Tasmania 3d Pictorial Cr/A Electro SG 253: different printings ?

[wilbaer]

I came across the LH stamp today and cannot quite work this one out. According to the literature I have (SG, Brusden White, Robson Lowe and Lancaster), there was only one printing of the Crown over A electro of the 3d on the standardly-used paper and the colour difference between these stamps is vast (the4 LH stamp has a real grey look to it in real life, more so that this scan)

Also, the paper is a lot whiter - again, not something that is mentioned about the paper that I can find in these books and the stamp is markedly smaller.

Does anyone have an explanation about this LH stamp ? I had thought that it might be the Thin paper variety SG263, but this was not supposed to have been supplied and used until late 1912 and the postmark on this is June 1912, so unless this paper was used earlier than suggested, it is unlikely to be that (watermark is quite visible to the naked eye though)

Is there some documentation that I have not read that would account for such a difference in colour (ie another printing that I do not know about) as I find it hard to reconcile myself to the fact that these are just shades of the same printing - the difference is just too vast. Plus the perforation is very different.

3d CrA electro printing colour differences.jpg (183.86 KiB) Viewed 1174 times

All the best and looking forward to your wisdom on this one.... it has me stumped.