Fooled And Foiled - US Scott 2525

I got this strip of 3 recently, and I was elated for a brief period of time in thinking that they might be imperforate. I scanned them to ask opinions of this group, then I noticed a line in the scan between the two right-most stamps. I then realized that these stamps were indeed perforated but not in the normal fashion.



The catalog lists these as having a "rouletted" perforation. Are rouletted perforations always those where a series of slits is cut (as opposed to a series of holes being cut)?

The term "rouletted" is always defined as a split cut, as noted in this quote from a stamp collecting glossary of terms:

"Roulette - the slitting of paper between stamps to make their separation easier. No paper is actually removed in the rouletting process."

This is one of the very few modern U.S. issues that have used the "roulette" cut. As you probably know, this is one of several of the same design definitive stamps; only the first coil variety (issued 08/16/1991) as you have pictured used the "roulette" cut. Interestingly, the USPS chose to issue those coils in a perf. 10 (vertical) variety as well (Scott #2526), but that coil variety didn't get issued until 03/03/1992.

Yes, I wonder why they switched the perforation style. I can still comfort myself, though with the fact that I got a plate# in there and a nice cancel on the strip of 3.

If you're looking for odd imperf. of a modern issue, here's one (Scott #3132) with fake circles to look as though they were perforations, but really imperforate. As it was for presorted first class, it's preferred use was probably for some sort of stamp affixing machine.