Description
GROUND BREAKING coil stamp DISCOVERY: vertical strip of 5x 3 mils pictorial stamps in yellow-green on thick vertically ribbed paper, as 15m airmail postage via Imperial Airlines, tied to 2 JULY 1936 air mail cover, from TEL AVIV to MUNICH & tied by 3x strikes of rare postmark with 3-letter month in date-stamp (Groten #C12, rated E / Sach #B44; without index letter - undocumented). Airmail to Europe in this period was sent partially by air and partially by surface, here either via Brindisi or Paris: lacking the usual "cross" jusqu'a marking of Brindisi, this cover was likely sent via PARIS, on either the Thursday or [more likely] Friday IA flight from GAZA.
The vertical strip does not bear any outward signs of being machine-vended except that on closer examination the perforation teeth on the right ends of the horizontal perforations, in a repeating pattern, are thin (top perf) and then thick (bottom perf) - as observed, though not together, on 5m and 10m continuous roll "regular coil" stamps with the special 14-hole horizontal axes, also on one of their two vertical axes. These special teeth were intended to help keep the stamp coils properly aligned during dispensation so that they could be advanced, fed out and detatched from a vending machine without damaging the remaining stamps in the coil. The combination of the thin and thick teeth create a slightly raised outer perforation hole similar to the style of Australian coil stamps, though those use larger horizontal perforation holes with two slightly smaller ones on either side of the outer periphery.
Here, a unique perforation format not seen used before in Palestine and most likely a clear indication that these stamps were produced as a continuous roll and not through the paste-up method (of assembling guillotined strips of stamps from standard stamp sheets into rolls).
We further observe that the vertical perforation is 14.5 as known on all pictorial stamps - except when measured along the segment which includes the thin and thick perf teeth; the left axes (without these special teeth) measures 14.5 perfectly throughout. The horizontal perforation holes are all the same size, ruling out the possibility that replacement pins which cause various hole sizes - sometimes observed on pictorials stamps - is not the reason for these special perforation teeth.
Here we have the first documented instance of a special perforation type used for vending machine dispensation, on hitherto unknown thick paper type. The phenomena observed here also helps explain why coil stamps are so elusive, not necessarily having to exhibit overt signs of being guillotined. Ben-Arieh certificate enclosed.
