Holes Punched Through Stamps

what is it called when you have a stamp that has holes in it spelling a word or letters?

Hi Tina....

Perfins.......perforated initials.....security device to help prevent theft.

Or someone who has a fascination with straight pins and is terribly bored.

I have a stamp like that also. It is Scott #378. It has M W perforated in it. I wonder what it stands for. I looked on the internet but couldn't find anything. Any suggestions?

Hi Carol........

Difficult to say.....there are thousands of different initials known many more if you consider worldwide types. They could be State Departments, Universities, many were private companies.

the ones I was refering to was from G.B. I have many of these from many different countries.Thanks nr-notrare

MW was a perfins used by Montomery Wards it is likely theirs there are perfins catalogs & a site as well just google 'perfins'.

Mike

Yep, Montgomery Ward. They also used a lot of precancels from Chicago; they're usually the ones you find with dates ink stamped above the top line of the precancel; most were used to mail out catalogues.

would that be a USA stamp then or was montgomery wards world wide?

That would be a U.S. stamp.


Butch

Them thar little holes let the stamp breath.

Now everyone is going to be listening for their stamps to breathe. Bad enough that the wine is gasping for air, and the bras are living, now we have stamps that are breathing too? That's too much. I think I will plug all the holes.

Anyhow seriously, there are a lot of great sights for perfins. Check out The Perfin Society, for British Perfins. It's really helpful.

I think it is interesting to note that for the longest time, 'perfins' were considered nothing more than junk and some collectors advised others to throw them away in the waste paper basket.

I have a couple of reference books from the 1950s which state this train of thought exactly.

However, as it has been mentioned in here before, there are now societies solely devoted to 'perfins'.

They have become very popular in the past 20-30 years expecially.

Chimo

Bujutsu

???




But for Bujutsu, this could've been lost to the ether!

Depending on what we're talking about, that could be good or bad.

A lot of business use to punch the company initials through the stamps to prevent theft by employees.

Very true ironhelm

The same reason was also for stamps with 'underprints' of company names on the backs of stamps.

Cheers

Bujutsu