The word PERFIN is derived from the words PERForated INitial, that is
stamps that have been perforated with initials or designs by banks,
railroads and other large organizatiions to discourage stamp theft.
There are some 70 countries whose stamps are punched in this manner.
Perfroating stamps started in England in 1864 and was authorized in the
USA in 1908.
Example Perfin Pattern
Among the ways of collecting perfins are:
- By TYPES, that is one example of each type of perforator punch
(these collections are usualy mounted face down to clearly show the
punch holes).
- By ISSUES, trying to obtain each different stamp with each
different type of perfin.
Collecting perfins is fun
and not for profit collection. Most values run from $0.05 to $5.00 for
stamps and $2.00 to $30.00 for the covers.
Cover Example
This is due to the fact
that perforated stamps are generally considered damaged to a collector
who is wanting fine examples for a regular stamp collection.
Example Perfin Collection Page
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