Perforated stamp

Hi,

I have in my postcard collection two cards with a perforated stamp (see below, first and second scan).

I think the perforation is to be read as: R F & C°

On the recto of one of the cards, the sender signs with R[...] F[...] Co (see below, third scan).

The verso of the cards has been written by the same person; the two cards have been sent to Sarah and Noëmie Carlier in Roulers (Roeselare) (Belgium), two sisters whose correspondance I'm collecting (see below, fourth and fifth scan).

Could anyone tell me more about this perforation?
What does it mean exactly?

Thanks in advance!

Best regards,

quasar

Many companies in the UK privately perforated their stamp stocks to prevent pilfering and thus private use of company property.

These perfinnned (perforated) stamps are collectable. So to find the name of the company that perforated these it would be best to try a specialist group or society.

If you Google 'perfinned stamps' you will find such groups who may be able to help you further.

Hi. The perforations are known as "perfins" and were a security device to identify the owner of the perfin as the only body authorised to affix the perfin stamps to envelopes. They were used on GB stamps from, I believe, 1865 onwards..
The perfin could be a government body, company or individual - some rare but most not
The initials RF & Co were used by a company called Robert Falkner of Manchester. They were well known printers and had premises in London also
Hope this helps..... Mike

Hi,
Thanks for your answer.
I was able to find this site: Link (http)
It mentions 'RF & C°' twice; looking at my third scan, I think Robinson & Fleming is the right one.
Best regards,
quasar

Hi Mike,
Thanks for your assistance.
Robert Falkner is a possibility, but I found this site Link (http) where 'R F & C°' is mentioned twice. 'Robinson & Fleming' looks more probable if I compare with the handwriting on my third scan.
Best regards,
quasar

Change to be able to tell Quasar anything, this is a scan of a page of The Perfin Society's Illustrated Catalogue, gives everything we know, I think (I've barely touched my perfins since Steve became Secretary/ Treasurer in 2007 after I did it for 14 years!)

Thanks Dave for this additional information.
Most important for me is to know that 'R F & C°' is Robinson & Fleming & Co, but I will keep this page in my documentation.

Two additional questions:

1) What do 'in use' and 'dates' mean? Do they apply to the production of this perfin? My two postcards are sent in 1901, several years afther the 'in use' and 'dates' period...

2) What are the Cols A & G, B & H, ... One would think they are varieties, but I don't see any difference in the images?

The answers will surely be simple, but I'm not a philatelist at all...

Best regards,

quasar

quasar
1/ Your dates extend the usage, which is based on known postmarks or stamp issues, our catalogue editor probably has already got these, unfortunately that's the trouble with a printed catalogue, its out of date as soon as printed, these R's were last printed in 2011
2/ This was a 6 head wide die, so 1st and 7th columns of stamps were perfinned by the first head, 2nd and 8th columns by second head etc. This has been proved by multiples of the perfin. Until multiples are found many dies were thought to be different (I think it is one pin or half a millimeter different) and given separate suffixes.

Our catalogue editor is very meticulous.
So the pattern R upon F&Co is R1810, .01M for a four pin o, M for multiple die. The 6 pin o is .02M, .02a is thought to be a single headed die used on postal stationery but the quill pen indicates the illustration has been drawn or at least finished by hand.
R1820.01p is a different letter arrangement, thought to be used by the same company c1941 after earlier dies were destroyed in the blitz, made by perforating pairs or even single letters at different times, p is for provisional.

And that's only for starters, there's lots to perfins, hence I do a lot of other things now, postcards, stamps, they're bigger!

Thanks Dave, now everything is clear.
I didn't realize perfins were such a specialized collection topic.

Looking a bit closer, I now see that my examples are type R180.01M, as I have two four pin o's.
So 'my' dates are consistent with the catalogue after all: between 1890 and 1936.

Best regards,

quasar