Railway Perforation?

Hi, I have a canadian stamp that has what appears to be a railway perforation through the stamp. It could be GNR or CNR. The letters are 'stacked' upper left to lower right. Is that common to do that? Where can I find further info about special perforations?

These are called perfins and can be found with: CNR CPR CBC
and S for Sask. gov. Private companies also used perfins
to mark their stamps.

Yes, Perfins or Perforated Initials.

Good page with story of perfins pic of a perforating machine.
http://www.norbyhus.dk/perfhist.html

Wikipedia article with further links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfin

Thanks, wasn't sure if it was something exotic or one-of-a-kind

Hi Topmapman and welcome to the forum

The CNR perfins you mentioned were used by the Canadian National Railways. The Canadian Northern Railway also used a perfin similar to that of the "National" one.

They can be found reading straight across or reading down. This was done mainly to identify the origin of the office of use within the Canadian National Railway system because they had offices across Canada.

All of these perfins from the CNR can be found from stamps of 1903 to 1983. The Winnipeg office used them the longest.

It is also interesting to note that there are CNR perfins on British stamps (and Newfoundland as well because it was not yet a province) because the CNR had offices in the UK as well.

Hope this helps?

Chimo

Bujutsu

Hi 'Topmapman' and welcome!

Here is another website that will provide you with additional information on Canadian perfins.

http://www.philatel2.com/jubilee/id361.htm

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