The label in the center of the gravure pane shows markings that
appear in the margins of gravure-printed stamps.
The arrows serve two purposes. They are printed at the outer edge of the left and right margins
and serve to mark one complete revolution of the printing cylinder. They indicate the point at which
the continuous reel of paper, called the web, is cut into individual panes for sale at the post office.
These arrows are trimmed off during processing and therefore are not seen by collectors. Arrows also
appear in the left and right margins adjacent to the stamps at the middle of a sheet. According to
the Stanley Gibbons Specialised Catalogue, these markings help the post office clerks when they tear up sheets.
One such arrow can be seen in the margin of the block of 43p machins shown above.
The colored circles in the label are a modern version of “traffic lights.”
Traffic lights are squares or circles printed in color in the sheet margin or in the inter-pane gutter
to help checkers look for missing colors. A pair of traffic lights is shown between the two £5
stamps shown above.
The target-like symbol in the middle of the label is a registration mark. When a stamp is printed
with multiple colors, each line of the registration mark is generally printed in a different color.
The checker can look at the registration mark and adjust the printing press so that the colors are printing
in the right position with relation to one another.
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