Mysterious Holes in Marginal Examples of Pictorials

[Ross Ewington]

Over many years, I have come across a considerable number of marginal examples of Pictorials (except for the London printing) which have
a small hole (usually very roughly punched) in the corner of the stamp, usually within the margin. I have even had these returned as "damaged'
but I have always regarded them as a natural occurrence, created as part of the stamp production process. Here's a pair of 4d with marginal cross
...you can see the extra hole in the LL corner of the RH unit.

mysterious holes in Pictorials.jpg (22.51 KiB) Viewed 926 times

Am I correct .... i.e. that the hole was created as part of the printing or perforation process?

Does anyone have an explanation?

P.S. my apologies if this question has already been answered in Keith Lancaster's book ... I did a "scan through" but found nothing before my brain
felt like it was going to explode (does this book have the same effect on others looking for information about the Pictorials? )

[Jerry Weirich]

Ross -- Explanation can be found in Lancaster, page 25, last two sentences of second paragraph. For those that don't have Lancaster, it states: "Pin holes occur on many marginal stamps caused by pinning down five or six sheets to the bed of the perforating machine so that all could be perforated together. These pin holes usually occur on Nos. 25 and 31 (left side) and Nos. 30 and 36 (right side)."

As someone who has studied these stamps a long time, I want to emphasize the word "usually". I have found these pin holes on many other left- and right-side stamps. Jerry

[Ross Ewington]

thanks Jerry - I must have overshot page 25 before I 'blacked out'! ...cheers, Ross