Swedish Stamp, Quick Question

Hello there. I've tried googling for an explanation of these sort of stamps. However I'm still puzzled.



What are these "A B C o" that are holed? What does this do to the worth of the stamp? etc..

Any information/help would be kind!

Thanks

They are called perfins, or perforated initials. They are a company's private marking to deter theft and many people will state that it decreases the value by 60% or so. personally I think they are fun to collect similar to bureau and local pre-cancels.

This is a stamp referred to as a perfin. Some people think that perfins damage stamps (decrease their value).

There are also perfin collectors who specifically look for stamps such as yours. The popularity of perfin collecting varies by country.

I think you are asking about Perfins or PERForated INitialS (or INscriptionS) or in German Firmenlochung (firms (companies) punching).

They were used by larger companies to deter postage thievery by employees.

I can't see the whole stamp, I have a slow connection and sometimes (most times) larger file-size images from Imageshack or other image hosting sites time out on me and stop loading. I need a better computer and connection. I can see some holes punched in the top area of the stamp though.

If on cover they are usually valuable. Off cover, for Sweden, I do not know.

Some people collect them and find them fascinating. Perfins were kind of dismissed by the general collecting community in Canada years ago when it came to light that some were fakes. Or thought to be fakes. It took years for the truth to come out that most of the fakes were not fakes at all but different versions (25 different OHMS dies) of the same perfin produced by different machines.

See Ken Pugh's publication on the OHMS and G official perfins of Canada:
: http://www.kenpugh.ca/PhilatelicSer...elease5.aspx

I am not sure what they would be called in Swedish on Tradera. Perhaps they would use the Perfin word also or some would.

In the Scott's and Unitrade catalogues they are found in the back of the book under the 'O' numbering system (for official). Private companies perfins are not in the general cataloges and you will need specialized catalogues for them most likely.

Catalogue:
Swedish Perfins (Bergman, Lagerwall, Swenson, 1981; Svenska Skyddsperforeringar) The primary catalog for this field.

There are some web sites to start with:
http://www.angelfire.com/pr/perfinsoc/

http://www.norbyhus.dk/perfpage.html

Scandinavian Collectors Club
http://www.scc-online.org/libsweden_b.html

Ah these are the so called Perforated ins! :)

So my stamps with Perfs shouldn't be categorized as normal stamps I guess? Since people de-value them 60%, but some collect them?

Thanks for the links and information!

So many collectors think they're junk, that it is safest to treat them separately when trading with other collectors, unless you know the person likes them.

Hi Tomten

The only thing I can tell you about this perfin is that it was cancelled from Goteborg. The company itself is unknown but other perfin collectors have seen the same perfin cancelled from 1910 to 1920.

No other information is available at this time, sorry.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Thanks for the tip Cjd.

Alright, 1910-1920, Göteborg/Gothenburg. Kind of you to post what you did know though :) Thanks!

In case you don't know, this is part of the Small Coat-of-Arms from 1910-11.

I don't think it's the second version that came out in 1911 because I cannot find any wavy lines.

You mean the watermark by wavy lines? This one supposedly has the crown as watermark. However how do I see the watermark?

I've read some about it, but which method is the best? I have some gismo that can underlight the stamp, and with UV-light.