Here, photo-chemical etching is used to create recesses in the printing plate. This was first adopted in Britain in 1934, during the end of George V’s reign, and is still used to this day. The second, and later, sub-category is known as photogravure. As noted in the section below, line-engraving was used for the vast majority of Queen Victoria stamps up until 1855, when surface printing became more commonly used.
With these, a die is carved by hand and then used to impress printing plates, which are then used to print the stamps.įamous examples of line-engraved stamps include Britain’s first-ever postage stamp, the Penny Black, as well as the Penny Red (above) and Two-penny Blue. The first, and earliest, are line-engraved intaglios. There are two basic sub-categories of intaglio stamps. These ridges are created by the paper of the stamp being pushed into the plate’s recesses. Not only can you see the ridges of ink created by the recessed intaglio process, but you can usually feel them too. Next, the recessed area is filled with ink, while high pressures and temperatures are used to transfer the ink to the paper. Intaglio stamps are printed from copper or steel plates, with the area of the image to be printed being recessed into the surface of these plates. The most common printing process used for British and Commonwealth stamps issued before 1970 is known as intaglio. However, identifying the printing method used for any given stamp can sometimes help in identifying it, which in turn is important if you want to have an idea of how much it’s worth.Īccordingly, this article offers an overview of the main printing processes and methods used for postage stamps. For the newcomer, it may initially be difficult to tell one printing process from another. Such processes and methods have evolved over the years, becoming more sophisticated with each era of stamp printing. And one of the subtler ways in which stamps differ is through the printing processes and techniques used to produce them. Because while stamps all serve to pay for postage, they vary in many, many ways. However, you can’t really say the same thing for stamps. How printing processes and techniques can affect a stamp’s valueĮggs are eggs, as the old saying goes.
0 kommentar(er)
