Hard To Find 3 Cent Small Queen

This stamp was found in a circuit book in 1989. It was for sale for 15 cents. I bought it for the color as I did not have this shade in my collection. To my surprise after checking the perforations it was the rare 12.5 perforation variety.

Nice find, Watermark.

I'm envious yet inspired by your collection. I would not likely be one to step up and pay for items like this at auction but am forever the optomist in searching. The fact you have found some truly rare items in good old circuit books should lend hope to many that treasures are out there to be found. I thought I had a 37d about 2 years ago but it was just under 12.5 on 2 and just over 12 on the other 2. Still a strange find in its own right but not filling that hole. Love the color on yours as it is true copper where I see many labeled as copper or indian that have 1890+ date cancels. Strangely all the pics of 37d I have seen have never had a guide dot yet the dot is said to be tell tale of first ottawa printings. Makes me wonder if the plates at the begining did not have them or if there was a change shortly into these. Regardless this issue is one of my favorites.

This stamp was canceled three or four times. I think the date is MA 3 70. Can not make out the city but I see an NT so it might be Toronto but that is a stretch.

The guide dot if present on my copy disappeared when it was perforated along with a fair amount of the left side of the stamp. If I am not mistaken only about 90% of the first printing have the guide dot.

Interestingly this stamp was used about two months after my #32.

Toronto, no. I clearly see N.S., Nova Scotia.

OK. I see the NS wish the town showed as this looks like double split ring cancelation.

Nice stamp. Still looking for one of these. The date coincides with the time this batch was printed.

What perf gauge did you use, and is it exactly 12.5 on all sides?

PS: I would love to check this with EPerf software to see what it comes up with to nearest 0.1 on all sides.

Could you send me a 300dpi scan (don't go out of your way)? That is the resolution EZPerf works best with.

I can post results here.

There also appears to be an "H" to the left of the "N", most likely Halifax. Halifax had a double split ring cancel first in use 1852.

BeeSee, I took a look and I think you are correct. I thought it was a T at first. Thanks

Thank you to watermark for sending me a scan.

I ran it through EZPerf software and it came back exactly 12.5x12.5.

I did not doubt the stamp, more-so this was a test of the accuracy of the software as I can use it to test a large batch of stamps at one go.

I wanted to see how a true 37d compares with the many 41 stamps that can have perfs as much as 12.3x12.3 (late printings)

Here is a copy of the "certificate" the software provides.

It looks like a couple of the green lines are off the center of the perforations slightly. Probably fooled by the black of the cancelation. Does your program allow you to adjust the green lines to center on the perforation holes manually for a truer measurement? Just curious.

The program does allow you to tweak the position of the green marker lines (as well as add/remove lines).

A few do appear slightly off on the certificate, but I usually adjust them as accurately as possible to get a good read-out.

I have found that even though the program shows measurements to 0.01, you really can't rely on that since the 100ths can change just by moving one line slightly.

It is very useful for checking batches of stamps, but ideally, they should be on a black background that is clean (no dust).

Can someone please explain perf measurement to me. They say this stamp is 12.5X12.5 but the perf markings shown above have 14 markings on one side and 10 on the other. thanks.

Perforation measurement is the number of holes in 2 cm. so if there are 12 holes in 2 cm. on all four sides of the stamp it would be perforated 12. If it was 12 wholes in 2 cm. on top and bottom and 11.5 wholes in 2 cm. on the sides it would be perforated 12 X 11.5.