Australia Perforation Pip Examples - Post Yours

My ACSC (Australia Commonwealth Specialist Catalog) lists an interesting item known as Perforation or Perf Pips. These were placed in the margins of some sheets and were for the purpose of centering of perforations. We've had one or two discussions in the past, but I thought I would start a new thread here with an interesting example.

In July, 1964, uncut sheets of 288 stamps were placed on sale to the public. These are the QEII green 5d stamps, Scott 365, ACSC 400. There were 1500 sheets sold, for a total of about 432,000 stamps. But what was interesting is that these were lacking vertical perforation lines in multiple places. The optimum collecting unit is a block of 9 comprising three imperf between pairs and three stamps imperf on one side.

In addition, these were available with a Plate Number Block, either with number 1 or 2. The least common is Plate number 1 without dashes, but mine is Plate number 1 with dashes (ACSC 400za). This isn't the optimum collecting block (based on the definition above), but it nicely shows the imperf between, the Plate Number, and the Perf Pip. The perf pip actually breaks through the paper, though difficult to see the way I scanned.

Entire Front


Plate Number and Perf Pip closeup


Entire Back


Please feel free to comment and post our Perf Pip Examples.

Interesting!

GB stamps of the same period have "perforation guide holes" in the margins, but the holes are either not inked or "boxed" with narrow lines.

The Stanley Gibbons "Part 1" catalogue lists the Australian pair "imperf between" as 354b, at a much lower price than the ordinary booklet pane of six. Does this mean that more sheets were remaindered in this way than were made into booklets? SG also says that there were 288 stamps in the sheet, not 284 - and 288 is a multiple of six, so I think it must be right.

Do you know the position of the plate number and "perf pip" in the sheet? The SG illustration of what you call the "optimum block of nine" (with stamp-sized blank at the side) doesn't include them.

Are there any miscut booklets, imperf down the middle?

All excellent questions.


The pair, imperf between, is listed in my ACSC 2024 as 400bb with a value of AUS$3, so not particularly valuable. If it was on an envelope, however, the price increases dramatically to about AUS$150.
The ordinary booklet pane of six is ACSC 400c, with a value of AUS$50, so it does appear that the imperf panes were mainly sold to collectors, and were saved, as such, so the value is not really there for the pairs.


Oops. You are right. I corrected my original post to reflect your finding. Thanks.


Per ACSC, the Plate number blocks of 6 have plate number 1 (without dashes) at the top center. Plate number 1 and 2 (both with dashes) are also located at the top center. Further information in ACSC is that the Plate number 1 without dashes is the most scarce and is on the left Sheet. The others are on the right sheets.


Very likely. There were 166,583,520 stamps issued to the Post Office in booklets. Per ACSC, these are identified as B67 and B68 which include 2 panes of 6, advertisements, sometimes wax interleaves, usually stitched on left side, but a few stapled remakes, all from AUS$100 to AUS$275 in my 2003 catalog. There isn't any mention of miscuts, but I'm positive they are out there somewhere.

Here is an example of this collecting unit (ACSC 400bc). This does not have the Perf Pip or the Plate number.