It was not until early in 1908 that the Post Office Department issued some coil stamps of the 1902 series for use in vending and stamp affixing machines, but purely as an experiment. They were found to be satisfactory and as the Department realized that a demand existed for this type of stamp it was less than three weeks after the new design had been issued in the ordinary form that it was also available in coil form.

As in the previous issue they were made from the regular 400 subject sheets which were perforated twelve in the vertical spaces between the stamps and then cut into strips of twenty. The vertical guide line at the center of each strip of twenty, which were pasted together by hand and rolled into coils of 500 and 1,000. These were coiled on one half inch diameter pasteboard cores.

Forgeries

Look closely at the bottom edge of the stamp shown and you will see the remains of perforations. That is because this was perforated on all sides 10¢ stamp (#338) with the bottom and top perforations trimmed off so as to give the appearance of #355. This is a commonly forged stamp.

As this stamp is so rare and expensive I recommend that they should only be purchased with a certificate of authenticity.