Gutter

A gutter is the unprinted space between two panes on a full printed sheet of stamps. Printers often produce large sheets containing several panes, separated by gutters, which are later cut apart before distribution to post offices. When stamps survive still joined across this strip, collectors call them gutter pairs or gutter blocks.

Why Gutters Exist

Printing presses work most efficiently with large sheets. A printer might print a sheet of 400 stamps and divide it into four post office panes of 100. The gutters give room to cut the sheet cleanly, and they may also carry printer’s information such as colour registration marks or plate numbers.

Gutter Margins Versus Sheet Margins

A gutter is different from a margin:

• Margins (selvage) run around the outer edge of the pane or sheet.
• Gutters run between panes within a larger printed sheet.

Gutters are usually wider than the ordinary spacing between stamps and may be perforated through or left imperforate, depending on the printing.

Types of Gutter Item

• Gutter pair — two stamps joined across the gutter, horizontally or vertically.
• Gutter block — a block of four or more with the gutter running through the middle.
• Cross gutter block — a block from the point where horizontal and vertical gutters meet, showing stamps from four panes.
• Traffic light gutter pair — a British speciality, where gutter pairs show a row of colour check dots.

Collecting Gutter Pairs

In many countries gutter pairs were normally destroyed or trimmed away, so they are scarce. In others — notably Great Britain from the 1970s onward, when sheets were issued to post offices with gutters intact — gutter pairs became a standard collectable format, and specialised albums provide spaces for them.

In the United States, full uncut press sheets of some issues were sold to collectors in the 1990s, making gutter pairs and cross gutter blocks of those issues widely available.