Thanks Everybody,1 More Question About Perf Holes.

Thanks everybody for helping me out with my last 3 posts,I checked everything I bought up over the winter,nothing rare yet.

One question I have is about perf holes.I buy off the computer and the pictures are not the greatest,like I was fooled thinking I had a rotary stamp but it's a flat plate.

Can the distance between the perf holes (center to center)across the width or height of a stamp vary.I put up a picture.

Can these distances be different or they always the same,like could a 596 stamp have the hole spacing of a 552 stamp ?

I can't find information about this on the internet and know you guys will know.

Well thanks,I'll buy up more stamps this summer and ask questions when I check them all.

Sorry,I said center to center but I can't always see that,the picture I put up is inside to inside,same thing though,are these fixed measurements or do they vary ?

Huffy, I so not quite get your question, but on any stamp the distance between the perforations can vary, especially on an older one. The measurements of the image on the stamp is usually the same.

Peter

Hi,that's what I mean't thanks,say the center of the perf on the left side to the center of the perf on the right side was 20mm on a 552 stamp,does it always stay at 22,fixed never changes,or can it be 19,21,23 etc on another 552 stamp.

Just made these number up up so you know what I mean.

Huffy, I gave you the answer above. Distance between opposite rows of perfs can change from stamp to stamp, but does not have to. That is why one can find some stamps with unusually large borders.

Peter

Peter is right. As philatelists, we measure stamps from top to bottom or side to side of the stamp design, not the paper. The size of the design is generally the same for all stamps from the same issue - but ultimately you cannot rely on such a measure because when the sheet dries off, the paper shrinks slightly, and not always by the same amount.

Since these distances between perforating wheels was adjustable, the distance between perforation rows can differ across so some stamps can be wider/taller and others narrower/shorter at times.

You can also have different distances between perf holes if the perforation machine has a bent pin.
Robert

To compare one stamp from a series to another of a similar denomination and same series, one is struck at times by how clever some re-perfers can be and fool even the most experienced of stamp collectors and appreciators.

A side collectiuon could even be made of the attempts to fool a person away from a true perforation, if a thing was considered OK to do.


However naughty that seems to be, it still is nice to own and have an example of the design itself. The portrait or visage. Then you can worry about perfs and paper and cancellations and so forth and so on.

The spacing between perforating pins is nominally fixed and should be accurate to within less than 0.001 inch. Measure the spacing across 5 or 10 perforations to get a more accurate answer. All of this is described in a booklet about perforations written by Richard Kiusalas and still available from the United States Stamp Society. No more responses until you buy the book. I also recommend joining the United States Stamp Society. All of the back issues of the Bureau Specialist are now on-line, well worth the price of admission.

Clark

Or, if you join the American Philatelic Society first, you can then either borrow the booklet from the APRL or get a photocopy of it, either one for a modest charge. But the USSS is also a fine society, though way more narrowly-focused than APS. Clark's general point is excellent - buy the books or literature that you need to learn. In the long run, you will accumulate a lot more knowledge which can save or make you money.

Hi,I joined the APS last year,I'm just getting into the stamps,I have collected coins for 30 years but the Chinese have basically done irreversible hard to the hobby,back in the day when you bought a coin you knew pretty well it was real,the replicas were mostly crude but even the good ones were not passable as real coins,then came China,they are now turning out these so called replicas that are unbelievable in quality,not just the high dollar coins but the lower value coins now too,buying from even ebay is a gamble now,so last year I got a 1932 stamp book as part of the deal from a coin lot I bought and it got me interested in the hobby,I'm getting into it now,it's really cool,I had no idea the varieties of stamps out there.

And it's not flooded with Chinese high quality replicas(yet,crossed fingers they stay out)pretty well when you buy a stamp,that's what your getting,a stamp,it might have fake perf holes like you guys said but other than that there's really no replicas out there,there are fakes for sure of course,so for me other than perf holes there are really no other fakes out there I need to worry about,or is there ? I mean the stuff I'll be buying,I imagine the high high dollar stamps have been tried to be faked many times.You really can't cut perfs off another stamp and glue then on to another stamp without it being obvious but I imagine that's been tried too.

The bulk of stamp forgeries are not of the perforation, but of the stamp itself. Stamp forgeries - whether to fool collectors or the postal auhorities - go back to the Victorian era. Forged coins obviously go back a great deal further still.