Chasing Stamps Full of Holes

A penchant for collecting stamps with perforated initials

- Jon Johnson

When I earned myCollector’s Badge as a 12-year-old Boy Scout in Prince George, B.C., I had no idea it marked the start of a journey that would last the rest of my life. It all started when I requested stamps that were on the envelopes we received from friends and family. I began organizing them into a collection and worked on it periodically, whenever the weather was inclement.

Six years later, while attending college, I joined the Prince George Stamp Club as its youngest member. At each monthly meeting, some time was devoted to show-and-tell where I presented my latest discovery, only to be disheartened when other members inevitably said, “Oh, I have five or six of those.” It took me more than a year—and countless hours of fun at the local stamp shop—before two of my discoveries were met with dead silence at show-and-tell. I had found two stamps, full of holes, that no one else had in their collection.