Anyone Interested In Canadian Stamp Perforations?

I was wondering if anyone on here was interested in any aspect of Canadian stamp perforations. My interest is mostly on the old rotary perforating machines that had wheels that line perforated Canadian postage stamps and the Canadian postage stamps that were perforated by them. The first Canadian stamp that was perforated was issued in late 1858 (December?)(Scott/Unitrade # 11, Kiusalas 67-11.75?) and I wish that I had a copy of that stamp. The last line perforated 12 stamps were issued on March 22, 1974 (Scott/Unitrade # 629-632, Kiusalas 66.5-11.84?) and the last line perforated 11 stamp was issued on March 28, 1978 (Scott/Unitrade # 601, plate 2, Kiusalas 72.5-10.86?) which appears to be the last line perforated Canadian postage stamp. I became interested in perforations after reading Winthrop S. Boggs' booklet "Early American Perforating Machines and Perforations 1857-1867" many years ago. How about you?

Hi jogil,

I like perforated stamps, however I much prefer the imperforates. If they are in pairs then even better.

Here is the Scott #11, the first perforated Canadian stamp you mentioned.



and here it is imperforated:

Just a friendly reminder that I believe the term is imperforate, not imperforated.

Stamporator - any idea why does Unitrade not list Scott 11 as being imperforate?

Hi BlackJag,

An imperforate Scott #11 is Scott #8.

I believe that the plates used to print Canada Scott #11 were previously used to print Scott #8, which was imperforate (thanks Smauggie). Similar to Scott #12 (perforated) used plates for Scott #4 (imperforate), and Scott #13 (perforated) used plates for Scott #5 (imperforate).

If you look compare some errors on Scott #4 (beaver, imperforate), like 4vi - major re-entry (pos.34, pane A), you see a similar error listed as Scott #12ii (beaver, perforated) major re-entry (pos.34, pane A). Likewise for 8ii and 11ii (see notes in Unitrade).

- stamporator -

stamporator has it right.
The first issue was imperforate. They then perforated the stamps. Then they made new plates (when they shifted from pence to cents.
Here's a sample progression for the beaver:

Scott/Unitrade 1 - 1851 - 3 pence printed on handmade laid paper, imperforate
Scott/Unitrade 4 - 1852 - Same plates - printed on machine made, wove paper, imperforate
Scott/Unitrade 12 - 1859 - Same plates - perforated
Scott/Unitrade 15 - 1859 - New plates (5 cents) - only issued perforated
Note that there are also variations in the gauge of the perforations across the early Canada issues.

here's a nice one of the first perforated 3 pence:




When looking at perforations, the Large Queens are kinda interesting. Because of the different papers, the perforation punches were more or less successful at making clean holes. There is a wide quality variety of the perforations on this issue.

Excellent, easy to understand explanations and example. Thanks to you both.

Wow...One of the highest quality/best centered I ever saw on #12

I think jogil (and myself) would like to know the EXACT perforation of that #12 beaver stamp.

I check for perf. varieties on almost all of my older stamps. The early perforated issues as well as the large and small queen stamps are available in a number of different perfs. With the small queens especially I find that identifying the perforation gauge is easily measurable and much less subjective than trying to identify a shade variety. Sometimes the perforation gauge used can help narrow down a printing period or even point to narrower range of possible shades to help identify a particular stamp.

Do you know if for the early Canadian stamps from 1858 to 1859 Canada Scott # 11, 12 and 13 if it's Kiusalas 67-11.75 mostly or if it is also Kiusalas 68-11.58? Also, for those from 1859 to 1864 Canada Scott # 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 if it's Kiusalas 67-11.75. Kiusalas 66-11.93, Kiusalas 65-12.11?

BeeSee Posted - 07/11/2013 : 09:05 am



Took me a while to find my perf gauge and figure out how to capture it, but since you asked:
Didn't really line up well with the 12-67 or 12-66 templates:





It looks like it is perf 11.85:



anything else you want?
C.

Thanks Chipg. That is what I expected it to be, about 11.9, which is the same measurement I get for the first Ottawa printings of the small queens. I did not use a perforation gauge for my measurements, I used a steel 1/64th of an inch engineering ruler and did the math to convert.

What measurements have you found groupings around? Is that a Scott/Linns perforation gauge?

My gauge is version 3 of the Sonic Multi Gauge. About 10 years old.
Link to the newest one:

http://www.slingshotvenus.com/stamp...tyPerf5.html

If they can have a 72.5 on the Sonic Multi Gauge, they can also have a 66.5 too which appears to be what is needed for the above stamp.