Victoria 1875/82: 1-D Green Bell With Unusual Perforation

I seem to be getting into trouble with my Victorian stamps lately - I checked this one because the perforations were nice and 'teethy,' so to speak, and looked quite different from my other examples of this issue. I thought it might be the large hole perf 12 variety discussed here:

http://www.stampsofvictoria.com/guaging.php

However, it turned out to be 11.2 X 11.5, which isn't listed anywhere that I can find. (It seems the known perforations are 12, 12 1/2, and 13.)

Has anyone encountered this variety before or knows of a listing for it in a catalogue?



Thanks for looking!

Jimjamtwo,

Which perf guage do you use? I use a Gibbons 'Instanta'.

Kellow, in 'The Stamps of Victoria' states (in relation to the first printing on V1 wmk paper), "Perforation was mostly by comb 13 and 12#189; machines, but there was use of the single-line 12 guage throughout". The SG CV is less than #163;10 for this.

On the V2 paper, the single-line 12 is much rarer and no CV is given in SG.

The explanation and identification assistance given on 'The Stamps of Victorias' web site is excellent.

It's a perforation card I bought from a dealer on ebay - I've always found it accurate. I mainly use it for US stamps and always find it dead on. The watermark seems to be V1.

Grab yourself and Instanta, nothing better for measuring small graduations: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stanley-...refresh=true

V1 the most likely watermark for those.

jimjamtwo, can you upload a scan with the perf gauge lined up with the perf holes?

I wouldn't know how to do that. Perhaps I could use a hinge to attach it to the card but I have a feeling it would move during the process. How would you do it?

"Green Bell" ? What is that, please.

A green 1d stamp designed by William Bell.

"Bell and Naish designed most of the issues during this period [1870-1884], including a number of designs that lasted until the end of the colonial period in 1912. "

http://www.stampsofvictoria.com/70-84issues.php

Thanks Jill, That would have been my guess,
never seen them referred to as such, before.
I would have ID'd them as a Catalogue number, and 1d Queen Victoria, date.

I've done it before to show perf size by putting the stamp in an old hagner and using a couple of pieces of tape to hold the perf gauge into the right place on the hagner plastic and (after a very careful, slow turning over) scanning it.

Otherwise a good photo with the gauge sitting on top of the stamp might work.

I can only scan, but I'll definitely give this a go!

Because they (nearly?) all feature Queen Victoria, Victorian stamps are referred to by design traits or other such features.

rod222, I think the site does not use catalogue numbers because the ACSC numbering system is considered copyright.