Help On Some Perfins

I found some perfins in a mint lot I picked up. Any idea what is the story behind these with the I perfin? I also have some Special Delivery stamps with a more exotic perfin (maybe an envelope).

I assume they are still postally valid.

Are you sure that is an I? Could be an H? And yes, they should be usable, but you might get arrested for stealing those from wherever they came from.

Peter

If it is an H, it is a wide H....

A little more internet seems to point to state of Illinois. This is from the perfins.org site.

angore - you are correct, the "I" is for the state of Illinois. I am not 100% certain but I believe that they are NOT valid for postage any longer.

Logically, mint perfin-ed stamps would be valid U.S. postage.

I would have to see a reference before I could believe that they cannot be used.

The article I read on perfins when I first began collecting them stated that the object of perforating the stamps was to prevent theft, and only the entity to whom the perfin is registered could legally use the stamps. If this is correct, then the above stamps would only valid for postage if used on official State of Illinois mail. I read the article online, but I don't recall where, so I cannot vouch for its accuracy.