US Stamp Sheets

Historically, most stamps were printed and sold by postmasters in whole sheets, which means that sheets, per se, are not uncommon. However, most postal customers bought these sheets—and still buy them today—for their individual stamps, which were torn from the sheet along perforations before self-adhesive stamps became the standard. The size of the first sheets was often governed by the size of the plate that printed them. Because the resulting sizes were often so large as to make them unwieldy, these large sheets were typically cut into counter sheets, also called panes. Voids called gutters separated the panes, giving printers waste-free areas within which to make their cuts. Early British counter sheets were printed in numbers that made their division and subsequent sale simple. For example, sheets of 1-pence (penny) stamps were printed in rows of 12 by 20, so that a full sheet could be purchased for 1 British pound, while a row of 12 stamps conveniently cost a shilling. Coils of stamps were also made from such sheets. Today, most sheets are sold in groups of 10 (Germany) or 20 (the United States), while souvenir or miniature sheets may only have a single stamp on them, often with the stamp’s design continuing onto the unperforated part of the sheet. When it comes to the traditional, perforated sheets, collectors look for the colored sheet numbers in the margin or gutter, which can identify a sheet by its plate block, as well as its print run.