While all Admiral issue stamps were issued in sheet format, the one-, two- and three-cents denominations were also produced in booklets and as coils.
The counter panes used by the post office were perforated 12 x 12. Some of the lower denominations, however, were printed in sheet form perforated 8 vertically, and imperforate horizontally. One issue of the three-cent carmine was printed 8 vertically and 12 horizontally.
The one-cent yellow, two-cents green and three-cents carmine were printed in imperforate format with gum, but were only available via the Philatelic Agency. Other issues in the later colours were also printed as imperforates, but without gum. They should be considered as proofs.
There were four plate arrangements, as follows:
All of the sheet format Admiral stamps came from panes that were printed from the Type A and B plates until 15 January, 1914. All of the stamps from these panes were perforated on all four sides. Therefore, if any stamps with straight edges have cancels that are dated before this date, then they must either be coils, if two parallel sides are imperforate, or they must be from booklets.
When the Type D layout was introduced, the sheets were separated by cutting the panes between the tenth and eleventh rows and columns, which created a total of 19 straight-edged stamps per pane, nine with a vertical straight edge, nine with a horizontal straight edge, and one containing both vertical and horizontal straight edges.
For additional information, see: Perforation Guides | Guide Dots | Lathework | Summary Information
The booklets were first printed early in 1912. They held two six-stamp panes of the two-cents carmine issue, in two rows of three. As with all Admiral issue booklets, the perforation between the rows was 12. In 1913, the one-cent green stamp was made available in booklets containing four, two-row panes of six, for a total of 24 stamps per booklet. The carmine and green colours were changed to green and yellow respectively in 1922 coincident with the sheet versions in order to conform to the colour conventions of the Universal Postal Union after a change in international postal rates. These were the only values available in booklet form until early 1922 when the three-cents brown stamp was made available in booklets that contained two blocks of four. Within 12 months, another booklet containing a combination of three panes of four - a one-cent yellow, a two-cents green, and a three-cents brown - was made available. The three-cents brown pane was replaced with a carmine version in 1924.
The plates used to make the booklets were arranged in several ways:
The plate used to print the three-cents brown and the values for the combination booklets, called Type Z, is described as follows:
For additional information on booklets, see Summary Information.
Illustrative Examples of Booklets
Both vertical and horizontal coil types were produced, with the horizontal type being perforated 8 vertically, and the vertical type being printed with two horizontal perforations, 8 and 12. The two formats are known as Type E and F:
The plate for the horizontal coil accommodated 400 stamps divided into two groups of 200 separated by a horizontal gutter. Each group contained 10 rows of 20.
The plate for the vertical coil also accommodated 400 stamps arranged in two groups of 200. The groups were separated by a vertical gutter, however, with each containing 20 rows of 10.
Coils were made by joining individual strips with short lengths of paper pasted to the back of the stamps where they joined in order to achieve the desired length of 500 stamps. (See Paste-ups for illustrative examples.)
For additional information on coils, see Summary Information.
 Perforation Guides |
It was not feasible to perforate or sever sheets based on a fixed, consistent location along the side of each pane because of slight variations in the exact placement of the printed area as a result of the procedures used with the wet printing process. Consequently, two guide arrows consisting of six vertical parallel lines of differing length, and bisected by a horizontal line, were engraved in the right or left hand margin next to the fifth and sixth horizontal rows in each group. They permitted the perforator to line up the sheets for perforation after they had been trimmed by the guillotine cutter.
The inscription R-GAUGE, for Registration Gauge was added to the the margin in 1923. Besides sheets, perforation guides are only found on the two-cents green booklet pane. The practice of using perforation guides was discontinued when the dry printing process was introduced. |
| Guide dots are marks used help align plates prior to printing sheets of stamps. They may be cleaned off before printing begins. Often they are left on with the expectation that they will be covered by the stamp designs. Sometimes, however, the dots are not placed correctly resulting in marks appearing in the clear portions of the stamp or in the margin or gutter. |  Guide Dot |
Guide dots may be found in the early printings on the left side of the white band that frames the portait oval. Most of the time, however, the guide dots were placed to the right of the stamps, with the result that they will be found in the vertical gutter and right hand margin of sheets printed from Type A and B plates, and in the right hand margin of sheets made from Type C and D plates.
In the early plates, the guide dots were incised approximately 5.5 mm from the stamp design. In the later plates, the dots were placed about 13 mm from the stamp design.
Updated: 26 Oct 04