Editing Postage stamp (section)

=== Perforations ===
{{Main|Postage stamp separation}}
[[File:Perforations US1940 issues-2c.jpg|thumb|Rows of perforations in a sheet of 1940 postage stamps]]
[[File:Stamp UK Penny Red pl148.jpg|thumb|The [[Penny Red]], 1854 issue, the first officially perforated postage stamp]]
[[File:Washington 1857 1st perf-3c.jpg|thumb|The first officially [[Postage stamp separation|perforated]] United States stamp (1857)]]

Perforations are small holes made between individual postage stamps on a sheet of stamps,<ref>{{cite web|title=Glossary of Terms|publisher=American Philatelic Society|date=2017|url=https://stamps.org/Glossary-of-Terms|access-date=7 July 2017|archive-date=7 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407003242/http://stamps.org/Glossary-of-Terms|url-status=live}}</ref> facilitating separation of a desired number of stamps. The resulting frame-like, rippled edge surrounding the separated stamp defines a characteristic meme for the appearance of a postage stamp.

In the first decade of postage stamps' existence (depending on the country), stamps were issued without perforations. Scissors or other cutting mechanisms were required to separate a desired number of stamps from a full sheet. If cutting tools were not used, individual stamps were torn off. This is evidenced by the ragged edges of surviving examples. Mechanically separating stamps from a sheet proved an inconvenience for postal clerks and businesses, both dealing with large numbers of individual stamps on a daily basis. By 1850, methods such as rouletting wheels were being devised in efforts of making stamp separation more convenient, and less time-consuming.<ref name="SNPL-Perforations">{{cite web| url = http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/museum/1d_Perforation_Machine.html| title = Smithsonian National postal Museum: Early Perforation Machines| access-date = 14 September 2010| archive-date = 25 July 2010| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100725041345/http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/museum/1d_Perforation_Machine.html| url-status = live}}</ref>

[[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|The United Kingdom]] was the first country to issue postage stamps with perforations. The first machine specifically designed to perforate sheets of postage stamps was invented in London by [[Henry Archer]], an [[Irish people|Irish]] landowner and railroad man from [[Dublin]], Ireland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ffestiniograilway.co.uk/history1.htm |title=Ffestiniog Railway Co.|access-date=14 September 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070421153313/http://www.ffestiniograilway.co.uk/history1.htm|archive-date=21 April 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> The 1850 [[Penny Red]]<ref name="SNPL-Perforations"/><ref name="Linn's">{{cite web| url = http://www.linns.com/howto/refresher/perforations_20020701/refreshercourse.aspx| title = Linn's Stamp News, Refresher Course, Janet Klug| access-date = 14 September 2010| archive-date = 30 November 2010| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101130084028/http://www.linns.com/howto/refresher/perforations_20020701/refreshercourse.aspx| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>Stanley Gibbons Ltd, ''Specialised Stamp Catalogue Volume 1: Queen Victoria'' (8th ed. 1985) p. 207</ref> was the first stamp to be perforated during trial course of Archer's perforating machine. After a period of trial and error and modifications of Archer's invention, new machines based on the principles pioneered by Archer were purchased and in 1854 the United Kingdom postal authorities started continuously issuing perforated postage stamps in the Penny Red and all subsequent designs.

In the United States, the use of postage stamps caught on quickly and became more widespread when on 3 March 1851, the last day of its legislative session, Congress passed the ''Act of March 3, 1851'' (''An Act to reduce and modify the Rates of Postage in the United States'').<ref>[http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&mode=1&tid=2027498 National Postal Museum, Charles Toppan & Co.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111124213816/http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&mode=1&tid=2027498 |date=24 November 2011 }},</ref> Similarly introduced on the last day of the Congressional session four years later, the ''Act of March 3, 1855'' required the prepayment of postage on all mailings. Thereafter, postage stamp use in the United States quickly doubled, and by 1861 had quadrupled.<ref name="SNPL-Perforations"/>

In 1856, under the direction of [[James Campbell (Postmaster General)|Postmaster General James Campbell]], Toppan and Carpenter, (''commissioned by the United States government to print United States postage stamps through the 1850s'') purchased a rotary machine designed to separate stamps, patented in England in 1854 by William and Henry Bemrose, who were printers in [[Derby]], England.<ref name="National Archives">{{cite web| url = http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=026-d5239&cid=-1#-1| title = The National Archives| access-date = 14 September 2010| archive-date = 1 May 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110501055548/http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=026-d5239&cid=-1#-1| url-status = live}}</ref> The original machine cut slits into the paper rather than punching holes, but the machine was soon modified.<ref name="Linn's"/>

The first stamp issue to be officially perforated, the 3-cent George Washington, was issued by the United States Post Office on 24 February 1857. Between 1857 and 1861, all stamps originally issued between 1851 and 1856 were reissued with perforations. Initial capacity was insufficient to perforate all stamps printed, thus perforated issues used between February and July 1857 are scarce and quite valuable.<ref>Kenmore Collector's Catalog, 2010, #906.</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://values.hobbizine.com/stamps/us-1847-57.html| title = Hobbizine| access-date = 14 September 2010| archive-date = 25 February 2010| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100225140020/http://values.hobbizine.com/stamps/us-1847-57.html| url-status = live}}</ref>