Page 26 - Cameo 83

The "Pattisson" collection of Sierra Leone, sold by Robson Lowe on 10 November 1943, contained two mint
blocks of the 6d, lots 216 and 260, both in shades of grey and fortuitously both illustrated (albeit in
monochrome) in the auction catalogue (Ref.19). Beale (Ref.1, p.124) suggests that both blocks were faded
stamps of a late printing, but whereas the stamps of lot 260 had line perfs and lacked wing margins,
consistent with this hypothesis, those of lot 216 featured comb perfs and wing margins, suggesting that they
originated from an earlier despatch.

The De La Rue Colour Trial

Philip Beale (Ref.1, p.124) mentions the existence of three copies of a 6d brown-purple stamp, the colour of
the ninth despatch, but with watermark Crown CA and perforated 12. One of these stamps was offered as
Lot 1496 at the Vestey sale. Regrettably, the illustration in the pdf version of the catalogue (Ref.11) is not
clear enough to show whether the perforations are line or comb. However, Figures 10 and 11 show two of
the extant copies of this stamp more clearly. At least one of the stamps has been cut with scissors, but the
perforations appear to be line in each case.

An Anomaly Explained

Figures 12 and 13 illustrate a wing margin stamp from a cover postmarked 27 Oct 1877. The upper corners
of the perf 14 stamp appear to be comb perforated, while the lower corners appear line. The likely
explanation is that two successive strikes of the comb were slightly misaligned; the top and two sides were