page_title: Washington–Franklin Issues
section_title: Imperforate stamps
hierarchical_section_title: Washington–Franklin Issues / Imperforate stamps
caption_attribution_description: English: US Postage stamps, Washington Franklin Issues, 3 imperforate blocks of 4: Franklin ONE CENT, green, issue of 1908Washington, 1-CENT, green, issue of 1912Washington, 2-CENTS, red, issue of 1912
context_page_description: The Washington–Franklin Issues are a series of definitive U.S. Postage stamps depicting George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, issued by the U.S. Post Office between 1908 and 1922. The distinctive feature of this issue is that it employs only two engraved heads set in ovals—Washington and Franklin in full profile—and replicates one or another of these portraits on every stamp denomination in the series. This is a significant departure from previous definitive issues, which had featured pantheons of famous Americans, with each portrait-image confined to a single denomination. At the same time, this break with the recent past represented a return to origins. Washington and Franklin, after all, had appeared on the first two American stamps, issued in 1847, and during the next fifteen years, each of the eight stamp denominations available featured either Washington or Franklin.
  In the early Washington–Franklin issues, every design incorporated a pair of olive branches surrounding one or the other of the two profiles. From 1912 on, however, the Franklin-head issues would instead appear with Oak leaves near the bottom of the oval in the image.
context_section_description: Postage stamps issued in sheets with no perforations between the rows and columns of individual stamps are referred to as imperforate. The Washington–Franklin issue contains several series of imperforate stamps that occur on a small range of denominations from 1 through 5-cents. These stamps were issued in imperforate form to accommodate several major vending machine companies of that period who used this stock for coil stamps in their machines which were in wide use about the country. Many of these companies applied their own form of perforations, such as the Schermack, Mail-O-Meter, and Brinkerhoff vending machine companies. There were at least seven such firms, each having its own patented machines. Imperforate stamps were issued in full uncut sheets of 400 subjects or in coil rolls of 500 or 1000 stamps. The imperforate issues were printed from a flat plate with 400 subjects until 1918 when they were produced on the rotary press from continuous rolls of paper. Imperforate coils from this stock are much rarer than examples cut from full sheets.
caption: Postally used examples of imperforate Washington–Franklins
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