Early dates for Perforated T and Perforated OS Pictorials

[Malcolm Groom]

1d perf T early date.jpg (70.05 KiB) Viewed 12066 times

With discussion elsewhere on the BB on late dates I thought it would be useful to post examples of early dates of use for official perforated Pictorials.

This example shows the 1d electrotyped perforated T on the first day of use - cancelled Melton Mowbray on 1 November 1902.

[Jerry Weirich]

While examining material I purchased from K. Lancaster a number of years ago, I came across this 2d litho pair with the NO 1 02 first day of usage for the "T" perfin. The year date (02) is faint but obvious under magnification. It is interesting to note that the number of pins differs from Mr Groom's 1d typo also from the first day of usage. I assume this resulted from different perforators used to punch the "T" between horizontal and vertical formatted pictorial stamps. This pair is from Plate 4, Positions 1-2. Stamps from this plate were first used in August 1902.

Plate 4, Positions 1-2 resize.jpg (260.77 KiB) Viewed 11990 times

[Jerry Weirich]

Here's another first day of usage. This example from Hobart is different from the others posted above because it has only 5 holes in the vertical position. The 2d pair from Gladstone has 6 holes and Mr Groom's 1d from Melton Mowbray has 7 holes. In my previous posting I speculated that the difference in holes was due to the vertical or horizontal format of the stamps. Scratch that! I'm still sure there was a different perforator for vertical and horizontal formatted stamps in order to get the spacing correct on the stamps, but clearly that reason alone is too simple an answer.

Plate 3, Position 60 with T -- first day.jpg (10.28 KiB) Viewed 11974 times

[Ross Ewington]

My tuppence worth .... is it possible that the number of pins varied per row on the perforator? This would
explain the different sized perfins produced for the first issue on NOV 1 1902. If anyone has any multiples
perf T from late 1902 / early 1903 it would be possible to check this possibility.

[Jerry Weirich]

OK...I went and looked at all my Plates 3 and 4 perf T multiples (which would have been in the first production run of the T perfins on the 2d lithos). I found the one below most interesting dated 28 Nov 1902. It shows six pins on the vertical portion of the T, but on the upper stamp the sixth pin is almost coincident with the center hole of the top of the T. It suggests that the stamp I scanned earlier with only 5 holes could have the 6th hole completely coincident with the center hole of the top of the T. I added the scan of the back of the "5-holed" T and you can make your own judgment if it's really a "6-holed" T.

Plate 4, Positions 53, 59-60 with T.jpg (22.84 KiB) Viewed 11962 times

Plate 3, Position 60 with T backside.jpg (9.5 KiB) Viewed 11962 times

[Andrew Burke]

Here are a few copies i have found

First one 6 horiz 0 vert second one 6horiz 7vert third one 7horiz 7vert

First one 6horiz 6vert second one6horiz 5vert
Here is the earliest dated copy i have of wmk upright

[Jerry Weirich]

It has been 10 years since Malcolm started this topic on the earliest known usage (EKU) dates for the OS stamps, but Jerry Austen and I have finally compiled a list for each known OS stamp. The list is based on Jerry Austen's OS catalog and includes place holders for different printings, perforations and the missing pin varieties. There also are place holders for most of the reported but not seen OS stamps just in case they do exist. There also are a few OS stamps where we have copies but the dates are not readable. We believe many of the dates can be improved upon.

We request help in updating the list with earlier dates. Please post scans of your OS stamps with EKU dates.

There are many OS forgeries coming on the market, particularly out of Sydney and New South Wales area, so everyone needs to be careful when acquiring any OS perfins (not just Tasmanian material).

P.S. Tinsley reported in his book that the earliest known OS date was 20 September 1904, but didn't indicate which pictorial stamp had the date. Currently, our list shows the earliest known usage as 26 September 1904 for the 1d electro and 5 October 1904 for the 2d litho.

Tasmania OS EKU Dates.docx

(21.21 KiB) Downloaded 274 times

[wilbaer]

Many thanks, it was an enjoyable task, Jerry - hope it will be of good use to people down the track. Looking forward to seeing any inputs from TPS members.

On another note, when I was starting out on our separate Australian States Official Perfin project a few years back, I came across a reference piece of material about earliest known dates for each T perfin pattern, but I have no idea now where I got it from (I loaned out as much reference material as I could at the time from Philas). I shall list what I have below, but if anyone could possibly enlighten me as to where I might have got it from and if anyone has an updated version of it, it would be hugely appreciated. I have already found a few new EKU dates on some patterns and have updated the original source accordingly to be represented below .... thanks.


T Pattern Summary
Pattern Earliest Date recorded Pattern Earliest Date recorded
4x6 Sep 1904
5x4 7 April 1903
5x5 15 Dec 1902
5x6 4 Mar 1903
6x4 7 Feb 1903
6x5 29 Dec 1902
6x6 4 Feb 1903
6x7 1 Nov 1902
6x8 26 Oct 1903
7x4 ?
7x5 8 Nov 1902
7x6 1 Nov 1902
7x7 11 Nov 1902
7x8 22 March 1904
8x6 27 Aug 1903
8x7 1 Nov 1905
8x8 11 Oct 1908

[wilbaer]

I just found a reference to these dates on a stamp forum and these dates were taken from

W.E. Tinsley, "Tasmania Stamps and Postal History"

A book which I borrowed once a long time ago from Philas at the dawn of the project. I must have changed a couple of the dates already when I was sifting through our endless pile of perfins, as there are a couple of differing dates to his. There will be a couple more changes once I go through my current state of our holdings and update the table.

If anyone else has any early dates that differ from these, please let me know and I shall update accordingly.

Cheers
Jerry

[wilbaer]

Just a small update to our EKU dates for T perfin patterns.

If anyone has found some earlier dates in the meantime, please let me know them, as I can keep updating them here. They will be published sometime hopefully this year online when the final stage of our Official States Perfin project is finished.

t perfin dates.jpg (54.58 KiB) Viewed 3194 times

EKU dates for T perfins 20 jan 2024.docx

(43.32 KiB) Downloaded 40 times