Plating Guide for Plates I and II of the First Design HRAD ANY 5 H

Transcription

1 Plating Guide for Plates I and II of the First Design HRAD ANY 5 H Knihtisk Series 1: Vol. 1, No. 1 by Ing. Stanislav Komberec A New Edition Originally published as STUDIJNÍ FILATELISTICKÉ PÌÍRU KY 28/1996 Hrad any 5h I Studie I. a II. tiskové desky Novinové výplatné Translated into English with the permission of the Spole nosti sb ratelç eskoslovenských knihtiskových známek by Dr. Mark Wilson KNIHTISK Winchester Virginia

2 Copyright 2003 by Lunasa LLC. All rights reserved. Translated from the original Czech by special permission of the Society for Collectors of Typographic Stamps, Prague. Knihtisk is the imprint of Lunasa LLC, of Winchester, Virginia. Knihtisk is a labor of love. Its publications represent the volunteer work of fellow collectors and are sold at prices that merely sustain production. Manufacturing or accepting unauthorized copies undercuts the efforts of contributors and may discourage further work. The only authorized source for copies of Knihtisk publications is Lunasa LLC. Please support this effort to bring out-of-print, highly specialized, or materials hidden behind the veil of other languages into the hands of collectors by refusing to accept copies from unauthorized sources. Of course, you may make print or make electronic copies for your personal use, but you must never release or keep a copy to avoid payment. Please note that series, volumes within series, and numbers within each volume may be published non-sequentially and at irregular intervals. Suggestions for future publications or your own contributions should be sent to the published address of Knihtisk. Caveat: This is an amateur translation by a collector who professes no special knowledge of the Czech language. As a result, there may be unintentional misrepresentations of the meaning of the original text. The alternative would have been to keep the translation private rather than sharing it with other interested collectors. Suggestions for corrections, clarifications, or additional information should be ed to info@knihtisk.com or sent via ordinary mail to Knihtisk, 316 Devland Drive, Winchester, Virginia The Translator. Cover Illustration: Plate II identifier. January January 2004 corrections. April 2004 Title page and title normalization. ii

3 Preface I submit here for all Hrad anists, and for the public philatelic record, these studies of plates I and II of the Hrad any first design light-green 5h stamp. These stamps, together with the Hradcany first design red 10h stamp, were the first to bear the word esko-slovenska. Printing commenced on the 16 th day of December 1918 and, along with the 2h newspaper stamp, they were inaugurated into postal service on that red-letter day, the 18 th of December 1918, whose anniversary is commemorated as The Day of the Stamp. From two standpoints, this study and the related reconstruction of full sheets present difficulties. First, it is notable that while all four copper plates produced a total issue of 133, 930,000 stamps and the vast majority were produced using just plates I and II. Each individual printing run produced approximately forty million stamps, which caused considerable plate wear. Therefore, after each successive printing, deviation from the original design intensified in every position on the plates, and each subsequent printing run engendered yet more defects. Within the study, the more typical plate defects are detailed first under each stamp s listing. Enclosing forward slashes / demark defects obviously incurred during the course of printing. 1 The second problem related to the difficulties encountered arises from the fact that the principal color for the first design 5h stamp light green varies from a downright yellow through a greenish yellow, and is exemplified by shades of light green, pea green, and olive that range from dark green to light olive. This study is the result of scanning and checking more than sixteen thousand examples of this stamp. While conducting the study, I benefited most of all from the writings of Dr. Františk Kubát s Hrad any published in the first volume of the Monografie z. Známek; from information in the handbook and catalog of Mr. Bohdan Krampl; from Horace Šiance in Tren ína; from the valuable counsel and experience lent by Mr. Fr. Hamr from Sob slav and Dr. Jar. Oulehou from áslav; for their help I am indebted as well to Mr. Václav Pellant from Prague and to a number of the members of the Typographic Stamp Interest Group within the Czech Philatelic Federation. I hope all Hrad anists enjoy this revised and expanded edition of the study. Prague, November 1989 Stanislav Komberec 1 Tr. Note that the forward slashes / referred to here have been replaced by parentheses in the translated text. On occasion, a missing slash in the text left in doubt which part of the description should be enclosed. All such lapses are noted in the translation. iii

