hrdoktorx
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Posts: 7,216
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on Mar 12, 2019 22:03:42 GMT
A few flags on stamps from this weekend's stamp show stock cards. We've seen variations of some of these stamps before:  |
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hrdoktorx
Member
Posts: 7,216
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on Mar 17, 2019 4:57:05 GMT
A few stamps with flags grabbed from the trading stockbook:  |
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hrdoktorx
Member
Posts: 7,216
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on Mar 23, 2019 11:40:49 GMT
A recent arrival, the 1954 UNICEF Block from Liberia. This block exists in two sizes, and this one is the larger of the two, where the stamp designs are 63x49 mm.  |
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tomiseksj
Moderator 
Woodbridge, Virginia, USA
Posts: 6,385 
What I collect: Worldwide stamps/covers, Cinderellas, Ohio Prepaid Sales Tax Receipts, U.S. WWII Ration ephemera
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Post by tomiseksj on Mar 23, 2019 20:35:04 GMT
Two stamps with flags on a single mailing surely must qualify as a "banner" day.  These two self-adhesive booklet stamps are Scott 3278 (33 cent serpentine die cut 11 "Flag and City; Feb 25, 1999) and Scott 3778 (37 cent SDC 10x9.75 "1893 Silk Bookmark"; Apr 3, 2003). As an added bonus, the stamps were nicely postmarked in Niantic, Connecticut and the cover contained another addition to my Iwo Jima first day collection, albeit not one with a Mellone-listed cachet.  |
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hrdoktorx
Member
Posts: 7,216
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on Mar 24, 2019 7:54:29 GMT
Algerian FDC for their 1973 national service issue:  |
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hrdoktorx
Member
Posts: 7,216
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on Mar 26, 2019 18:42:31 GMT
Another find in the cover album bought at the stamp show, the Morocco issue set for the Brussells World Exhibition of 1958:  |
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hrdoktorx
Member
Posts: 7,216
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on Mar 26, 2019 20:23:12 GMT
Last from the cover album, this Australia FDC celebrating Australia Day 1979:  |
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hrdoktorx
Member
Posts: 7,216
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on Mar 28, 2019 23:44:35 GMT
Still more treasures from the Mystery box, samples from the Ecuadorian series issued for the sesquicentennial of the US Constitution, one of my favourite Ecuadorian stamp sets:   |
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hrdoktorx
Member
Posts: 7,216
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on Mar 31, 2019 14:00:28 GMT
From my soaking material, French issue for the 1979 EU assembly elections:  |
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hrdoktorx
Member
Posts: 7,216
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on Apr 16, 2019 21:05:17 GMT
Received today, Tunisia postage due stamp YT #T13, with an upside-down perforated T. The perforations were done by folding a sheet of stamps first before making the holes, so each sheet produced a half of upside-down and a half of right-side-up T's. Vertical pairs with tête-bêche perforations can be found and fetch additional value:  |
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blaamand
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Currently creating custom pages until 1940.
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Post by blaamand on Apr 17, 2019 7:32:32 GMT
Interesting - thanks for enlightening us hrdoktorx! I have a few of the inverted ones to, I though they were kind of cool - but now I realize they are not that special after all |
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Post by feebletodix on Apr 17, 2019 7:53:24 GMT
These are commonly called perfins, a contraction of perforated initials.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2019 13:34:05 GMT
I wonder if these can be called Perfins {also SPIFS} since they were originally an anti theft measure to keep employees from stealing stamps for personal use or resale as well as to distinguish Specimen stamps. These issues were made to distinguish between Post Due and the regular 1888-93 issues, so are they Perfins?
The upside down T above is more scarce in the sheet so it commands a small premium. There is also a very scarce small T from only one location
SPIFS (Stamps Perforated with Initials of Firms and Societies)
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hrdoktorx
Member
Posts: 7,216
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on Apr 17, 2019 14:42:48 GMT
I will agree with @rustamps here that these are not technically perfins, or at least I do not consider them such. The holes are actually much bigger than for more traditional perfins, and these were done by the issuing administration, as opposed to the usual case where it often was a corporation doing that to prevent employees for using stamps from the company stock for private use.
