Stamp Collection for Beginners – 08. Perfins

Perfins are stamps with perforated initials or symbols. As almost every country has permitted their use, so it is quite rare that a stamp collector will miss them. They are just like any other stamp, except that they have these perforated initials usually punched through the center of the stamps.

These perforated initials as they were initially called, were introduced by Mr. Joseph Sloper in England in 1868.

The idea of making stamps in this manner came into being to protect these bits of paper against theft or fraudulent use by the employees in business firms. Secondly, it prevented turning in the stamps at post office for refunds, a practice once permitted in some countries.

Not only do thousands of business firms use perfins but many government agencies also utilise the same technique to convert an ordinary postage stamp for use as official. Fiscal or telegraph stamps, thus offering a varied and interesting field for collectors. The year of use for the first perfin in India is not known because there are no records relating to perfins with the postal department. Also there are no such hard and fast rules in the Post Office Guide of India permitting the use of perfins. At the same time, clause 13 of section 1 of Post Office Guide (Part I) Reads as follows:

“The perforation of postage stamps with initials or other identifying marks traced in minute holes is not prohibited provided they do not render the indications regarding the country of origin and value of stamp illegible”

The use of Perfins was at its peak from 1905 to 1940 when overprinting of stamps by semi-government bodies and private parties was strictly forbidden. After 1940 the use of meter franking became popular in India and so their use diminished to a great extent.

The word Perfin is used to describe a stamp which has been punctured with a series of small holes forming a letter or letters or even a symbol.

Stamps are normally fed into a perforator in such a way that perforation reads in a normal manner when the stamp is in an upright position. Since perforators will perforate more than one stamp at a time, sheets of stamps are folded so that the top stamps are perforated from the face while the next row will be perforated from the reverse.

As no hard and fast rules were maintained in feeding the stamps in the perforators all possible varieties are found in perfins, i.e., obverse, sideways, reverse, inverted, misplaced, double and triple perforated etc.

Perfins with designs and monograms on them have been seen instead of alphabets or numbers on them.

Besides postage stamps Perfins are also found on revenue stamps, Foreign Bill stamps, Share transfer stamps etc.

They are generally displayed face down usually on black album pages so that the perforated initials or monograms show more clearly.