4 General Information Stamps in the light green 5h value were printed in the first Hrad any design. The four copper plates used to print them are now in the collections of the Postal Museum in Prague 1, Novomlýnská 1. The decision of the Federal Ministry of Transportation and Communications was that they could not be accessed to verify this study. Available sources indicate that the plates for the first design 5h were used with the below group of printing forms: 2 First Printing: December 16, First Released: December 18, Total Released: 113,930,000 pieces, of which 105,640,000 were released imperforate and 8,290,000 perforated. Toward the end of production, the stamps show that plates I and II had suffered considerable wear. For example, see the oblique crack in the right frame of stamp 100/I that completely covers the first S in SLOVENSKÁ. The use of line perforations in 11½ (D) on the first design 5h value began on December 18, 1918 and eventually produced 6,709,000 pieces, while line perforations in 11½ x 10¾ (E) began in August of 1919 and produced 1,500,000 pieces. In addition, there are private perforations in 13½ x 11½, 13½ x 13¾. A vertical 11½ perforation, placed only on the left and right edges of the stamps, was used to create coils. The ministry also used 13¾ on essays in a trial version in May of Private firms, using sheets of Hrad any first design 5h sheets, serrated, perforated, or cut them as described above. Distinctive Marks for Each Plate: I. The control number under the first column of stamps,.50, is normal, as is the control number 2.50 under the fifth column of stamps. Most notably, a pigtail lengthens the top of the numeral 5 in II. The 50 lacks a decimal. III. A nip from the lower part of the numeral 5 in.50. IV. A bevel in the lower part of the 0 in Tr. The last form in the illustration appears incorrect for two reasons: 1) It would require three colors: light green, violet, and red (only two colors were available for use on any one form); and 2) The 5h plates here occupy opposite sides of the form which would cause grave inking difficulties (the two rollers applied ink vertically, not horizontally). The form appears to be loosely based upon the one labeled A2 in the Monografie, Dil. 1, page 103 which shows fifth design 5h stamps (upright vertical plate II over plate I as in the right half of the middle form illustrated above) together with two plates of 400h stamps occupying the right half of the form. In the Monografie, the text on p.99 and caption on p.341 imply that this form was used to produce first design rather than fifth design 5h Hrad any stamps. iv

5 Perforation Guides: 3 Numbers written as fractions indicate that the perforation guide falls into the space between the two stamps. The number in mm indicates the distance to the guide from the edge of the stamp. Setup 2 Setup 3 Plate I 7.5 mm 41/51 9 mm 50/ mm 41/50 Plate II mm mm 50/60 11 mm 60 7 mm 61 Nail Holes: Plate I Plate II Essays: 1 mm mm 51 Setup 2 Setup 3 1 mm mm mm 10 Color Light green Violet Dark violet Light brown Brown Dark brown Black print Paper Chalky paper Gummed red paper Brown paper without gum Brownish paper without gum Brownish paper without gum Chalky paper Chalky paper White paper Yellowish to brownish paper Brownish to brown paper Trials: -- From the Printing Press Color Paper Light green White cardstock Yellow practice paper Brownish practice paper Brown paper Red paper -- From the Perforation Machine: Light green in line perforation 11½ and 13¾ on cardstock. 3 Tr. The original tables on this page have been reformatted and labeled in an attempt at clarity. The term Setup may relate to each time the plates were removed and returned to the printing frame, but this is just a guess. See also the Monografie, Dil 1, p.264. v

6 New Printing: In the year 1948 on the 30 th anniversary of the issuance of the first design 5h stamps, using plate I on white paper without gum in a shade of yellow green. New Printing Forgery: On yellowish paper without gum. Special Printing: Trial by the Ministry perforated 13¾. 4 Color Variations: Made from Green Dye II, no. 403, from the firm of Auerbach, Weissberger & Co., in Kozolupech u Pilzen. The continuous printing of the stamps rather than individual runs as well as differences in the ingredients gave rise to shades: green-yellow, yellowgreen, pea-green, light green, saturated green, light and dark olive green. Long-term direct exposure to the sun causes the whole or part of a stamp to appear yellowish. There are stamps and exemplars in a lemon-yellow color. Paper Quality: For the first design 5h value there are major differences and problems because, from the onset, the Unie print shop used print stock of various colors as well as types. Ingredients like straw, carbon, and various fibers are typical of the defects found in the paper that caused odd errors like the broken frames around the stamps. The thickness of the paper varied through a complete range from a very delicate cigarette paper (almost translucent) through cardstock/cardboard paper. The paper s color runs from white to yellowish or brownish. Most of the porous and laid papers have horizontal stripes running parallel to the stamp s image, but there are examples with the lines at oblique as well as irregular angles. The use of horizontal or grilled laid papers made no difference except that when the printing cylinder was not applied with enough pressure, the stamp s image might be snowy. The smooth paper, the heavy application of color and increased pressure gave rise to light or substantially messy prints in the base and upper parts of the left and right branches, in the twigs under the leaves, in the left quarter of the sky, in the spirals, in parts or even all of some letters in the inscription POŠTA ESKO SLOVENSKÁ, and all of the wavy line. Such stamps are difficult to classify as a specific printing error, like the coffee mill, or to describe in terms of dots, dashes, and blotches in the white parts of the stamp s image. The Stamp s Gum Was at the beginning brownish, later white. Major Printing Errors (including plate errors) Fog/Veils on the first design 5h, a typical fog is shown coming from the left and moving to the right and upward toward the right hand branch as in stamp 92/II, and another fog is between the roof and the letters NSKÁ (SLOVENSKÁ) on stamp 89/II. 4 Ministerial Perforations: stamps that were made for the archives of the Postal Museum. Most carry the overprint VZOREC or SO See Monografie, Dil I, pages Tr. vi

