In philately, a gutter is the space left between postage stamps which allows them to be separated or perforated.[1] When stamps are printed on large sheets of paper that will be guillotined into smaller sheets along the gutter it will not exist on the finished sheet of stamps. Some sheets are specifically designed where two panes of stamps are separated by a gutter still in the finished sheet and gutters may, or may not, have some printing in the gutter. Since perforation of a particular width of stamps is normal, the gutter between the stamps is often the same size as the postage stamp.
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/DDRsheet5and10pf1953.jpg/280px-DDRsheet5and10pf1953.jpg)
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/1898-Cuba-Sheet-2c.jpg/280px-1898-Cuba-Sheet-2c.jpg)
Several derivative terms exist:
See also
edit- Centro de hoja (center of the sheet) with intersecting gutters
- Label (philately)
References
edit- ^ a b Bennett, Russell and Watson, James; Philatelic Terms Illustrated, Stanley Gibbons Publications, London (1978).
- ^ Mystic Stamp: Stamp Collecting Questions and Answers Archived 2007-04-21 at the Wayback Machine (retrieved 22 March 2007)