ArtiStamps Creators
A Group for all that love and make artistamps. Stories, concepts, special issues, All there is to know
"To perforate or not to perforate? That is the question"
Bonjour!
I'm not at all certain why lots of folks want to make stamps that appear to be 'perforated'.
The first ever stamps (from Britain, the line-engraved issues of 1840-1857 that included the world's first ever postage stamp the Penny Black, and its buddies the Twopenny Blue and the Penny Red) were printed in sheets of 240 (12x20) and cut by scissors.
Perforated stamps were not introduced in the UK until 1858.
Now I'm not a stamp historian, but I know that the stamps of many other countries (including France, the Netherlands, many of the Australian States, and lots of former British colonies) followed the same pattern -- first sheets of stamps that had to be cut by scissors, later tear-off perforated stamps.
And so?
And so, the perforation of stamps is not the only way to go, so perhaps it's not worth getting too hung up on it.
Regards, Val(entine Mark Herman)
CrackerJack Kid
Hello Mark,
Like Brad, I have a Rosback pedal perforator too...circa 1895. It weights a ton and has a few banged up
pins, but a few "blind perfs" on my stamp sheets are something like a signature. Love those Reb stamps
and the story they tell. George Washington appears on many of the first Confederate issues, he was, after all,
a Virginian and didn't he own slaves at one time? Back to perfs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Donald Evans
used a typewriter for his one-of-a-kind issues. I suppose if you hammered each dot enough times you might
tear through.
Cheers,
CrackerJack Kid
Oct 25, 2011
ginny lloyd
Such good info on this topic. I've been attempting to compile all of the ways artistamp makers "perforate". In the GL Post Artistamp Museum collection there are a variety of methods since perforating machines are scarce. I see all are valid and it is more about "does it look like a stamp" or not for me personally, having been both with and without a perforating machine in my years of making artistamps. Some artistamp sheets look like stamps purely because of the perforations and others look so because of the design. Clever solutions to the perf or no perf debate can be found and I find this to be a very interesting sub-topic within the art form.
Brad thanks for adding the historical info!
Aug 11, 2013
Ficus strangulensis
A totally non-traditional perforation technique abt which I'd wondered is using a laser engraver. Then, at least I think THEN, one could make the perfs perfect so that they meet with no mis-registration at the crossings.
I looked at laser engraver prices, though, and decided to leave the moths in my wallet undisturbed.
Seriously, though, does anyone perf this way?
Sep 23, 2019