I have not seen a perfin seen or mentioned for years on US. I bet self-adhesives could impact the idea and there are other methods to control stamps in companies.
I have not seen one arrive in the mail in decades, but that's hardly definitive ... though perfins are (?almost) always definitives (ouch!).
Finding the LKU (Last Known Use) of a perfin (or each perfin) would be a fun quest.
I would suggest, moreover, that the perfin needs to be on a corner (a cover with a pre-printed company name/address) that matches the stamp, as private / semi-private use of a company's stock might continue a bit.
Nice topic for an exhibit or, to be au courant, an online census.
I send out accumulated perfins to a collector who advertises in Lynn's. I recently exchanged some questions on current use and he indicated that the last usage (of which I had just sent him) are selected state agencies in the US. The items I had sent him were an agency for the state of NJ, I forget the exact initials and agency.
Recently I got a small box of US used stamps. Examining the stamps I was surprised to find two Scott #2940 with perfin capital I and this was the reason I raised this question. This stamp was issued in 1995 not too far back in time.
What I do not understand is the work done by the company to perform the perfin on a sheet of 50 stamps. They needed a setup, probably not easy to be obtained. Why they did not use meter stamp?
Anyhow, I will go to perfin site to clarify this question.
The employees can steal the perfin stamps and use them privately from home, mailing letters to family members and friends who will not pay attention to what stamp is posted on envelope.
That's true. I'm just saying what the intent of the perfins is supposed to help thwart.
One place where I used to work, some employees would put their personal mail in the outgoing mail buckets (same sized envelopes as the business mail). initially, it wasn't alot to the point to where it was noticed. The mailroom would simply stack everything up and run the envelopes through the meter machine. As word got out, more and more started doing this. It didn't take long after that when it was discovered, and the practice was stopped.
United Kingdom
60th Birthday of Queen Elizabeth II
Catalog codes:
Michel GB 1065
AFA number GB 1181
Stamp Number GB 1138
Stanley Gibbons GB 1317
Unificato GB 1219
Yvert et Tellier GB 1219
Issued on: 1986-04-21
Perforation: 15 x 14
Printing: Photogravure
Size: 41 x 30 mm
Face value: 17 p - British penny
Print run: 38,501,600
Description: printed se-tenant with SG 1316.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey (who was a little surprised to see that a country that had fits over defacing stamps that bore a portrait of The Queen would, less than 150 years later, be punching holes into her birthday stamp)
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"I collect stamps today precisely the way I collected stamps when I was ten years old."
ikeyPikey -
Nice cover, perfin stamp, and story about the General. Thanks for sharing it with the club.
virgilp -
Your 55 cent Alice Hamilton stamp with a capital "I" perfin most likely came from the State of Iowa. I live in Iowa, and I have a bunch of perfins in my collection with the same, or similar perfin. They were still widely used in the 1990s here in Iowa. You are correct in saying a thief could steal a perfin stamp and use it on their personal mail, but an honest person would think twice about getting caught with using one illegally. I think it was more theft deterrent, than theft prevention, and rjan is correct in saying they were used by state government agencies, including state universities. State workers mailed all kinds of stuff with perfin stamps back in the 1990s, and each state worker did not have access to a meter machine everyday. It seems old-fashioned today, but many things are slow to change in state government, including the perfin stamp in Iowa.
angore -
The self-adhesive multi-layer stamp, in smaller sheets than panes of 50, were still made into perfins as shown by the two stamps below, from my collection, with State of Iowa capital "I" perfins dated 2002. The perfin machine had to struggle punching through the stamp layer, the gooey gum layer, and the backing paper layer. The self-adhesive gum most likely "gummed up" the perforator pins over time, or the gummy chad stuck to everything, but it was tried, as shown below. I think the self-adhesive stamp ended the perfin stamp.
Look exactly like the perfins on my stamps! It seems to be of a very high quality. As I asked before, is it justified the expense to perform this process? Maybe it is done privately by somebody who like to keep perfins on the market!
These two S/S from "Australia 99" Perfed "A99" were done at the show for a while you were able to do them yourself so you can imagine there are a few weird ones around.