Dutch Syncopated stamps from between 1925 and 1933
introduction
This page intends to shed some light on a less known and often neglected part of Dutch stamp history: the syncopated perforations of 1925 to 1933, known in Dutch as Automaatzegels or Roltandingzegels. The relative obscurity of this subject outside the Netherlands (only in Danzig the same system was used for some time) can be explained for a part by the casual manner in which they are listed in the Scott catalogue. I hope this page may serve as a useful resource.why syncopated perfs?
The specially perforated stamps were meant for use in stamp vending machines and automatic stamp applying machines (the socalled POKO's). These machines were introduced a few years earlier in the 1920s and used coils of stamps made out of strips from normal sheets. The strips were connected by glueing the selvedges together.Soon after these makeshift coils were introduced they proved to be unsuitable. They broke too easily. As an alternative the syncopated perforation was invented by simply removing some of the perforating pins.
The result was a stamp with a very distinct perforation pattern, as can be seen on the picture.
