US Scott 701 - Precancel Los Angeles, CA - May Perfin

Although I haven't taken the time to remove all of the hinge remnants, here's a Los Angeles precanceled stamp (Scott 701) with the perfin "MAY" which I understand is from the now defunct May Company (California) Department Store:




The one reference I found suggested that the perfin was only used in Los Angeles and only on the 50-cent denomination of this stamp.

Can anyone verify if this is accurate or not? It would seem to me that if the May Company had the ability to perfin their stamps, it would have been used on much more than just the one denomination of postage.

That might well depend on what they were mailing. If it was something that always weighed the same and was always shipped the same way, that might have been what they used all the time. Any other denominations available might have been a small enough amount that they did not bother with perf initials. A 50 cent sheet was real money, so they initialed them. The rest of the mail might have been metered.

Agree with rev... but with one addition...

Given that stamps, over a long period of
time were redeemable as cash, May Company
(btw not defunct... some stores nationally
still operate under the May Co name, while
the majority were bought out by Macy*s),
perfined their stamps as many other companies
had done, to prevent theft in their respective
mailrooms... which, is the reason perfins had
originally come into existence, around 1908...

Thanks for the info.