7 White and Green Blotches most white blotches are on the left half of the stamp, such as the zeppelin on stamp 27/II and the cluster of grapes on stamp 46/I. (In the Monografie the text on page 178 incorrectly attributes the zeppelin to 27/I) 5. Some other major white blotches: on stamp 70/II under the first and second towers, on stamp 42/I is a small white egg under the left hand branch, on 77/II is an enlargement of the shrub s first branch, and on 66/I are three white dots under the third and fourth towers. Often they occur as sloping white marks: such as on the roof in stamp 9/I; and as the pointed and rising white mark over the top of the shrub on stamp 43/I. Typical green smears appear in the right half of the value tablet on stamp 61/I or as the group of blotches in other places as on stamp 71/I. Changes in the Main Ray for the first design 5h value, were verified by JiÍi KrÁák on stamps 71, 72, 81, 92, 94, and 95/I as well as on 67/II. There remains the whole area of bent and thinned main rays, but that requires a specialized and complex descriptive study. For the first design Hrad any 5h value, there are a considerable number of doubled main rays as well as many joined rays under the Š in POŠTA. A common defect is the flag seen on stamp 42/II. Major damage to left-hand tower appears on stamps 68/I, 30/II, and 100/II, and to the second tower on stamp 65/I, and to the fourth tower on stamp 61/I. Further Production Defects for the first design 5h value: Double and shifted prints. Printing on gum. Transfer printing in whole and in part. Shifted rotations. Pale or spotty printing. Wrinkled paper. Single and doubled parts. Folds. Glued. Perforations -- parallel horizontally -- doubled horizontally -- Displaced horizontal and vertical line perforations. -- Thick and thin comb perforations. -- Missing vertical and/or horizontal perforations. -- Rough perforations. -- Badly centered. Traits Associated with the first design 5h plates I and II: Thickened or doubled ray under TA in POŠTA in the 4 th position. Break in the left branch in the 23 rd position (occurs in III and IV also). White mark by the fourth spiral in the 47 th position (occurs in III and IV also). The roof following the right-hand branch is saw-toothed in the 100 th position (occurs in III and IV also). 5 Tr. Actually, the Monografie makes this false assertion on page 176; The zeppelin mentioned on page 178 is in connection with a 400h stamp. vii

8 Traits Associated with all of the first design 5h stamps (from all four plates), which is conspicuous for its shades of color, worn-out plates, and over-inked printings: Gap in the upper edge of the fifth leaf. Two white marks in the panel above the fifth wave and above the lower curve between the fifth and sixth waves (under the bush s first branch). Continuous dark green blotch above the bush s first branch. A curve or shortened curve cutting the roofs in front of the right branch. Accordingly, it is not possible to assign these traits to any single stamp! To establish the characteristics of individual stamps, use was made of the valuable existing criteria stemming from the patterns elaborated in 1982 by Mr. Václav Pellant as part of the special interest group concerned with the identification and classification of the issues of the Hrad any first and second designs. The following descriptions of individual stamp positions from plates I and II describe typical plate deviations and defects. Accidental defects that were incurred in the course of specific printings are mentioned within an enclosure; the author of this study uses illustrations to demonstrate distinct exemplars of the stamp from sample printing positions that have all of the fixed defects and abnormalities, that is, they are typical examples. Cuts of the distinguishing relevant stamp positions as well as additional blowups of the details of the major defects and irregularities supplement the description. viii

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