Page 180 - Sutcliffe A to Z Collection

Perf:lna.

Un.it ed l'rui t Company .

The most common of the three recorded typea of Jamaican "perfin" ~s that of
the United Fruit Company, examples of wh1ch are shown below.

It appears to be usual in perforating perfins ~n many countr~es that ~t
was, and probably still is, the pract 1ce to fold a sheet or sheets ot stamps
before putting them through the machine or using a "perfin punch". Hence,
in the case of the stamps facing upwards the perfin reads from left to right
wh1lst those facing downwards have it reversed, reading from right to left .

Th1s method appears to have been used in produc1ng the Un1ted Fru1t Company's
perfln, which reads "UFCo", so that those perforated on the face of the stamp
have the "U" to the left facing upwards, those perforated through the back of
the stamp are reversed hav1ng the "U" to the right facing downwards. It seems
that both these two types of perf1n are equally common and are designated here
as Types 1 and 2 respectively.

Typ~s 3 and 4 are, merely variations of Types l and 2 where the sheet of
stamps has been inserted wrongly i n the mach1ne, resulting in a reversal of
the per!in with the "U" facing downwards.

The next two ma)or types of perfin are Types 5 and 6, where the stamps have
been p"rforated sideways, looking at the front of the stamp the "U" appears at
the top and facing to the left 1n Type 5 whilst 1n Type 6 the "U" J.s at the
bottom also fac1ng to the left. This method of perforation appears on the
hor1zontal stamps, such as the 1~ green values of the two p1ctor1al 1ssues,
the country name appear1ng at the top .

The last two types, Types 7 and 8, are the variations of Types 5 and 6 due
to a reversal of sheets and having the "U" fac1ng downwar ds.

So fdr only the pos1t10n1ng of the perf1n has been mentioned, but, although
a complete perfin compr1ses 36 holes, due to usage this perf1n can be found
with fewer holes e1ther because of the loss of "p1ns" from the mach1ne or pins
not having perforated a stamp.

Below are examples of such perfins, set out 1n a decreas1ng order of the
number of holes . All these perf1ns could obv1ously have the same range of
Types 1 to 8, and there are also stamps which have only a part1al perf1n, due
to it being struck across two stamps.

The earliest date of this perfin is probably about 1919, but examples are
known on the later issues of K1ng George VI values .

It should be added that in the examples shown most of the stamps are shown
as viewed from the back, resulting in a reversal of the mark1ng of the perfln.