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Perfin
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A perfin (a contraction of 'PERForated INitials'), also called SPIFS (a contraction of 'Stamps Perforated by Initials of Firms and Societies'), is a pattern of tiny holes punched through a postage stamp. Organizations used perforating machines to make perforations forming letters or designs in postage stamps they purchased, often in bulk, with the purpose of discouraging pilferage. The size and number of perfin holes, and sometimes the design permitted, is usually regulated by law or postal regulation in the relevant country.
Great Britain was the first country to use perfins in 1868.
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Encyclopedia
A perfin (a contraction of 'PERForated INitials'), also called SPIFS (a contraction of 'Stamps Perforated by Initials of Firms and Societies'), is a pattern of tiny holes punched through a postage stamp. Organizations used perforating machines to make perforations forming letters or designs in postage stamps they purchased, often in bulk, with the purpose of discouraging pilferage. The size and number of perfin holes, and sometimes the design permitted, is usually regulated by law or postal regulation in the relevant country.
Great Britain was the first country to use perfins in 1868. They are still used there and in a few other countries, although their use has declined dramatically since the introduction of franking machines. In Britain unused postage stamps could be redeemed for cash at the post office but a perforated stamp had obviously been stolen so the use of perfins gave organisations better security over their postage before franking machines became popular.
Perfins are known from the following countries: Allenstein, Argentina, Australia and its states, Austria, Barbados. Bavaria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burma, Canada, Canal Zone, Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon (Sri Lanka),Chile, China, Cochin China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Crete, Cuba, Curaçao (Netherlands Antilles), Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Egypt, Falkland Islands, Finland, France, Germany and several of its post-World War II occupation districts, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Hong Kong, Hungary, India and the states of Cochin and Hyderabad, Iran (Persia), Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malaya, Manchuria, Mauritius, Mexico, Netherlands, Netherlands Indies, New Zealand, Norway, Orange River Colony, Palestine, Papua, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Salvador, South Africa, Spain, Straits Settlements, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Transvaal, Tunisia, Turkey, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Officially prepared perfins
A number of countries perforated stamps as a means to denote official mail. For example in 1906 the Cape of Good Hope Government Printing and Stationery Department adopted a system of perforating in connection with the stamps used by their Department for Foreign Mail matter. The stamps were perforated by a machine, consisting of eleven round holes, in the form of two triangles, having their common apexes meeting in the hole at the centre of the stamp.
Denmark punctured stamps for use by the Home Guard. The United States has punctured stamps for use by the Federal Housing Administration, the various Federal Reserve Banks, the Bureau of the Census, and the United States Veterans Administration.
Among countries known to have punctured stamps for general use by all government agencies and offices are the following: Australia and each of the Australian States (New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia), Canada, Canal Zone, Luxembourg, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and Switzerland. From time to time official perfins from Guatemala, Papua, Uruguay, and Venezuela are offered on eBay.
Collecting perfins
Formerly considered damaged and not worth collecting, perforated postage stamps are now highly sought by specialist stamp collectors. It is often difficult to identify the originating uses of individual perfins because there are usually no identifying features, e.g., Kodak used a simple K as their perfin, but on its own a stamp perforated K could have been used by several other users. A K perfin still affixed to a cover that has some company identifying feature, like the company name, address, or even a postmark or cancellation of a known town where the company had offices, enhances such a perfin.
British postal orders were perfinned by special machines as part of paying out on bets in the football pools. These postal orders turn up from time to time, but they are very sought after by postal order collectors.
Other uses
Perfins are widely used in orienteering, to mark control cards as proof that the orienteer has visited each control point.
External links
- — in Danish and English
- — in German
- — in German
- — in Italian and English
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