Perforations

The world's first postage stamps, issued by GreatBritain in 1840, were without means of self-separation.They are called "imperforate" or, abbreviated, "imperf."Such stamps had to be cut apart with scissors or someother means. Hence it is unusual to find "imperf." stampswith nice margins on all four sides.

Shortly after the first stamps were issued, the idea ofseparating each stamp from the other by means of rowsof small holes between the rows of stamps was introduced.The story, probably apocryphal, is told that a ne'er-do-well had purchased some of England's first stamps and,under the influence of drink, sat on the curb where heproduced a pin and began to poke pin holes betweenhis stamps so that he could tear them apart. The ideaworked so well that he took his stamps back to the PostOffice and pointed out his great discovery. Later, it isrelated, the British Government provided this gentlemanwith a substantial sum of money for his invention. Thereseems to be some evidence that something of this nature