Census Of Schermack W/Control Perforations

Hi, my name is Curt McCoy. Being that this year 2013, marks the 100th year since their usage, I'm going to attempt to gather a Census of Schermacks with Control Perforations.

In mid 1909 the Schermack Company began experimenting with the addition of a Control Perfin to their existing affixing machines. Early experiments involved a 12 Hole pattern. The 12 Hole pattern proved to be too fragile for their high speed machines and they opted for a 9 Hole square pattern. A patent was applied for this design in October 1909. By removing various combinations of the nine pins, each of their customers, wanting this security, could have their own unique pattern.

By late 1909 many of the New York Customers adopted a Control Perfin for their affixing machines. By 1910, companies in Detroit and Chicago also were using Control Perfs on their equipment. By 1911 the New York companies began pulling the dies from their machines and discontinuing the practice. Some of the Chicago and Detroit companies continued using Control Perfins until late 1913, but by 1914 the practice had all but disappeared.

Control Perfs in total, only were used for approximately 4 years, little if any documentation was left by the time the Philatelic community became interested. Much of what is known, came about by discovery of Control Perfins on cover and the hard work of fellow collectors.

Over the years, several Census attempts have been taken. It's my belief that the Internet Age offers us a unique opportunity to reach a far larger number of collectors than was ever possible before. More data, hopefully will give us a better picture of their usage.

I need your HELP !

No collection is too small, as all information is important for this project. Any information provided will be strictly confidential, and only used for the purpose of the Census.

One of the problems in bringing all this data together, is we collect differently. Some collect by Perfins Catalog design number, some collect by Howard/Belasco front view missing pin number. I've even saw those that use the missing pin number from the back view and those that use the holes that are actually punched to describe the pattern. So many different ways, describing the same thing. My attempt will be to take all of these "languages" and consolidate them into one report.

We have other collecting difference as well, Some of us collect by Scott #s. Some only by the Perfin design. I'll gladly take the information the way you collect and attempt to consolidate it. I'm not asking you for any additional work other than compiling your inventory and sharing it.

If you'd be willing to participate in this Census, I'd like your help. You can send your data by mail to Curt McCoy, 10253 Collard Dr., Lakeview, MI 48850 or by e-mail to cmccoy1@myfrontiermail.com . Again, all information provided will be strictly confidential.

List all Schermack Control Perfins that you have in your collection, be sure to include all of your duplicates. I'd also be interested in any special features you may have. Such as on Cover, on partial cover, paste ups, plate numbers, blind perfs, gripper marks, commercial perfins on Schermacks or any other characteristics that may make a particular stamp unique.

Though I'll try to get this request out to as many collectors as possible, I could use your help here as well. If you know of a fellow collector, that may have Schermack Control Perfs in their collection, share this request. It makes no difference if they have one or one hundred. We want to record as much data as possible.

I envision this project to take several months collecting data. When the results are complete everyone that provided information will get a copy of the report.

Thank You in advance. Let's see what we can Discover !
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Thank You to those on this board that have responded privately to my request for data.

Any others on here with Schermacks with Control Perforations in their collections ??

Your HELP would be appreciated.

Article in the May issue of The Perfins Bulletin requesting data for this Census. Similar article will appear in the June issue of The United States Specialist.

Please help get the word out !

Last Call !

I did find one or 2, I'll try and post a scan tonight......If I can find it again....

Yes, I would love to see a scan of one of those. I like to see what we are talking about! Peter

Peter

Here is an example of the type of stamps we are looking for.

The perfins in the square pattern in the center of the stamps are Control Perforations. Different companies were assigned different patterns. This particular pattern is missing the #6 and #9 pin and belonged to the National Fire Insurance Co. of Chicago.

Didn't realize it was in such rugged shape. I think I have others but it will take some hunting.

No need to apologize. It's a nicely centered example. Pattern 2-3-5-6 of the Osborne Co. of New York City.

Actually New York City is where Schermack introduced Control Perforations. Schermack was a Detroit company that had successful launches in Detroit and Chicago but was meeting some resistance in New York. The US Postal Dept had recently authorized the use of Perfins on postage stamps to thwart employee theft and they were all the rage. The New York companies demanded them.

Because the perfins interferred with the affixing machines "fingers" that guided the stamps through the machine they had to find a way to incorporate it. Schermack employee Bennett Straight designed a perfin punch that applied the Control perfs one stamp at a time, just as the stamp was cut from the coil and applied to the envelope.

The New York companies bought in and soon as many as two dozen were running Schermack Mailing Machines with Control Perfs. A number of Detroit and Chicago companies were soon re-tooled as well.

At The Stamp Collecting Forum, formerly The Virtual Stamp Club message board, thread #48147 in the Expert Opinions folder has one of these stamps.

The control perfin over in the old VSC forum is this one.



don

LAST CALL !

Getting ready to wrap the Census up.

Thanks to all that submitted data.