100 sheets of stolen vellum

[Jorge_Stolfi]

We tend to believe that parchment/vellum was very expensive. Ask any AI and it will tell you so. And it just repeats what people have written.
For example Gemini told me a moment ago:
A mid-sized devotional book could cost as much as a small house or several years of a laborer's income.

I agree, we miss good articles that would prove the existence of cheap manuscripts. But I feel they existed and Voynich is one of them.

Well put.  

A sheet of vellum with otherwise good quality could have localized defects, such as holes and scars on the hide that were detected too late,or accidental damage created during the scraping and stretching.  Naturally the maker would separate the good part from the damaged part, and either throw the latter away or sell it at discount price.

The free vertical edge of folio You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. has an indentation with darker halo, about 60% from top to bottom.  That looks like a hole on the original vellum sheet, that was cut in half when the bifolio was cut from it.

Another similar indentation, but bigger, is visible on folio f112, at the top of the vertical free edge.

Another one is visible at the bottom of the free vertical edge of the distal flap of folio f112.  That edge in fact seems to be a "primitive" edge, where the sheet was cut away from the frame by the maker.

So, I would guess that many VMS bifolios were taken from defective parts of vellum sheets that were otherwise fair, made by professionals.

Here is a nice documentary on parchment making by the Université de Namur:
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All the best, --stolfi