Hi All. My apologies if this is the wrong forum for this. The other night I remember reading something about "perforated" stamps. I am not really sure what they are, but think I might have one so I thought I would ask folks here and see if anybody can help?
First of all, what are "perforated" stamps?
As for the "perforated" stamp I think I might have, it seems to be a British 4d stamp from 1967. I say "I think" as I am not sure. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. Here is a picture:
And here is a close up and detail of the "perforation" which seems to read "WCBC":
So, is this a true perforated stamp? If so, what does the "WCBC" stand for / mean? Thank you all so much for your help and information, and willingness to share your knowledge too!
Thank you for the responses and education Charlie2009 & Guthrum. Most interesting reading. I will have to look in to perfins more now. I know I have some other ones in my collection, without any tears on the edges too. I am not too sure what they are perforated with though.
So I assume that the stamps were still legal and valid to use, even though they had a bunch of holes punched in them?
The perfins are usually in the shape of the initials of the company or organization that created them from mint stamps. They are legal to use by anyone, I suppose, but their intent was to prevent fraud by unauthorized use by someone not employed by that organization. Sometimes (I believe) the designs represent company logos, but I'm not certain about that. Guthrum or Charlie 2009 can confirm that, or tell me I'm wrong.
perfins are also sometimes used to change regular postage stamps into officials, as with some of the Aussie officials.... I think they used OS and maybe OHMS... but now I'm wandering into the land of eucolyptus
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"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"
OHMS "$1 Destroyer" perfin from the Canadian "War Issue". Many Canadian stamps issued between 1912 and 1949 were similarly perforated. The vertical components of earlier stamps were created with four holes, later ones with five holes; smaller letters were introduced with the "Pictorial Issue" of 1935. Forgeries exist — a reference manual for forgeries was published in 2005 by a Vancouver specialist, Ken Pugh.
Peter, that's pretty bad.... I thought about a rejoinder but then, the next you know, we'd have to Ko alla way. And I'm not prepared for that, even with Bob's Destroyer guarding my flanks.
David
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"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"
France was also keen on its perfins in the early twentieth century. Here's a few pages from my collection of French Stamps. It can be puzzling trying to identify the company from the initials. I colour the page red behind the stamp to try and show the perfins better. Not sure it has worked well though.
"The perfins are usually in the shape of the initials of the company or organization that created them from mint stamps. They are legal to use by anyone, I suppose, but their intent was to prevent fraud by unauthorized use by someone not employed by that organization. "
And did anyone, USPS? actually police the use of perfins? Or was the fact that they were branded supposed to keep employees from stealing them?
I've seen perfins used on private mail, just like when I was an 18 year old mailboy for a company, people would come down to the mail room and ask me to run their bills through the meter for free.
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy.. 16 Jul 2015 03:13:57am
re: Is This A "Perforated" Stamp?
" ...run their bills through the meter for free...."
I'm shocked at this intimation of intentioal economic perfidy, just shocked.
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".... You may think you understood what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you think you heard is not what I thought I meant. .... "