Part 2 (2/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: Coin Stamp, ”New South Wales”, 5 s.h.i.+llings]
Here is a very pretty example of ruling, in the so-called ”coin” stamp of New South Wales. These machines rule either straight or curved lines.
They can be adjusted to rule several thousand lines to an inch, but that is only done for microscopical work, not for engraving. The general principle of a medallion ruling machine is a rod, fixed on a pivot, at one end of which is a pin which is drawn across a medallion, while at the other end a graving point traces a corresponding line on the steel.
The large stamps issued in the United States in 1865, for the payment of postage on newspapers and periodicals, are examples of this work.
Cycloidal ruling in its simplest form resembles a series of loops. It is produced by a fixed point which is held against a plate while the latter is moved in a circle and, at the same time, forward. By altering the size of the circle and the speed of the forward movement a great variety of results are obtained. By cutting one series of loops over another, lace-like effects are produced. The process is still further varied by the use of eccentrics.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Ruling Patterns]
The geometric lathe is a most delicate and complicated machine. By means of elaborate attachments very involved and eccentric motions are given to the plate under the graving point and extremely complicated and beautiful designs are produced. I think we are all familiar with these from the examples on our national currency. Geometric lathework was used on a number of the United States stamps of the issue of 1861 and also on the $5,000 revenue stamp. The work of this machine is regarded as a great safeguard against counterfeiting. The most skillful engraver would have difficulty in imitating the simplest designs produced by it. The machines are too expensive to be obtained by anyone but a government or a great banknote company and there are very few men who thoroughly understand operating them. A turn of a screw or a variation of a single cog will change the result entirely. Finally the work of the lathe is often reversed, so that the line which is cut by the graver and should print in color prints white, and vice versa. It would not be possible to imitate this by hand engraving.
Printing from line-engraved plates is largely done by hand presses. The ink used is very thick. When black it is made of finely pulverized carbon, mixed with oil. Colored inks are composed of zinc white and dry colors, ground in oil. The colors are animal, vegetable or mineral. The latter cause the plates to wear out rapidly. Green is an especially destructive color. In recent years aniline colors have been largely employed. They afford an elaborate range of shades and color combinations which are most puzzling to describe. Soluble inks are much used by the leading English firm of stamp printers. They are very sensitive to water and are regarded as one of the best preventatives of the cleaning of used stamps. Beautiful results are obtained by printing stamps in two colors. Of course, this necessitates the use of two plates for each design. This also gives rise to some interesting varieties, caused by one part of the design being printed upside down. Such oddities are scarce and are highly valued by philatelists.
When a plate is to be printed from, it is first warmed, then the ink is applied and rubbed into the lines with a pad. The surface of the plate is wiped off with a cloth, then with the hand and lastly, polished with whiting. A sheet of dampened paper is next laid on the plate and the whole is pa.s.sed under the roller of a press, which forces the paper into the lines of the plate, where it takes up the ink. When the plate is deeply engraved the ink seems to stand up from the surface of the paper in ridges and some times we find corresponding depressions on the backs of the stamps. The sheets are then dried, gummed and dried again. They are now so much curled and wrinkled that they are placed between sheets of bristol board and subjected to hydraulic pressure of several hundred tons which effectively straightens them out.
The second process of printing from metallic plates is called typography. The plates for this process are the exact reverse of those engraved in _taille douce_. Instead of the design being cut into the plate, it is on the surface and everything else is cut away. Hence, the term ”surface printing.” This form of engraving is also called _epargne_ engraving, because the parts of the plate which bear the design are _epargne_ (preserved.)
The dies for typographical plates are cut in wood or steel, usually the former. They are reproduced by two methods, stereotyping and electrotyping. In the former process casts of the die are taken in papier mache or plaster of Paris. From these casts other casts are taken in type-metal. A sufficient number of these casts are clamped together or fastened to a backing of wood and thus form a plate. This process is not much used for stamps. It may interest you to know that most of our large newspapers employ this process. The type-set forms are, of course, flat. From them papier mache impressions are taken and bent into a curve, so that the casts made from them will fit the cylinders of the printing presses.
In electrotyping, an impression is taken from the die in wax or gutta percha. The surface of this impression is coated with powdered plumbago.
It is placed in a solution of sulphate of copper and, by the action of a galvanic battery, a thin sh.e.l.l of copper is deposited on it. This sh.e.l.l is backed with type-metal and is then ready for use. A number of these elecrotypes may be fastened together and electrotyped in one piece.
There is also a photographic process for making typographical dies. This is said to be used in making the stamps of France and her colonies.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Cliche with two stamps, ”Colombia”, 5 cents]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Cliche with two stamps, ”Colonies de l'Empire Francais”, 10 c.]
Stereotypes or electrotypes of single stamps are called _cliches_. In making up a plate it sometimes happens that a _cliche_ is placed upside down. The result, after printing, is a stamp in that position. This is called a _tete beche_. We ill.u.s.trate here such a stamp and another which is semi _tete beche_, i.e., turned half around instead of being entirely inverted. Like all oddities these are prized by stamp collectors.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Stamp Arrangement, ”Newfoundland”, 3 pence]
The triangular stamps of the Cape of Good Hope and New Foundland are so arranged in the plate that half of them are _tete beche_ to the other half. The same is true of the stamps of Grenada of the issue of 1883.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Stamp, ”Hawaiian Postage”, 5 cents]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Stamp, ”Petersburg, Virgina”, 5 cents]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Stamp, ”Eranco en Guadalajara”, 2 reales]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Stamp, ”Ile de la Reunion”, 15 centimes]
Another form of typography is found in stamps which are composed of printer's type and ornaments. These are usually called ”type-set”, to distinguish them from stamps produced by the normal process of typography. Stamps made in this manner are often of a high degree of rarity, having been produced in remote parts of the world, where facilities were limited and the use of stamps restricted. To this cla.s.s belong the stamps of the first issues of British Guiana, Hawaii and Reunion, which rank among the greatest philatelic rarities. We show you here a number of type-set stamps. The first was used in the Hawaiian Islands, in payment of postage on letters between the different islands.
There are a number of plates of these stamps, of different values, and each containing ten varieties. The second stamp was issued by the postmaster of Petersburg, Va., in the early days of the war of the rebellion and before the postal service of the Confederate government was in working order. The third was used in the city of Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1869, during the war between France and that country. It was made from the cancellation stamp in use in the post office, the usual date being replaced by the value. The stamps were struck by hand on sheets of paper which had been previously ruled into squares with a lead pencil. The fourth stamp is one of the Reunion stamps previously mentioned. There were eight stamps in the setting, four having a central device like the stamp shown, and the other four being of a different design.
It is interesting to remark that most of these type-set stamps show an evidence of their provisional nature and the stress under which they were made, in the paper on which they were printed. It was usually writing paper, such as would be found at a stationers at that period.
Some of the rare type-set stamps of British Guiana were printed on the paper used for lining sugar barrels.
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