Perforation Holes On Stamps

Perforated holes on stamps, why was it done? I seldom see this anymore

Those particular perforations are known as perfins (PERForated INitials). They were usually used by a company on their postage to deter theft of company owned postage stamps.

The perforations may be initials, words, symbols...

For more info you can visit the following 2 perfin organizations:
http://www.perfins.org/
http://www.angelfire.com/pr/perfinsoc/

They are quite a lot of fun and can be very addictive!

k

Thank you khj for the links! I visited the site and its

Just received a large lot of Australian stamps of the '50s and '60s. Many of the smaller stamps, i.e.heads of the queen and PMs have perfins. I'm not sure if the albums have spaces for them, but I'll figure something out. Interesting subject.
Allan

Hi

Not too long ago, I had heard that Britain alone has about 20,000 patterns (types) of perfins and that is considered to be only have of what is actually out there. I also heard that Germany is close behind with the number of patterns they have too.

So, having said this, one can imagine the challenge for a collector in trying to get as many patterns as possible for their collections as they can.

In many of my emails, I sign off with the following:

"If it is full of holes, keep it. It might be a perfin"

Chimo

Bujutsu