![Mexico 11 quartered](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Mexico_11_quartered.jpg)
Bisects and splits refer to
postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...
s that have been cut in part, most commonly in half, but also other fractions, and postally used for the proportionate value of the entire stamp, such as a two cent stamp cut in half and used as a one cent stamp. When stocks of a certain
stamp
Stamp or Stamps or Stamping may refer to:
Official documents and related impressions
* Postage stamp, used to indicate prepayment of fees for public mail
* Ration stamp, indicating the right to rationed goods
* Revenue stamp, used on documents to ...
ran out, postmasters sometimes resorted to cutting higher denominated stamps in half, vertically or diagonally, thus obtaining two "stamps" each representing half of the original monetary value, or "face" value, of the uncut stamp. The general public also resorted to this practice, sometimes pursuant to official or tacit permission and sometimes without any express authorization.
Many of these instances have been well documented in postal history. One example is the bisects of the Island of
Guernsey
Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency.
It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...
during the German military
occupation of the Channel Islands
The military occupation of the Channel Islands by Nazi Germany lasted for most of the Second World War, from 30 June 1940 until liberation on 9 May 1945. The Bailiwick of Jersey and Bailiwick of Guernsey are two island countries and British ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Early Mexican stamps are known to have been used cut in
half, three-quarters, quarters and even eighths.
Many bisects and splits are considerably more valuable than the stamps from which they were made. These, however, only have
philatelic
Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is possi ...
value when the cut portion is still affixed to the envelope or a piece showing the postmarks, as otherwise it cannot be confirmed that the stamp was in fact postally used as a split and not simply a complete stamp that was cut up after use.
Gallery
File:Cuba1868-BiscectedStampCover.jpg, Bisected stamp (with regular full stamp) on an 1868 letter from Matanzas to Guanajay, La Habana Province, Cuba. The 20 céntimos stamp was cut in half to be used as a 10 céntimos de escudo stamp. The bisect is cancelled with a parilla handstamp and the other is a pen cancellation.
File:Stamp US 12c bisect on Sonora cover (Siegal 2004).jpg, United States 1851, provisional or unofficial diagonal bisect of 12 cent stampScott catalogue
The Scott catalogue of postage stamps, published by Scott Publishing Company, now a subsidiary of Amos Media, is updated annually and lists all the stamps of the world that its editors recognize as issued for postal purposes. It is published in f ...
, United States, no. 17. used as 6 cents.
File:Bolivia 1924 revenue stamp 6 times 10c bisect used on piece 17 Jun 1926.JPG, Revenue stamp
A revenue stamp, tax stamp, duty stamp or fiscal stamp is a (usually) adhesive label used to designate collected taxes or fees on documents, tobacco, alcoholic drinks, drugs and medicines, playing cards, hunting licenses, firearm registration, ...
s of Bolivia bisected on a fragment of a 1926 document.
File:Horta 1894 Sc1 bisect.jpg, Horta
Horta may refer to:
People
* Horta (surname), a list of people
Places
* Horta, Africa, an ancient city and former bishopric in Africa Proconsularis, now in Tunisia and a Latin Catholic titular see
* Horta, Azores, Portugal, a municipality an ...
1894, 5 reales bisected for use as 2.5 reales.
File:Uruguay 1883 bisect.jpg, Uruguay 1883, 10 centimos bisected for use as 5 centimos.
References
{{reflist
Philatelic terminology