Perforations

The 15h has the richest range of official perforations of the whole issue — eight varieties besides the imperforate form. An explanation of both perforating methods is below. The shares below are based on an analysis of 21,239 stamps (J. Matoušek's collection).

The scarce perforations G (11½:13¾) and H (13¾:10¾) occur only on plates I and II; the records now hold 7 copies of G (incl. fields 55, 53, 34, 17, 92/I and 42, 75/II) and 5 copies of H (the 97+98/I pair, a newly found pair cancelled Turnov, and 84/I).

Irregularities in the position of the perforation relative to the design — including copies where the perforation runs through the design — are covered in the Perforation shifts section on the Production flaws page.

How perforation is made — line and comb

Perforation is a row of holes punched into the sheet where the stamps are to be separated. Two different perforating methods were used for the Hradčany issue, and the difference between them shows above all at the corners of the stamp.

How to tell them apart on a stamp

• The corner decides. One regular hole exactly at the corner = comb. A ragged corner with two overlapping holes, or with a hole missing, = line.
• Compare opposite sides. With comb perforation every stamp in a row has the same tooth count; with line perforation both the count and the position of the teeth shift from copy to copy.
• Measure the gauge with a perforation gauge. The figure gives the number of teeth per 2 cm; the first value applies to the horizontal sides, the second to the vertical ones. Where only one is given, both sides are the same.
• A pair or strip helps. On a multiple you see a whole run of corners at once, and the difference between a regular and an irregular course is unmistakable.

A common trap: two adjacent comb strokes can also be slightly out of register. The irregularity then lies only at the boundary between two rows, while the corners within the row stay clean — whereas with line perforation every corner is irregular.

How the Pofis catalogue records the perforations

The specialised catalogue sorts the stamps of the issue into perforation groups marked with capital letters. A catalogue number combines the basic number of the value with the group letter; the 15h has the basic number 7, so its perforated varieties run from 7A to 7H. Shades are lettered a), b), c), d) within each entry.

• HZ (hřebenové zoubkování) — comb perforation
• ŘZ (řádkové zoubkování) — line perforation
• OHZ — inverted comb perforation, i.e. the comb working from the bottom upwards instead of the usual top-down direction. It is not listed for the 15h; the catalogue records it at other values (5h, 20h, 25h, 30h).
• The gauge is written as horizontal : vertical. Where a single figure is given, both pairs of sides have the same gauge.

The letters A–H in the table at the top of this page are exactly these catalogue groups, so the notation used on this site agrees with the catalogue. The 15h is the only stamp of the issue represented in all eight groups A–H; besides the 15h, group G holds only the 30h and group H only the 25h.

Exceptional perforations (I and L)

Beyond the eight ordinary groups the catalogue keeps a separate section, Exceptional perforations. These are copies where two different perforating operations met — the sheet was partly perforated with one tool and finished with another, so the sides of one and the same stamp carry different perforations. Two of them concern the 15h: groups I and L. Further exceptional perforations (groups J and K) are listed only under the 30h of the fifth drawing, which lies outside this site.

Compound and mixed — the difference

The difference follows straight from the notation. In a compound perforation (L), two different perforations meet on one stamp — on the 15h, two different gauges of the same kind, 13¾ and 11½ on the opposite horizontal sides. In a mixed perforation (I), three different gauges meet on a single stamp: 13¾ horizontally, and 11½ on one vertical side against 10¾ on the other.

Both 15h varieties belong to the line perforation of the early plates I–II, where the gauges 13¾, 11½ and 10¾ met most often within a sheet — the same production situation that lies behind the scarce perforations G and H.

Perforation flaws

Besides the catalogue groups there are copies where perforating did not go to plan — the tool passed through one and the same gap twice (double perforation), or a row was left out entirely and the stamps had to be separated with scissors (missing perforation). These are not perforations of their own but production flaws: the gauge stays the same and the stamp is identified from the row that corresponds to the proper pass. Both flaws, the specimens illustrating them and the part on the shift of the perforation against the design are on the Production flaws page.

Earliest documented usages

From 6,250 legibly dated cancellations. The sequence shows production moving from line perforations D/E/F on the early plates to comb perforations A/B on the later ones.

Comparison of three collections

Perforation shares differ between large collections and the Monograph data — see the statistics.