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hrdoktorx
Member
Posts: 7,216
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on Apr 17, 2019 19:49:57 GMT
Since people seem to be interested in these Tunisia postage due pairs with tête-bêche "T" perforations, here are the four that I do have:  |
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Post by feebletodix on Apr 18, 2019 8:20:43 GMT
Hi guys, I have never heard anyone refer to them as spifs before. As for who put the holes in or what size and shape, it doesn't really matter, what I was trying to do is get everyone using the same phrase to describe the same thing. We are talking not just to each other but the rest of the world (if they care to read our words) and it seems to me that we all ought be to using the same dictionary.
I though a Tete-beche pair had one image upside down to the other
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blaamand
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Currently creating custom pages until 1940.
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Post by blaamand on Apr 18, 2019 9:42:06 GMT
That would be ideal  However it appears to me there is no universally defined term to differentiate between the perforations that were applied by authorities and those applied by private companies. I believe most of us think of perfins as the variety of initials applied by private companies, so it would be good if another term was used to refer to perforations for offical use. As it is now the term perfin is a bit confusing. The best I can think of is 'Punctured', which is used by SG for the Official stamps of Cape of Good Hope. SG however use 'perforated initials' to describe the OHMS punctures on early Canadian officials and same for OS punctures on early Australian officials. I cannot find the term 'perfin' used by SG for these official stamps, but again perfin is just short for 'Perforated initials' as used by SG so there you go... Scott use the term 'Perforated Offical stamps' but also use term '5-hole perfins' on the Canadian officials. In other words, it seems the catalogs are close to or indeed defining them as perfins. I wish the catalogs would refer to them as 'Punctured', as for COGH, in order to use a term that is clearly different from 'perfin', which I in my little head should be used only for private perforated initials. In lack of any clear difference I guess we can use something like 'Authority perfins' or 'Private perfins'. This is just another example that philately could use a little bit of standarization |
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Post by feebletodix on Apr 18, 2019 11:30:57 GMT
That would be ideal However it appears to me there is no universally defined term to differentiate between the perforations that were applied by authorities and those applied by private companies. I believe most of us think of perfins as the variety of initials applied by private companies, so it would be good if another term was used to refer to perforations for offical use. As it is now the term perfin is a bit confusing. The best I can think of is 'Punctured', which is used by SG for the Official stamps of Cape of Good Hope. SG however use 'perforated initials' to describe the OHMS punctures on early Canadian officials and same for OS punctures on early Australian officials. I cannot find the term 'perfin' used by SG for these official stamps, but again perfin is just short for 'Perforated initials' as used by SG so there you go... Scott use the term 'Perforated Offical stamps' but also use term '5-hole perfins' on the Canadian officials. In other words, it seems the catalogs are close to or indeed defining them as perfins. I wish the catalogs would refer to them as 'Punctured', as for COGH, in order to use a term that is clearly different from 'perfin', which I in my little head should be used only for private perforated initials. In lack of any clear difference I guess we can use something like 'Authority perfins' or 'Private perfins'. This is just another example that philately could use a little bit of standarization The standard has been set at perfin, not by me but by those who collected them first. The enthusiasts whom I have met refer to them as Offical and Private It seems that you have understood the difficlty, sometimes we come up with a meaning for a phrase or word which we personally approve of and that changing our idea to conform to an accepted standard used by everyone else is difficult. I agree it would be good if Scott would try and catch up with SG |
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blaamand
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Currently creating custom pages until 1940.
