A PERFINS - THE FIRST TYPE - ARE THERE TWO ??

[Ross Ewington]

I have just been shown two examples of the first type of A perfin used 1899/1900 which I believe only
appears on QV Sideface or "Tablet' issues.....both examples have the 'missing hole variety (at left and below).

[attachment=0]a perfin oddity.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=1]a perfin oddity 2.jpg[/attachment]

While preparing the top example for auction I decided to include a 'normal' version of the perfin for comparison.
I also compared it to a few images of the same perfin with and without the variety and found a 'constant' difference.

All the examples with the missing hole have the single hole which makes the 'bar' of the A right in the centre whereas
all the examples I could find without the variety have this hole slightly to one side. Also, the perfin with the
'missing hole' displays a much larger gap between the three holes forming a triangle at the top and the next puncture
on each of the 'legs' than the 'normal' version.

Are there two similar but different perfins here rather than one plus a variety of same?

Am I on to something here? What do you think?

[David McNamee]

Ross, You are correct. There are two heads to the first type (Type 1a in my nomenclature) used on SF and Key Plate stamps -- one we call "parallel row," and one we call "sloped left/right," referring to Row 2. The sloped pin arrangement also has a larger gap between Rows 2 and 3. The sloped row 2 head is the only one with a broken pin at Row 7, we call the "broken foot variety." Type 1a was in use only 13 months (4 Jul 1899 ERD that I have for parallel row; 19 Jul 1899 for sloped row). The missing foot is known from at least Oct 1899. Rarity: fairly high for sloped left/right without broken foot, all the others are scarce. I have recorded one 2-1/2d Key Plate and three 2-1/2d on 9d SF; all others on 1d and 2d SF.

My Type 1b is the same as Type 1a (11mm high x 8mm wide), but Row 2 is noticeably wider than Type 1a (one date only, 25 Aug 1899 on 2d SF).

All of the above was discovered and described some years ago by Randall Askeland and documented in "Perfin 'A' Revisited," The Informer Vol 65, No. 1 (2005) by me .

Type 1c is the first type found on Pictorials, and it looks like Types 1a and 1b pattern, only it measures larger at 12mm x 9mm. It is found on 1d and 2d only, with 1900 dates only. Known as a doubled perfin.

[Ross Ewington]

Thanks David ...... it looks like
a) a visit to an optometrist on my part is not required at this stage;
b) I should read all the available literature before getting too excited!

[David Coath]

Dear David and Ross

I may have something to add to this. In South Pacific Perfin Bulletin # 82 of July 2008 , John Mathews wrote an article entitled " A.3, A.4 and A.5 the Enigma solved. In this article he used research by Bill Harley and myself as well as his own study of these patterns.

I could never sort my A.3 and A.4 ( which I believe are David's A.1 as he follows a logical chronological order) and just kept picking them up as I found them thinking I would get to the bottom of it one day. That one day came in June 2008 and by my usual method of tracing each pattern and then finding matches to my tracings I found that there were in fact 6 different A's of the type that is A.3 and .4 . I contacted Bill and asked him what he knew an d he said that he had found more than 8 or more variations. I believe that Bill's extra types were likley due to him not thurning the near symetrical pattern over and checking it.

Knowing that John Mathews was a student of these A's we submitted our findings to John and he confirmed that there were 6 heads ( within the group A.3 and A.4- which is David's A.1 ) and that his A.5 was a miss report of a partial A.2 . I was able to confirm this by a joined pair that I found which I then sent to Bill. I will send you a scan of the article if you wish. I would suspect that it is a either a 3 wide x 2 high device or a 6 in line device but as John says in his article only reports of multiples will confirm this.

Regards

David