©Lin Yangchen
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The Singapore Municipal Commission was a powerful, partially elected body that oversaw many aspects of urban management and planning in Singapore. It used at least four security markings on postage and revenue stamps, comprising pre-war and post-war perfins (Turnbull 2022) and two types of overprint (Peters 2004).
The heavy black letters signalled that the SMC considered its identity almost as important as the stamp itself. They are Didone-style with high stroke contrast and fine serifs, a font class of the 18th and 19th centuries that had gone out of fashion by the beginning of the 20th century but was nevertheless suitable for large lettering.
An overprinted sheet of Singapore 4¢ seen separately by the author shows that the handstamp is 2×2-set in a grid forming four rectangles. The grid is a bad design in my opinion. It is thin and of about the same dimensions as the stamp, which ensures it almost never aligns with the edges of the stamp and looks messy and unnecessary. The handstamp was possibly conceived in a hurry amidst the post-war chaos.
Spiral staircase for nightsoil collection in the old days.
Ellison Building, Singapore
©Lin Yangchen
Post-war perfin (c. 1947–1980) with the defective singaporf datestamp.
The smc perfin machine, made by reputed firm Joseph Sloper & Co. in London in a setting of four dies in a row, was rediscovered at a flea market by Yong (2011). In fact, Sloper, a mechanical engineer, was the pioneer of postage stamp perfins, having borrowed the idea from his railway ticket punching machines; his proposal to so protect merchants from the theft of their stamps was approved by the General Post Office in Britain in 1868.
The machine has a large hinged lever that when pressed downwards drives four sets of pins into a horizontal strip of four stamps. Two separate strikes on plain paper (above) show a horizontal periodicity of 2.05cm, which corresponds quite precisely with the width of the coconut definitive. Even more interesting, however, is what actually happens when it is being operated (Lin & Yong 2017). The lower row of perfins (above) is the output when one depresses the lever fully, with complete letters throughout except for a chipped S and M. The upper set, punched with less force and incomplete travel of the lever, displays additional flaws in truncated m's as well as holes with incomplete removal of paper. This demonstrates that the human hand can spawn striking variations and flaws from a single machine and even a single set of pins. There are constant flaws in the letter S in the third die and letter M in the fourth die.
Truncated m in reversed and inverted forms. The author has also seen an example with only one stem of the m remaining, making the perfin look like sic.
Mis-estimation was common with the hand-operated machines in the realm of perfin production.
Double perfins are relatively rare.
References
previous section | next section | back to table of contents
previous section | next section | back to table of contents
The Singapore Municipal Commission was a powerful, partially elected body that oversaw many aspects of urban management and planning in Singapore. It used at least four security markings on postage and revenue stamps, comprising pre-war and post-war perfins (Turnbull 2022) and two types of overprint (Peters 2004).
The heavy black letters signalled that the SMC considered its identity almost as important as the stamp itself. They are Didone-style with high stroke contrast and fine serifs, a font class of the 18th and 19th centuries that had gone out of fashion by the beginning of the 20th century but was nevertheless suitable for large lettering.
An overprinted sheet of Singapore 4¢ seen separately by the author shows that the handstamp is 2×2-set in a grid forming four rectangles. The grid is a bad design in my opinion. It is thin and of about the same dimensions as the stamp, which ensures it almost never aligns with the edges of the stamp and looks messy and unnecessary. The handstamp was possibly conceived in a hurry amidst the post-war chaos.
Spiral staircase for nightsoil collection in the old days.
Ellison Building, Singapore
©Lin Yangchen
Post-war perfin (c. 1947–1980) with the defective singaporf datestamp.
The smc perfin machine, made by reputed firm Joseph Sloper & Co. in London in a setting of four dies in a row, was rediscovered at a flea market by Yong (2011). In fact, Sloper, a mechanical engineer, was the pioneer of postage stamp perfins, having borrowed the idea from his railway ticket punching machines; his proposal to so protect merchants from the theft of their stamps was approved by the General Post Office in Britain in 1868.
The machine has a large hinged lever that when pressed downwards drives four sets of pins into a horizontal strip of four stamps. Two separate strikes on plain paper (above) show a horizontal periodicity of 2.05cm, which corresponds quite precisely with the width of the coconut definitive. Even more interesting, however, is what actually happens when it is being operated (Lin & Yong 2017). The lower row of perfins (above) is the output when one depresses the lever fully, with complete letters throughout except for a chipped S and M. The upper set, punched with less force and incomplete travel of the lever, displays additional flaws in truncated m's as well as holes with incomplete removal of paper. This demonstrates that the human hand can spawn striking variations and flaws from a single machine and even a single set of pins. There are constant flaws in the letter S in the third die and letter M in the fourth die.
Mis-estimation was common with the hand-operated machines in the realm of perfin production.
Double perfins are relatively rare.
previous section | next section | back to table of contents