Belgium 'Prefin' Canceled Stamps From Pre 1900

No-One seems to care about Belgium postal stamps that were canceled by perforation. There is no official documentation available on why these postal stamps were canceled by perforation, and no-one seems to care to document these unknown stamps.
The only documentation on these stamps is from a single Netherlands web site [ https://www.perfinclubnederland.nl/...-in-beweging ]
The perfin stamp I have is undocumented and ( apparently ) is incredibly rare due to the fact no one cares enough to document these types of antique cancellations, or what they were actually used for.
Scott has absolutly no information.

What you have is a "perfin" or a stamp perforated with initials, usually as a security device. It is also cancelled with a nice date stamp. It is not "cancelled by perforation." In general, a perfin that is also cancelled isn't too rare, but the perfin itself may be something that is uncommon, so it could be of interest to some collectors. I'm not an expert on Belgium perfins, so can't help you out there.

I have to point out that using a coin holder to display the stamp isn't really a good idea. It isn't really locked in place, and can move about. It is also creased in multiple places, and the perforations are bent in at least two places, so that it not good. My recommendation is to carefully remove from that coin holder and place in a stamp mount.

When you say that it, "is incredibly rare due to the fact no one cares enough to document these types of antique cancellations", is sort of circular reasoning. Maybe no one cares enough to document them because they are very common and not worth the time?

The link that you provide actually has the JPB perfin illustrated, showing two different patterns for it. Therefore, one can assume that the JPB perfin itself is very common.


In any case, I'll let others comment also.

Caring? Nor am I a student of Belgian perfins, but consider the fact that you found a nice webpage which sources a Belgian perfin catalog. It would suggest that they do care and take a serious interest in documenting such, but it takes a lot of time and effort to amass lists like this, format them for publication or web-access, maintain webpages, etc.. They readily admit there are unlisted items to discover (read this as "unlisted does not necessarily mean rare or valuable"). Celebrate that the glass is more than half-full, rather than lamenting some air-space at the top. Beyond that, the web is not the end-all to the information available.

As for your "J.P.B." example, note it has periods after each initial, thus it is not the one shown from the webpage by Partime, but will be another pattern, which may or may not be listed in the full catalog.

As for Scott, with few unusual exceptions, cancels and perfins are well beyond the scope of their catalog.

There, also, exists a perfin J.P.B. & C..

I think Partime found his text on the website of the Dutch perfin club. The left perfin was used by the Ghent maritime agents John P. Best. They think the second one was used by the same company.

Unless perfins are found on a cover with details of the sender that fit the perfins, it is difficult to find out who used the perfin. These were private perforations. Consequently, it is very unlikely that documents like orders or invoices are easy to find. Postal authorities are prone to maintain archives. Companies may not keep documents longer than 5 to 10 years. Also, it is undoable to contact each company to ask whether they can have a look in their archives. This, especially, will be difficult when the companies no longer exist.

As written above, 'care' is not an issue. There is a specialist society. Do not forget that more than half of Belgium speaks Dutch. It would not be strange to find that Flemish collectors turn to a Dutch society. This society cares. There are more perfin societies around the world. There, also, are catalogues. Some perfins may never be identified.

There are plenty companies that used different perforators over time, changing the perfin. So, it might be that J.P.B. and J.P.B. & C., also, were used by J.P. Best of Ghent. But it might as well be they were used by other companies.

And the reasons perfins were used was for commercial reasons but, most commonly, to prevent clerks stealing the stamps and selling them back to the post office or a third party.

#RLS0812

Sorry for my late reply.

As a perfin collector, I am familiar with almost all the information available and have every catalog out there. The Belgian one is one of the newest editions available worldwide, and many collectors contribute to completing it with each new edition. So, many people care about Belgian perfins!

The biggest problem for us collectors happened in the past. Many philatelists considered perfins to be damaged and threw them away. As a result, many were lost over the years. Even today, many old-fashioned stamp shop owners still hold this belief—it's a pity!

If you're interested in perfins, feel free to send me a PM.
I'm really into this topic, and I have a collection of 35K perfins at home! ;-)


The information about the user of JPB is correct, but over the years, six different perfin types have been used by John P. Best. Take a look: