Need Help: Perf Variety Or Someone Playing With A Scissors On 2cent Washinton

When trying to get the size of your file under the 200k limit, be sure and use the optimizer that is provided. It is quite good. I think we might have Don to thank for it.

2 cent:

I agree with previous posters that I have not seen a pair of pinking shears with a zig-zag any finer than the typical "pinking" cut.


Having a lazy Friday evening, I wondered "what is the gauge of a pair of pinking shears?" (Never asked THAT question before!) I contacted an avid sewing friend who owns 3 pairs, all essentially identical (and who has never seen a different zig-zag rate). I borrowed 1 pair of Wiss shears, total length of 9 inches.


Made a cut in a piece of pink construction paper, which when placed along the centimeter rule of a Phil-A-Meter shows slightly more than 4 peaks in 2cm.

Using the sliding scale of a Multi-Gauge, every 3rd point aligns very well with 12.3, which comes to a more exact "perf 4.1" (illustration not included here).

Making 3 staggered overlapping cuts results in a simulated perf 12.3! Here set against a perf 12 stamp to give a fairly close match.


While this may not be how the left side was modified, it does make a close reproduction. Now back to your regularly scheduled program!

Great work John!

I wonder if someone used a pair of pinking shears to cut the envelope that the stamp was soaked off of.

Thank you all for the excellent feedback and discussions. All was constructive and helpful. Thank you also to "littleriverphil" who gave me a welcome as a new guy to the stamp community.