Perfin

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 [ [http://www.norbyhus.dk/perfin18.html Toke Nørby. The Story about the SPIFS and PERFINs] — See Part 4. The Authorizations to Perforate Stamps.] . 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.

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 [ [http://www.capepostalhistory.com/ADHESIVES/Edward-stamps.html Cape Postal History] ] 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. [ [http://home3.inet.tele.dk/oxholm/hjemmevaern/hjv/stamp.htm Brug af frimærker i Hjemmeværnet.] ] 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. [Randall, John M., ed. (1998). "Catalog of United States Perfins. A Catalog and Album of Security Punches on United States Postage Stamps 1908–1998". Long Beach, NY: The Perfins Club.]

Among countries known to have punctured stamps for general use by all government agencies and offices are the following: Australia Meara, J. P., (n.d. (March 1981)). "The Commonwealth Specialists’ Catalogue" (41st ed.). Dubbo, N.S.W.: Seven Seas Stamps Pty. Ltd., p. 6. ISBN 0-7256-0234-1] ["Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue. Part I. British Commonwealth 1997" (99th ed.), Vol. 1. Ringwood, Hants.: Stanley Gibbons Ltd., sect. Australia. ISBN 0-85259-409-7] and each of the Australian States (New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia), Canada [Wrigley, Roy and Brian Moir (n.d. (1982??)). "The Catalogue & Guidebook of Canadian Official Stamps" (10th ed.). Vancouver, BC: J & M Publishing Co. Ltd.] ["Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue. Part I. British Commonwealth 1997" (99th ed.), Vol. 1. Ringwood, Hants.: Stanley Gibbons Ltd., sect. Canada. ISBN 0-85259-409-7] , Canal Zone ["Scott 2003 Specialized Catalogue of U.S. Stamps & Covers" (81st ed., Oct. 2002). Sidney, OH: Scott Publishing Co., sect. Canal Zone. Air Post Official Stamps. ISBN 0-89487-289-3] , Luxembourg [(1986). "PRIFIX. catalogue spécialisé illustré des timbres-poste du Luxembourg avec les cotations des timbres Europa". No publication location (printed in Luxembourg): la banque du timbre.] , Anglo-Egyptian Sudan ["Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue. Part I. British Commonwealth 1997" (99th ed.), Vol. 2. Ringwood, Hants.: Stanley Gibbons Ltd., sect. Sudan. ISBN 0-85259-411-9] , and Switzerland ["Schweizer Briefmarken Katalog 2000" (69th ed.). Bern: Multipress Verlag AG. ISBN 3-9520837-7-1] . From time to time official perfins from Guatemala, Uruguay, and Venezuela are offered on eBay. [Listings on eBay are too ephemeral to serve as useful references.]

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.

Perfinned postal orders

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.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.perfins.org The Perfins Club]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/pr/perfinsoc/index.html The Perfin Society]
* [http://www.rpsc.org/Library/perfins/perfin_officials.htm Canadian Perfin Officials]
* [http://www.kw.igs.net/~mjbehm/ Canadian Perfins of the Victorian Era]
* [http://www.rodsell.com/hkperfins/hkperfin.html Hong Kong Perfins]
* [http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/dave1/perfin/perfin-club-new-zealand-australia.html Perfin Club of New Zealand and Australia]
* [http://membres.lycos.fr/dgrecu/bibperf.html Bibliography. The Romanian Perfins.]
* [http://www.philatel2.com/jubilee/id166.htm King George V Silver Jubilee - Perfins]
* [http://www.sossi.org/perfin/spifs.htm Scout PERFINs & SPIFS]
* [http://www.soft-light.com/bapa/ Bay Area Perfin Association]
* [http://www.norbyhus.dk/perfpage.html Toke Nørby's Perfin Pages]
* [http://home19.inet.tele.dk/dkperfin/dkperfin/ Dansk Perfin Samlerklub. Danish Perfin Society] — in Danish and English
* [http://www.arge-lochungen.de/ Arbeitsgemeinschaft Lochungen e. V. im BDPh] — in German
* [http://www.klassische-philatelie.ch/intro/intro_perfins.html Klassische Philatelie – Einleitung. Durchlöcherte Marken – Die Welt der „Perfins“] — in German
* [http://www.perfin.it/Home.htm Official Site of Italian Perfins] — in Italian and English