Interrupted Phosphor Bars ( Part II )

Sorry I have not been posting so often lately, have you missed me? For those of you that have not, just don't answer this one :-)

Well I can report that my house guests have now departed these shores back to the snow, wind, rain and cloudy skies of Blighty, it is lovely and quiet (bliss) and I now have a little more time on my hands to devote to Machins.

I did a little research today as I wanted to refresh my memory regarding the interrupted phosphor bars that were mentioned in my post last week.

It was during 1993 when the initial Questa booklets came on the scene with new security stamps of the time (ellipses in the perfs). These booklets showed panes of 10 x second class NVI values which had an unusual phosphor arrangement to the norm. IE: Centre bars ( pic left) that were both short at the top and short at the bottom Deegam criteria (S3).

It should also be noted that some panes from these booklets had misaligned bars (in error) with short bars either just at the top (s1) or the bottom (s2). I should also mention that I was correct in my assumption that these short bars were created deliberately to avoid wear and tear on the perforating machines at the time.

Walsall Security Printers also produced several booklets (various values) 35p, 41p and 60p to name some of the values that come to mind.

These Walsall booklets had panes of 4 stamps. For the same reason as the Questa booklets (perforator wear) these had inset bands on the outer edges of the panes. Phosphor was also printed between the adjoining stamps but this was divided into two separate bars, so in turn all of the stamps on pane had phosphor inset on both sides. known in Deegam criteria as inset three (I3). (see pic left)

The divided bands had a 1mm gap between them. This 1mm gap was positioned on the vertical where the line of perforations were added at a later stage in the process. Common names for these stamps at the time was "split bands or interrupted bands"

The layout ( layout one) was changed after a short period of time so that the stamps on the left of the pane now had inset bands left (I1) and stamps to the right (I2). A solid band replaced the bar to the centre of the pane. This pane became known as Layout two.

Another change (3rd) occurred later in the year ( layout three) the width of the bars was extended to all the edges of the stamps. The result of this third change was that all phosphor bands became solid bars on all stamps. It seems that the problems with wear on the perforators was solved once and for all.

Booklets of 10 first class NVIs were also produced these had split bands between all the internal stamps on the panes . A revised booklet of ten was introduced ( layout 2) as with the booklets of four above which had just the stamps on the outside ( left and right) of the panes with inset bands, no third state ( layout 3) of the booklet x 10 was recorded as being issued.

To refresh

Layout state 1: All stamps have inset bands left and right (I3)
Layout state 2 All stamps to the left had (I1) and stamps on the right (I2)
Layout state 3 All stamps had full phosphor bands.

I have several of these booklets (most values) in all layout stages, these are surplus to requirements so if you would like any of them send me a email with your wants list. I will sell them to readers at a 10% discount to the current Machin Collectors Club Catalogue prices. First come first served basis. I can accept paypal if you wish, please note: (airmail from Spain) postage will be extra. £1 or US$1.50