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Postage Stamps and Roulette
Perforating is the most common way of separating postage stamps but other systems are used as well. The most significant of these is roulette. With this system, the machine does not punch holes in the paper but cuts little slits. Many types of roulette are known and they include:
Arc roulette: The cuts are curved and the edges form little hollows or scallops.
Diamond or lozenge roulette: Cuts are made in the shape of little crosses, forming diamonds with the outer corners open.
Pin roulette: Instead of cuts, tiny holes are pricked in the paper, without any of it being cut out as in perforating.
Oblique roulette: The cuts are set slanting, parallel to one another.
Rouletted: These are straight cuts. Many different lengths and distances of cut exist.
Rouletted in colour: Notched rules are set between the clichés forming the printing plate of the stamps. The rules are inked with the plate, and, whilst cutting little slits, they also colour their edges.
Saw-tooth roulette: The edges of the separated stamps resemble the edge of a saw.
Serpentine roulette: Wavy lines are cut between the rows of stamps.
Zigzag roulette: The cuts produce sharp points along the stamp edges.
The separation of rouletted stamps is rather difficult and very often one of the protruding edges is torn off. This is the reason that the old Finnish stamps of 1860, where the teeth produced by the roulette were extremely long, are valued so highly with complete rouletted teeth.
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