Perforate Your Own Stamps

Well-known philatelic writer and collector Janet Klug writes in Linn's, "I continue to receive complaints from collectors who are discouraged that they cannot safely soak many current United States stamps to remove them from envelopes. I have offered alternative suggestions: collect the stamps on cover, or clip them neatly from the envelopes and mount them in albums as before."

She goes on to say, "Recently I found a pair of scissors in an office supply shop that might provide an acceptable solution for those who want to collect used stamps in stamp albums."

"The scissors create a cut similar to a stamp’s serpentine die cut. Use it to trim close to the stamp, leaving a little space between the wavy die-cuts of the stamp edges and the cut of the scissors. The result will be a stamp that is still on paper but it will have the appearance of a traditionally perforated and soaked stamp."

Shown above are some stamps Janet "perforated."

To read her entire article, click here.