ken44
**Member** 
Posts: 22
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Post by ken44 on Sept 14, 2024 22:24:00 GMT
Ok, I am new to this stamp collecting hobby,so forgive me if the answer to my question is obvious.
why are stamps perforated with different numbers of perforations. Why not say perforate all stamps with 11 per 2 cm and why a different number on the horizontal than the vertical?
We could throw our perf gauges away  .
ken44
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fazeman
Member 
Posts: 384
What I collect: Worldwide
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Post by fazeman on Sept 14, 2024 22:49:38 GMT
Welcome to the forum ken44! I reckon that the number perforations were tested by printing companies over the years to arrive at stamp sizes easy to separate from one another. I think the sweet spot is between 10 and 12. |
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rod222
Member
Posts: 11,104 
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on Sept 15, 2024 1:34:03 GMT
Ok, I am new to this stamp collecting hobby,so forgive me if the answer to my question is obvious.
why are stamps perforated with different numbers of perforations. Why not say perforate all stamps with 11 per 2 cm and why a different number on the horizontal than the vertical?
We could throw our perf gauges away .
ken44
Hi Ken, the intricacies of differing perforation guages, paper, watermarks, printing, colours, countries, overprints, surcharges, gives our hobby its inherent charm. Our hobby, in fact still offers you the option to toss your perf guage, just collect imperf stamps (wink) |
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khj
Member
Posts: 1,524
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Post by khj on Sept 15, 2024 3:38:46 GMT
I fondly remember one young collector many years ago (not me) who would use scissors and trim off all the teeth so that the stamp would look nicer. Fortunately, the stamps were all common used US stamps. They were quite proud of how "nice/neat" their small collection looked. Not that I recommend doing that, but to each his/her own...
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Ryan
Moderator 
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 2,754
What I collect: If I have a catalogue for it, I collect it. And I have many catalogues ....
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Post by Ryan on Sept 16, 2024 3:53:06 GMT
I fondly remember one young collector many years ago (not me) who would use scissors and trim off all the teeth ... I had an aunt who would save stamps for me, and she often cut off a bunch of perf teeth too. It didn't seem like she tried to do it for the sake of neatness, as the job was almost always irregular, leaving some teeth while cutting off others. It was more a matter of not really caring about the teeth, as the image design was the only "real" part of a stamp to her, I guess. Unfortunately, one of her sources of stamps was from a nephew or something who was located in what was then still called Upper Volta. So, the stamps in my small collection of postally used copies from Upper Volta all have chopped off teeth. Oh well! Ryan |
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khj
Member
Posts: 1,524
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Post by khj on Sept 16, 2024 4:30:33 GMT
 I had a habit of trimming stamps on paper very close. As I got older, I quit that as I got less dexterous and started unintentionally trimming off a few teeth. Also been known to create a few bisects cutting some stuck down stamps off an album page for soaking, and forgetting the album page was double-sided! 
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