Scott #577. Two Cent Washington 1923-31 With Schermack Perf

I am currently in the process of combining an album I bought at a yard sale with my main album. The previous owner of the album I bought has this stamp in the slot for the imperforate stamp. I looked on the 1847 web site and they seem to indicate that stamp is considered as imperforate even though it does have the Schermack perforations. Is this correct?

I've been a avid reader of both this site and the coin forum for several years but have only posted once before as I'm not sure how to do pictures with a post.

Well, technically, the Schermack peforations (slots) have been applied to the imperforate 2c stamp, Scott 577. The Scott Specialized US catalog lists the vending machine perforation varieties by Schermack and the others in the section "Vending and Affixing Machine Perforations". Unused prices are listed for pairs and used prices are listed for singles. Used pairs typically command a premium.

Dave... to upload your image,
click on REPLY TO MESSAGE, then
below the typing area you will see
"Upload Image"... when you click
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"BROWSE" button, which will open
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Then, simply go to the folder which
contains your image, and double click
on the filename, after which it will
take you back to the SCF window with
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File to davef's post", then close the
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If the SCF system should come back
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to resize the image, or change the
filename (or both)... but try the
general procedure, first...

Good luck...

Randall

The Postal Service issued imperforate stamps in sheets of 400 for use by the vending & affixing machine companies. They could only be purchased in full sheets with the understanding that they would be posted in the same jurisdication that they were purchased.

The Schermack Co. would paste 150 sheets together and slit them into 20 coils of 3000 stamps each. These coils were then sold to the companies that owned a Schermack Mailing Machine. They were the mass mailers of the day. The machines were capable of applying 250 stamps a minute to envelopes or postcards.

By the time the 1923 series of stamps were issued, most of the Schermack machines had been converted to use government coils. Chicago seemed to be one of the last areas that still used stamps with the Schermack slots.

The machines were only capable of appying 1 stamp per envelope. When found as multiples, they had been removed from the coil at some point, usually for philatelic reasons.