If you've ever wondered what kind of numpty goes around buying blank bits of paper - well, hands up.

I bought this recently as a single item. It had a description, but no provenance. The description was "two violet phosphor bands and blue gum", all of which is accurate. The phosphor bands are really vivid.

So, it could be printers' waste, or it could be a trial of the elliptical perforator, or - well, lots of things.

It is absolutely clean and mint, so is not a changeling or a "creation". Does anybody have anything similar, or has anybody seen anything like it?

Hi Mike,

My immediate thought was it might be one of a few known examples from a 2nd Class Business Sheet which was at least partially missing blue.....and thus blank stamps. However, the two phosphor bands on your item remove that option from the running as 2nd Class would have one band.

I would very strongly expect that your item is from a sheet where the ink ran out. A very extreme version of a dry print of the coloured ink if you will. I seem to recall Mark Bloxham in the past had at least one example that claimed to be a 1p stamp created thus. There happens to be a strip on eBay at the moment that shows exactly this;
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1p-ELLIPTICAL-PERF-MACHIN-UNMOUNTED-MINT-STRIP-WITH-SUPERB-DRY-PRINT-ERROR/333524338583?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

For posterity, the image from that listing is this (I'm sure Richard at Edmonds & Turner won't mind me posting their scan here)


This one looks like it might be an Enschede stamp and since you mention blue gum, its a probability that yours is too....likely from the same sheet. I'd need to see it in the flesh to be narrow it down with any more certainty.

I have similar examples from other values & printers

Hope that helps.
Scott

Many thanks for what seems a perfectly rational explanation of this blank. What doesn't seem rational is somebody separating th eblank from a partial print - I DO hope this wasn't the case!

Indeed.

Maybe the part of the sheet this single came from was in poor condition, or, maybe someone thought they could sell it as something more than it probably is - we will likely never know.

A nice item to have in the collection even so.

Scott