Kansas City Roulettes

Private perforations applied to the imperforate one and two cent Washington (Franklin) stamps, US 408 and 409, by the postmaster of Kansas City in 1914 and 1915. According to Johl, the rouletting devices used to make the perforations were bought at a local chain store. The wheels were similar to the types seamstresses used to layout their dress patterns. These perforations are very collectible but, unfortunately, easy to manufacture. It is almost impossible to get a favorable opinion on anything less than a block of four attached to an affidavit that had been signed and notarized at the time the stamps were available.

Kansas-Nebraska Overprints

1929 Rotary Stamps, Series of 1922, overprinted Kans. or Nebr. in an effort to prevent theft of postage stamps from Post Offices. The experiment proved unsuccessful and was quickly dropped.

Keytype

A basic stamp design utilized for the issues of two or more postal entities, usually differing in the country name and inscription of value. Many of the earlier colonial issues of Britain, France, Spain, Germany and Portugal are keytypes.

Killer Cancel

A cancellation which "kills" the design of the stamp. By covering most of the design, a killer cancel insures that the stamp will not be reused.

Kiloware

A stamp mixture originally sold by weight; consisting of miscellaneous postally used stamps on envelope corner paper from various sources.

King, Beverly

A noted U.S. philatelist who, along with Johl, wrote the seminal works on early 20th century U.S. stamps.