Perforation

Old Period.  Stamps of the Old Period are not known to have been perforated by the sheet. It is the case, however, that at least three singles have been seen in perforated condition, namely the ¼a black watercolor from the Kashmir Visitors’s plate (Dawson Sale), a pin-perforation experiment of the single-die 8a red watercolor on wove paper, and an interesting postal use: The ½a blue watercolor from the first Kashmir plate. It is seen on cover with javab notation dated 19 rajab [1291] ~ 1 September 1874 in the Harell collection. Ref. India Post 41 117 (2007).

New Rectangulars.  It is with the early New Rectangulars that perforation aspired to be more than a sometime experiment, but the difficulties evidently proved too much for the technical department. Of the half-dozen types catalogued, only ½a reds (for Jammu use) and ½a slates (for Kashmir use) are not rare. A harrow-like instrument consisting of brass pins in a configuration suitable for perforating the smaller sheets (of three-stamp width) has actually been seen by philatelists. That a second instrument existed that could be used for sheets of the four-stamp width is shown by the following:

Above, detail from the 2a full sheet in black watercolor. The horizontal pin-rows (vertical in the scan) number 59 to 63 holes over 8.65 cm (averaging just over 14 per 20 mm). The broad range given in the literature for individual stamps, namely 13-16, is a bit of an exaggeration. A partner piece exists for the 1a, and it is clear that the same perforating implement was used. No examples are known with the 4a+8a composite plate. These watercolor items are called proofs. Collection Hellrigl. Ex Godfrey, ex Masson.

The much wider-pitch perf assignment given by Gibbons to the early 1a red and the 2a violet is not consistent with the harrow method of perforation. If the items in question do indeed sport the wider pitch, the perforating was done by another method, perhaps even spuriously at some later time. Are examples known on cover? One notes that the catalogue pricing is for unused specimens only.

Above: A ½a red, perforate on laid paper, dated 32 sāvan [19]35 ~ 14 August 1878. The date is written in the Persian, in the lower line of the Dogri, as well as across the stamp itself.

Three post-1890 productions, namely ½a orange-red, 1a green, and ⅛a brownish-yellow, are reported as being on thin wove gummed paper with clean perforation 12. Status unknown.

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