Quick And Dirty Way To Check Number Of Perfs On Washington Franklins

Anyone else noticed that you can count the number of horizontal perfs on US stamps to figure out the perf gauge? I assume it is just a "rough" approximate, but I've used it for checking online items and so far it has worked very well. Basically, I only include "full" perfs (i.e. cut off perfs at the corners don't count).

DISCLAIMER: I've only done this for Washington Franklins, and since this rule of thumb will only work in relation to the width of the stamp design, I don't know if it will work for other US issues. ALSO, because it is dependent on the width of the design, you can sometimes have a rotary W/F that will have 1 or 1/2 perf more than the actual number (e.g. it is a perf 11, but you can count 11 1/2 or 12 perfs from corner to corner--but even with rotary stamps, this quick check usually seems to work)

To demonstrate, this is one of the W/F perf 10 errors from Siegel Auction's website. It is perf 11 on top and perf 10 on bottom.

I believe using a gauge would be just as quick if not quicker, and a whole lot more accurate. One bad sideeffect of this is that people new to the hobby start doing this and get more confused than ever!

Peter

Peter, I only use it for stamps online. If the stamp is in hand, then an actual gauge will obviously be more accurate and better.

Sending some time to truly learn what each looks like is a still better idea. Notice what each perf looks like, how crowded and small perf 12's are, and how wide perf 10's are. Take the time to actually EXAMINE stamps, not merely look at them.

An article by Larry Weiss from the USSS Journal data base regarding a method of counting. I use it when viewing stamps/covers on-line. Sonic Imaging Labs Precision Gauge is best when stamps/covers are in-hand. There are other aspects of perforation (as mentioned) that must be learned too.

The perf 12.5 stamp is an offset, and it should jump out at people once they have seen it, no other W/F stamp looks quite like it. The other 1 cent offset is perf 11.

Counting perfs to estimate a Scott# identification will be useful to evaluate this lot, currently up on ebay:

All perf 11 except the stamp on the far right, which is 12.5. The first 2 on the left appear engraved, the rest are offset.

all are offset by the plate numbers.... sometimes 525's can look like 498's online

O)ne thing I don't have is a Durland, so I could not look them up easily. Although I do have Johl, and could have looked them up that way if I had thought of it.

Al, thanks for the info. I'll have to switch to counting the perf holes instead of perf tips.

Stampsmarter.com makes it easy to identify most online stamps with a plate number through their plate number "lookup" search. I think there are some stamp varieties that come from the same plates (I don't collect plate numbers, so I could be wrong about that), but using their search function would at least narrow down the options.

http://www.stampsmarter.com/pnt_landing.html

lukusw...Happy it helps! I've been using the method for a good while now. To check the side perfs., I take a piece of white paper, lay it along the top or bottom edge of the design border and mark the length, border to border, with a penciled dash. Then I lay the paper along a side and just count the same as I would across the top/bottom, although I don't often need to check the sides.

A way to sort perfs from a large group of WFs is to measure stamps with a perforation gauge and set aside 10, 11, and 12 perf stamps with well defined perforations. Then use these to match perfs on "unknowns" It is best to have stamps face down on dark surface.
LarryG

after a while you can tell by looking at the picture without even counting but I count them sometimes. this trick of counting also works with the middle age postage dues. I have a pretty big hoard of perf 11 going from hoping there would be better mixed in before I got good at it.