Provincial Airways - Detailed Study of 3d air label.
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© 2022 Robert Farquharson All Rights Reserved
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British Internal Airmails of the 1930’s
Section 3 - Colour Trials
Colour trials exist in the following colours. the first colour given being that in which the main portion of the design is printed:-
Green & blue
Green & orange
Blue & Purple
Blue & green
Orange & Green
Purple & blue
Red & purple <
Green and Red #
Red & blue
Purple & red <
Red & green
Blue & red
Purple & orange
Red & orange
Blue & orange
Orange & purple
Orange & red
Orange & blue >
< Exists only in single colour trials, not pairs.
# Exists with double perforation variety.
> This was the colour as finally issued.
All the above colour trials were struck from the original blocks, and consequently do not show the SOUTHAMPTON variety or any of the other minor flaws
as described in the printing from the stereotype plates.
They were printed on plain white wove paper, perforated but not gummed. One set exists of all the colours, except the red and purple, in which the two
alternative colour combinations are printed on one sheet of paper, about 90 x 100 mm.
Each impression is perforated all round and across the margins, and there is a blank space between the two images equal in size to the stamp itself. This
form of make-up enables the effect of the alternative colours to be accurately gauged.
The only other set of these colour trials has these sheets of the two images cut across the centre of the blank space in the middle, thus making them into
miniature sheets of one stamp with a margin all around.
There was also a trial of the image printed in one colour but on different coloured papers. The image was in black brown and blue and each was printed on
pink white, buff blue and orange paper. This was done as an alternative to the bi-coloured stamps.
Green and Red
Purple and Red
Red and Purple
Purple and Blue
Blue and Purple
Purple and Orange
Green and Orange
Orange and Purple