Small Queens (Montreal Gazette) And Registration Stamp

Hello,

I found these stamps in an older album with US stamps (which I normally collect). I don't have any specialized literature for Canada, so I ask here.

I checked the perforation and found all of these small queens to be 12 x 12.25. In this very interesting thread I found more information about this perforation:
https://goscf.com/t/54351

Have I understood correctly that the 12 x 12.25 perforation is not a clear characteristic of the 1c and 5c for being a Montreal Gazette, but only for the 3c here?

What Scott ID would the 3c then be?
What Scott ID would the 1c and 5c be most likely, if not Gazette?

As I did a scan I put the registration stamp in it: Here I measure a perforation of 11.75 x 12 (closer to 11.5 x 12 than to perf 12). The information I found is that it should have 11.5 x 12. Is this a rounding issue or does it exist?

(I used a Lighthouse perf gauge, I also have the US Multigauge, should I use it for the perforation and what should I look for?)

Are you using a Kiusalas Canadian perforation gauge?

While all Montreal Gazette printings have at least one side perf 12.25, that perforation exists also on regular Montreal printings (including the 3c value) from 1886 to 1889 and also second Ottawa printings in the late 90's.

No, it's hard to get one, and I am not collecting Canada normally. But those above were interesting to me. In the meantime I printed the Specialist Gauge that BeeSee developed and posted here on SCF some time ago. I "calibrated" it with the 2cm example on it and tested on some known stamps. And it works very fine.

Now I have new results :).

Only the 1c and 5c above are perf 12 x 12.25.
The registration stamp is 11.75 x 11.5.

So my questions would only be about those.
- 1c and 5c: Is there no way to tell if they are Montreal Gazette, and is it possible to give a Scott ID then?
- is this the correct perforation for this registration stamp?

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I saw your post too late, BeeSee - thank you for the gauge image. Could you have a second look at my last questions?

stamperix

a link I like very much, from Hillson and it is a guide.

http://www.canadianpsgb.org.uk/smal...s_print.html

I wish I could reproduce the covers of the colour tables of Canada Small Queens (Morris)-also very useful, let's try:

Thank you - yes, this link was one of those I found also, and it's interesting. The color guide is of course something to consider, but as said I have not really started with Canada - but as always in stamps you get into it more than you want sometimes...anyway the first book will be a Canadian catalogue to at least look up the easy ones. And for the 1c and 5c the color wouldn't help, too, to decide if it's from the Gazette building. And especially that story was nice to me. Well, I would still be grateful to know if the registration stamp was measured ok by me, so this 11.75x11.5 perf is something that exists.

You should get a reply from the SQ experts from Canada or the UK
Hope you buy a Unitrade Catalogue from Canada....which would help you also on the SQs.

Stamperix, I know very little about the registration stamps. I have two examples, and both measure 12.06 x 12.06. Unitrade does list a 12 x 11.5, so that could be your stamp. There is no mention of 11.75, but neither is there for the 3c small queen, which is known to exist 11.75, I have several examples, including horizontal pairs. The long side is easy to measure, and if you used my gauge, I am confident you are accurate.

As for the Montreal Gazette 1c and 5c printings, I do not believe they can be identified 100%. Unitrade does not give a number for them, they only give numbers to the 2c (36d) and 3c (41a). That is because they have distinct shades.

Just want to add to BeeSee's comments, for discussion, that Richard Morris (Colour Guide for #35) has a Lemon Yellow in his palette of colours and it is a 11.5 X 12 (as mentioned). Morris goes on to discuss the 1879 Lemon Yellow from the Montreal printings with the help of The Simpson Reference Collection (sold at auction 1996-7) and the lemon yellow colour appears in 1879. Unitrade is not very useful for this, I believe too.



This is only a scan and does not represent a true picture of the colour guide for #35 etc

Thank you both. As corrected later, I only have the following perforations:



So I don't have any stamp with 11.5 x 12, but thanks very much for let me see the colors.

After reading your answers I am waiting if buying a Unitrade is such a good decision :). Is there a better literature for Canada, like the Micarelli for US stamps identification? I mean if there are stamps with 11.75 on one side and they do not appear in a specialized catalogue, there seems to be something wrong.

Just to say thanks again to BeeSee because of the gauge: As you put the 2cm example there is was quite easy to print it correctly (using another PDF with a ruler on it). I used the Phil-a-meter to compare 2cm example and perforations like 12. It works really great for the .25 steps.

stamperix
welcome for the small amount of knowledge discussed on your thread !

I use Unitrade Canada 2018 (new ed) daily and like it and it is way better than Scott.All numbers are compatible with Scott but there are more ! For the Small Queens, this is a area of expertise and no catalogue I know represents the 100% truth so if you do not collect them, do not bother buying specialized cat. just for the small queens. For Canada in general, Unitrade is my favourite and even used by my friend in Norway !

I don't know the perforation tool you are using as compared to the standard for Small Queens (the Instanta), however, the Registration stamp had (like the Small Queens) slight variations in perforation.

There was no 11.75x11.5 (hence the question about the gauge you are using).
There was a small printing at 11.9x11.6 (which may be the one you have). That is a scarce printing and has a premium value.

If you want to really know about Small Queens, an indispensable book is "Canada's Postage Stamps of the Small Queen Era, 1870 - 1897" by Hillson and Nixon.

The Unitrade has many perforation listings that are rounded off and can easily lead to confusion.

At C150 + shipping, quite a deal for that book by Nillson and Nixon

I am confused because the older George B. Arfken Small Queens book sells for $75.00 but it has over 200 more pages than the newer book.

Thank you 3Dadeo. This is interesting. I am not specialized in Canada so I don't have any tools and books for it. But in the future I probably will have... I used the gauge that BeeSee made (https://goscf.com/t/36600#495387) and it really works fine. I know how to print something correctly, but at the end there can be small differences, of course with an own print. So perhaps I will look for an Instanta gauge and the book you mentioned. I guess the book will be difficult to buy, so perhaps I will ask about my stamps once again here. Would the book mention the Instanta gauge numbers and also for the registration stamps?

Is not the new Instanta perforation gauge somewhat off? BeeSee's perforation gauge has the most accurate range of perforations on it in that it continues further from where the Kiusalas Canadian perforation gauge has left off. If you are looking for a transparent plastic gauge similar to the Instanta, Unitrade has one that has been more accurately corrected than the Instanta unless the Instanta has been corrected too.