Revenue Perfins Question

I only recently started collecting perfins, and I have a question about the revenue stamps with perfins. I read that companies would use perfins to prevent theft, both from employees and break-ins. Made sense to me, but then I found all of the many perfins on revenue stamps. (One dealer had over 50 different perfins on the $4.00 series 1917 Documentary stamp.) So why did companies perforate their initials on revenue stamps? Could they be traded in at the Post Office for cash like regular stamps were a century ago?

The stamps were affixed to trading slips/documents. The amount of stamps depended on the value of the transaction. The perforating was a way of cancelling the stamps - preventing re-use. They could not be 'traded in'.

BKing, You will often find two types of punched patterns on 20th century US revenue stamps.

The first is the typical perfin similar to those found on postage stamps used to protect from theft and applied shortly after the time of purchase, where the initials, letters or logo will fit entirely on the stamp.

The second punch pattern is a punched cancel which typically is much larger in area, overlapping onto the document, and supplying a date of use. Often punched at an angle to the stamps.

You can find revenues with both types of punches overlapped on the same stamp making it a challenge to read either one.

John Becker - I noticed the extra information - like on this wine stamp I bought last week (SC# RE 102a). It reads "E & K Co." on top line and "+3·+4·41" on the second line. Because it is a large stamp the information is all there. I found it interesting that the stamp was perforated so as to be read from the back side.

I assume that the date is March 4, 1941, but why the "+" signs? Perhaps it means after March 4th?

I believe the plus was used to designate a blank.

The + is a separator much the same as the / that we use in 4/17/2016.

E & K is Engels & Krudwig, a wine producer in Sandusky, Ohio (along Lake Erie). They were a prolific producer of 3.2 wine in 1933, the partial repeal period which gave birth to 3.2 beer and wine as legal nonintoxicating beverages. They used perfins to cancel the 12 ounce fermented fruit juice stamps (Scott RE4) and occasionally on the scarce 29 ounce fermented fruit juice stamps (Scott REF8).