I see (and the dodgiest of the perf jobs):


Founded when people were resettled from Norfolk Island:


A really small town:


That's enough for now. Any others, and any anecdotes, are welcome.

The top one is not Tasmania, and has been a thorn in my side
for years, it pops up everywhere.
Still unknown.

I scanned a Taswegian an hour ago on a hairy nosed...
(this one is dodgey as well I reckon)

Thanks for the info on New Norfolk cancel, was unaware of that.

I checked "waratah" and "cressy" against a list of about 60 missing post office postmarks....not listed, sorry.

Why do you doubt the Tasmanianness of the first one, Rod? It looks to me as if all (or many at least of) the 'T's were made with a single row of perfs, in two operations. That would account of the rather wonky first T.

And before you think it - I know you'd be too polite to say it aloud - yes, I'm just an interested onlooker, and what, indeed, would I know about this?

Cannot remember

I need to dig around my research studies, if I can find them.
Your hypothesis may well be correct.
but I hope not, not only are they "wonky"
but missing a vertical pin.................nah, unlikely.

I like these issues,
(the first ever pictorial set)
naturally I prefer the recess,
but John Easton Lambastes then as ugly and befitting
"engravings found in a second-hand bookshop"

OK here's my argument,
As we cannot rule out Tasmania, it must still
remain as a possibility.

As for "line perforating" a perfin..
that would seem extremely far fetched.

Here we have the identical perfin with identical faults
on a 1966 SG336 5c qe2.

The same perfin 50 years later, A coincidence? I think not.
A would suggest a private perfin.

Tasmanian stamps were used on the mainland after federation.

Comments?

Coincidence, Rodney. If you have enough attempts at creating a T with two strikes of a single line of perfs, you're bound to achieve a similar effect occasionally.

Were any private Australian users still creating perfins in the decimal era?

Hmmm. Good point, only 2 I know of were major players
David Jones Ltd and Mutual assurance.
All the rest are Government perfins.

T Perfins

The T was produced in two operations, probably by a single row perforator, perf 11.8. Groups of pins were removed, and little consideration was given to alignment of the horizontal and vertical rows of holes.

The T is found in a wide array of combinations of horizontal and vertical holes.

Punch... Earliest Date
4x6....... September 1904
5x4....... 7 April 1903
5x5....... 15 December 1902
5x6....... 2 April 1903
6x4....... 7 February 1903
6x5....... 29 December 1902
6x6....... 4 February 1903
6x7....... 4 November 1902
6x8....... 30 December 1903
7x4....... ?
7x5....... 8 November 1902
7x6....... 14 November 1902
7x7....... 22 December 1902
7x8....... 22 March 1904
8x6....... 27 August 1903
8x7....... 1 November 1905
8x8....... 11 October 1908

From W.E. Tinsley, Tasmania Stamps and Postal History

I know this is a very poor scan (and only of the back), but this is the worst "T" perf I owned. This was also on th 1d stamp

Excellent info Plateflaw!
thanks very much.
Now we know

Hi All

I was always under the impression that the "T" perfins from Tasmania were 'official' stamps, something similar to our Canadian perforated "O.H.M.S." stamps but on a 'state' level rather than on a federal one?

Chimo

Bujutsu

Correct Bujutsu :)

Thanks to all. Plateflaw, is the table based on horizontal by vertical, or vice versa? I'm having a hard time picturing a 7 across by 4 down.

I have quite a few more, and all or almost all have good strikes, so I will plan on checking them out.

Makes you wonder the subset W E Tinsley was working with
to formulate such an in depth study of such a marginal
topic.
I reckon he would have been working with numbers in the hundreds of thousands.

When you sometimes think your hobby is getting
out of hand, someone comes along and blows you out the water.

Correct Bujutsu.

In Tasmania free frank stamps continued until 1 November 1902. Federation of the Australian colonies ended free franks with the Federal Post and Telegraph Rates Act (1902). Franks and freebies were extinguished, and overprints were not allowed either. The Postmaster-General's Department, however, agreed that stamps could be punctured.

OS perfins occur in two types. Type A is relatively common, Type B is quite scarce.

Type A: 10mm high & 14mm wide. Each letter comprises 12 holes
Type B: 8½ mm high & 16 mm wide. The 'O' comprises 12 holes & the 'S' 11 holes

The OS perfins occur from 1904, whereas the T perfins commence from November 1902.