Scott 35 - Alignment Of Perforation Wheels .

Funny how printer proof readers back in the 1800's did not either care or as just under pressure to get a finished product to get out the door.

Took readings between perf edges with a screen ruler and was surprised the amount of bad alignment with reguards to perforations.

See the difference between this strip of Scott 35 stamps.

Robert



Now, knowing I do not consider myself a Small Queen expert by any means.
Look at the picture below...Am I lucky enough to own a strip of Scott 35ix...???

No expert either, but while the teeth do show plenty of fibres, the perf holes show much less and, at least for Unitrade, it's the holes that matter most. Also I don't see "all or part of perf disc remaining." Others may know better, though.

I will try to cobble together a primer on these papers sometime in August. The paper you seek is quite rare on the 1c. To make matters worse, there are two distinct papers!

Since these perforators used perforating wheels that could be spaced from each other at any distances, stamps can be found with varying distances between rows of perforations from narrow to wide. The perforation misalignment shown in the strip above was mostly due to the stamp sheet being fed into the perforator off to the left so that the perforations appear to be shifted to the right.

I acquired these in a small collection. I thought the best way to demonstrate thick soft paper was to show the 1c (Unitrade 35ix) beside its cousin the 37i, the scarce but easier-found dark rose (really a carmine shade to my eye) on thick paper. I used a sharpening tool on the front image to better represent what my eye sees. Lighting is incident, i.e. side light as indirect as I can get it, from an incandescent bulb (it's midnight here).

The first identifier one sees is the incomplete cutting of perfs, as though the perforator tore through the paper without cutting. Note how the perforations are not round.

The print impression is sharp. The shade of a 35ix is typically yellow orange, not deeper.

The thick soft paper was typically used in horizontal grain orientation, thus you would expect curl to be top/bottom using the "breath test". By eye, the direction of grain is not obvious, and there are some ragged fibres at the surface obscuring the grain.

Cancels can help in determining period of use, note both the Wellington Ont. "Gothic T" and Charlottetown star cancels are contemporary to 1871 or 72.

Internal link to a similar thread:

https://goscf.com/t/72182