Faroe Island Perforation Error

4 November 1983 Nordens Hus/Nordic house Thorshavn.

Minisheet two issues one whit yellowisch gum measure 120 mm and one whit white gum measure 121mm in width

The 3 stamp at the top minisheet: the perforation is skewed towards the left and is whit white Gum 121mm in width.

Buttom minisheet is for reference and is with the yellowish gum and 120 mm

The circulation number is 700.00 and the 3 stamps is only issuede in minisheets, I do not have the circulation of the types of gum usede.



If you are not aware of the exsistence of perforation error you can loose a little money as there is a slight difference in price if you into that.

There is no price differents between minisheets with yellowish or white Gum you can probably buy them for 1 to 3 $.

I bought 5 minisheets for 7$ incl. the missperforated minisheet Whish I proabably would sell for 30-40$ was catalogede at 60$ in 2000 specialized album that is 20 years ago, you do not see many up for sale, now you know what to look for.

That is a Harrow perforation.
Given that I believe it is impossible to have a "bent pin"
then this would evidence two Harrow Steel dies?

ergo No error? but variety.

@rod222

Fine with me, perforation variety.

Well if it is a Harrow perforation the pins have not been allignede, usally the Harrow perforator punch all the holes in one run.

I do not know how many sheets was perforatede at the time before they was cut up in minisheet.

Fully aware it is not a bend pin. Perforation can be schewed downwards as well, I do not have an example of this minsheet but it exist and is a litte rarer than the one I show.

I do not know if the perforation variety exsist with both types of minisheets or it is only limitid to one of the types, I have been looking for articles but have not come across any.

The only thing I am fairly sure of, the harrow punch, is tooled steel,
and the die, tooled to exactly received the steel pins.

How they managed to misalign the top row, is a head scratcher,
perhaps an automated drilling template was somehow misaligned.

Perhaps also there were two punch and die sets in the machine,
to be used at at each press of the machine.

Only the Danish producers would be privy to that I guess.
Never the less, an intriguing brace of sheets.

@Rod222

I have also read that the Harrow perforator schould be perfect, I agree with you is a head scratcher.

Hi,

This is an interesting problem. I have seven copies of this miniature sheet, all mint, and they seem to have the same size, around 120 mm across (or a little under).

I would suggest that rather than having two types of perforation we just have one type with some variation.

It appears that the two top rows of perforation have been created in a slightly different way to the remainder.

I don't know much about perforation but I'd guess that the perforator involves two elements bound together in a way that allows some small relative movement between the two, rather like two printing blocks tied together in a forme.

Neither of the two examples shown here has these two elements aligned correctly.

The top example has the top rows too high and a little too far to the right compared with the remaining rows.

The bottom example has the top rows only a very little too far to the right but the issue is still visible, just not so much.

My seven examples show similar variation with examples having the two top rows of perforations to the left, more or less centred or to the right. None of my examples shows such a large vertical gap between the top two rows and the remaining rows as shown in the top example here.

I also see some variation in the positioning of the perforations compared with the printed design.

Most of mine have the lowest row of perforations clear of the brown ornaments below but a couple have the lowest row of perforations cutting into the brown ornaments.

Hi Nigel,



Indeed, what you explain, would discredit any conventional explanation of a "Harrow perforation"

The curiosity deepens, I bet there is a philatelist somewhere, whom has the information.

As an aside, I also would like to know how printers, guillotine their Souvenir sheets, one rarely comes across this explanation.

It just dawned on me
with "Harrow Perf" the perforation box, rarely if ever? have the punctures
extending past the box limits, as we see here.

Obviously then, we have a different perforating regime.

Also, obviously, they are not "Line Perf" as the intersecting holes at the corners
are perfect.
Very interesting !

True Harrow Perf