For Friday, October 13, 2000

DF52

FINLAND 6 WITH FULL TEETH

As most stamp collectors know the earliest stamps were printed in sheets and cut apart with scissors, and these are known as imperforates. Early attempts to make this process easier included various trial perforations and trial rouletting. Perforations easily won the popularity and ease of use contest. Finland experimented with a type of rouletting that looks like large perforations and is known as serpentine roulette. One of the reasons it was abandoned was that it was difficult to separate stamp without tearing and only a tiny percentage of all stamps have retained full rouletted teeth. We offer this very fine example of the 1886 Five pennia with a light circular postmark.

DF52 CDN $225
US $150