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Post by blaamand on Apr 18, 2019 16:54:59 GMT
Absolutely - not the other way around Yes, just like I suggested Even if perfin seems to be an acknowledged phrase for perforated official stamps, I still think it is room for improvement in the philatelic dictionary in terms of being more precise. Perfins, by the name of it, should be perforated initials. 'OHMS' on the other hand is as far as I know not "initials" as such, but rather an abbreviation for a service/function (On His Majesty's Service). Initials are in my vocabulary abbreviations relating to names only, like names of private companies. Hence "perforated initials" seems to me correct for those initials found on (private) perfins.... Same goes for the 'T' on Tunisian stamps that was the subject in this thread. 'T' is an abbeviation for 'Taxe' - a function/service - it is not an initial for a name. Well, can't change the established vocabulary anyway, but I certainly agree with @rustamps and hrdoktorx when they are questioning this. |
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hrdoktorx
Member
Posts: 7,216
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on Apr 18, 2019 19:12:10 GMT
Oh Lord, if we're now going to argue about the meaning of "initials", we're not out of the woods yet! For me, it just means the first letter of a word. As for tête-bêche, it does indeed usually refers to when two neighbouring stamps have their design upside-down from each other, but here it is the perforations that are made so as to be tête-bêche, not the underlying stamps. The earlier post will be edited to make that clearer. |
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blaamand
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Currently creating custom pages until 1940.
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Post by blaamand on Apr 18, 2019 22:28:53 GMT
Hahaha, yes you're right hrdoktorx, it seems I got a bit carried away earlier...my apologies. Didn't intend to argue with anyone  Just frustrated with terminology that is not clear |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2019 0:47:24 GMT
Hi guys, I have never heard anyone refer to them as spifs before. Strange as the word SPIFS or SPIF was the original designation coined in England {1944} before Perfins {1953} became more popular
So the T holes are definitely not SPIFS and from that one can infer probably not Perfins either. It is also noted that since there were obvious non SPIf-PERFIN types they should all be termed Punctured Stamps in 1953 but that did not prevail.
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Post by feebletodix on Apr 19, 2019 7:44:02 GMT
Hi guys, I have never heard anyone refer to them as spifs before. Strange
Not really when you consider when the acronym was superceded over seventy years ago. It is also interesting to note that colloquial English had an insult from that era that was pronounced very similarly to spif which could have been why perfin was preferred. When I did a google search for the acronym I found a few others meanings as well as one entry suggesting I had miss-spelled splif.  ps sorry for the digression from flags on stamps.  |
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hrdoktorx
Member
Posts: 7,216
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on Apr 19, 2019 19:40:01 GMT
Received today, the 2019 US Flag definitive:  |
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hrdoktorx
Member
Posts: 7,216
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on Apr 20, 2019 17:26:13 GMT
Three issues with flags from the Mystery Box:  |
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hrdoktorx
Member
Posts: 7,216
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on May 1, 2019 10:52:24 GMT
Another acquisition from Monday's stamp lunch, this Newfoundland issue (Sc #155), featuring the Cabot Tower, which overlooks St. John's harbor. The flag atop the tower makes this stamp relevant to this thread, but I am more interested by this stamp because I visited Cabot Tower in the spring of 1994. I was then in graduate school studying towards my physics PhD and had just gone through a grueling semester of electrodynamics. And Cabot Tower happens to be the location from which Marconi succeeded at the first transatlantic radio transmission, so the visit spoke to my state of mind at the time. All in all, I am very pleased to have obtained this stamp which connects me to a small chapter of my life story.  |
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Post by stamphinger on May 1, 2019 12:25:45 GMT
Interesting story hrdoktorx.
SH
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hrdoktorx
Member
Posts: 7,216
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on May 3, 2019 21:25:58 GMT
Among the stamps in the album given by my colleague today, this nice KUT issue from 1972 with the flags of the African Union countries:  |
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hrdoktorx
Member
Posts: 7,216
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on Jun 11, 2019 19:35:59 GMT
From yesterday's Stamp Day, an issue from Greece showing the flags of the 10 EEC countries of the time (1979):  |
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hrdoktorx
Member
Posts: 7,216
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on Jun 15, 2019 16:32:33 GMT
Afars and Issas issue showing the main police station building with a large French flag in the front:  |
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Just frustrated with terminology that is not clear
