The Small Queens

Glossary

C.D.S. A circular date stamp showing the name and province of the post office from which the mail had been sent, or which had received it in the case of first class mail.

Duplex. A twin headed hammer containing both killer and c.d.s.

Fresh Entry. The re-application of the transfer roller to any subject that showed up as defective – usually insufficiently ‘rocked-in’ giving rise to a weak entry, or if the design were incomplete at top or bottom, a ‘short entry’.

Imperforate. A stamp that has never been perforated.

Imperforated. A stamp that has been perforated, and had its teeth scissored off to produce a fake.

Killer. A postmark designed to ensure stamps on mail were rendered incapable of further use.

Master Die. The stamp to be engraved on a piece of polished mild steel by an engraver using a tool called a burin. It is proofed during work (progressive die proofs) and on completion. If satisfactory the piece is then hardened.

Numeral Cancel. A cancel with a post office number in it.

Perforator. Two types – Comb Perforators that consisted as the name suggests as a comb that could perforate three sides of a row of ten stamps at a time, the male part fitting into a corresponding female part. It was not used in Canada at this time. Line Perforators  had eleven collars attached to a bar, secured by screws so they could be adjusted. This would perforate vertically up a whole sheet at a time, and a second operation was needed to perforate horizontally. The original machines were treadle operated. According to the patent the perforating pins on the collars were to fit into corresponding recesses in matching collars below. This required precision engineering of the type possessed by instrument makers and which did whoever not apparently possesses made the machines used for the Small Queens in the early days at least.

Plate Proof. A sheet taken from the finished plate to check for imperfections.

R.P.O.  A c.d.s. bearing the name of a travelling (railway) post office.

Re-entry. Term applied to recut worn impressions using the transfer roller again. These may be ‘Co-incident’ where the re-entry is exactly on top of the original impression, or ‘Non-coincident’ where part of the original impression is visible in the form of doubled lines.

Printing Plate. Again of polished mild steel the plate would be first marked out where the impressions, imprints etc were to go by a craftsman called a siderographer, who then used the transfer roller in a transfer press to rock the reliefs onto the plate, in the case of Small Queens from the bottom up and working right to left.

Siderographer. Crafstman who made printing plates.

Transfer Tool or Transfer Roller. A piece of circular polished mild steel usually from 2.5” to 3” in diameter rocked under pressure onto the Master Die to obtain normally two or more impressions called reliefs. It is then made into the tool used to rock these reliefs onto the plate.