Am Post Margin Numbers/Markings Explanation?

Was wondering if anyone could explain the numbers in the margins on this sheet (from a current ebay auction)

It seems like they were used so postal clerks could easily break off a strip of stamps to equal whatever amount?? - So, it was basically a math aid???

Any thoughts - also, does anyone know if the 3 different printings had different types of margin marks? (US, London, German)




Thanks,
Eric

Also found this - A bit different than the one above:






and this;

These are basically stamp row positions and the face value correspondingly. For instance, the 4th row with "2.00" would indicate that there is a face value of 2 Marks, third row 3 marks and so on.

Msrgins with marking varie with different designs.The small numbers in the rows are the different positions. A lot of collectors like to keep the selvedge intact with single stamps because it tells them the sheet position.

Hope this helps?

Chimo

Bujutsu

These numbers are for accounting purpose that the clerk knows exactly how many were sold from the sheet and how much money received, or how many remained at end the day.

Thanks Guys - Was this an American thing? - Do US Stamps from that era have a similar feature? - Or is this a German thing?

There were 3 different printings, I am thinking each one had different margin-stuff?

I am not sure if the US does it or not but I do know that a lot of other European countries, as well as Germany, use a numbering system on the selvedges for some of their sheet stamps.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Definitely a European thing.

The closest US stamps ever came to having some sort of accounting of partial sheets/rolls was the short-lived experiment with spraying a counter on every 10th stamp of coil rolls in the 1990s. That way the clerks could quickly know how many stamps were remaining in a partial roll.