The Chainbreaker (Liberated Republic) Osvobozená Republika

Transcription

1 Specialized Handbook for Collectors of Stamps, Covers, and Postal Stationery with pricing, technical, and historical information The Chainbreaker (Liberated Republic) Osvobozená Republika Josef Chvalovský Jiří Kašpar English Translation Mark Wilson KNIHTISK Winchester Virginia 2006

2 Translation Mark Wilson 2006 Original published in 2000 for the members of the Společnosti sběratelů čs. knihtiskových známek. Translated and distributed with the permission of the authors. Knihtisk is the imprint of Mark Wilson, 316 Devland Drive, Winchester, Virginia, USA 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. 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 electronic copies for your personal use, but you must never release or keep a copy to avoid payment. The reader is warned that the translator has no formal knowledge of the Czech language and may have in some instances imperfectly represented the meaning of the original text. Cover illustration: Egg on belt plate flaw.

3 Contents Preface...4 Abbreviations...5 I. General Section 1. Designer, trial designs Printing the stamps Final design for the released stamp Plate identification and production Booklet plates (tête-bêche) Trial prints, printers waste Paper, colors, and gum, as well as their defects Stamp types h types, joined types h types, joined types Drawing and design differences Differences found on multiple plates Differences found only on a single plate Retouches Perforations Processing sheets before and after perforating Kinds of perforated stamps Perforation defects Unissued stamps Stamps overprinted Postage Due Forgeries Entires (Covers) Postal stationery imprinted with OR stamps Printing postcards References...26 II. Catalog Section Guide to the catalog section h red h gray h purple h brown, type I h brown, type II h red h green h blue h brown h red h orange h green

4 Preface During the years 1920 through 1924, the Postal Service released the Liberated Republic issue in successive stages. Its release was larger than that of The Dove; both issues exceeded the amount released for any other stamp produced by the First Republic. The stamps were manufactured using the fastest and cheapest method of the time typography. This required a large number of printing plates (ca. 110), which during their manufacture and use introduced many variations within the stamps. Much of the information about these variations can be found in the philatelic literature, for instance, Speciální příručce, the second volume of the Monografie, or Specializované příručce, but is presented there in only general terms. In its time, this generalized literature was a useful compilation of the author s knowledge. In comparison with the state of today s knowledge, some of that information is outdated, and some of it erroneous as well, in not distinguishing between types of flaws for collectors (bringing together flaws in the negatives, in the matrix, printing flaws, etc.) from random flaws or from wear in the plates. In addition, we have worked from the perspective of a collector s classifying properly with respect to its original location on the sheet (stamp positions) the material with flaws and retouches in his collection, as well as identifying the markings of the plate from which the stamps originated. The members of the Society of Collectors of Czechoslovakian Typographic Stamps, for the past 15 years, have particularly concentrated upon the specialized study of our first stamps, that is, the Hradčany issue, the Dove, the Liberated Republic, the Science and Agriculture issue, the Falcon in Flight, and so forth. This study, with its detailed notes about the variations found in this issue, is the consequence of works published by the Society s collector-specialists in the form of individual philatelic studies or handbooks for each denomination The most essential sources for this work were those studies and handbooks that concentrated upon the Liberated Republic issue, as were notes about the newest discoveries that enhanced the work already done by the Specializované příručce, the first publication released that dealt with these stamps. The authors of each of these handbooks shared the light of their knowledge about this postal issue. This handbook is divided into two parts. In the first, the overview, are summaries of broad and common information characteristic to all denominations. This part explores interesting problems about printing the stamps, perforation methods used with them, and defines the basis for other topics further dealt with in the catalog portion. The latter part s focus is upon the individual denominations and is where most of the variations in the stamp are presented, including an evaluation of their worth and their use on covers. A discussion of postcards supplements the overview and specialist portions of this handbook. To conclude this introduction, it is the pleasant obligation of the authors to sincerely thank our predecessors who created such complete and detailed studies of this postal issue. Each of their publications and conversations was of importance to us, and we must acknowledge that they informed the larger part of the extended phase of our study. Sincere thanks to those that graciously shared their stamps or collaborated with the authors for this study. Finally, thanks go to the staff of the Postal Museum, who willingly made available to the authors for study the material deposited in their interesting archives. The authors give special thanks to Martin Kašpar for his proofing of this handbook and preparing it for print. 4

5 Abbreviations 1 CP Plate position for postal stationary DV Plate flaw DVN Subsequent negative flaw HZ Comb perforation KL Postcard LHZ Horizontal comb perforation NB Perforation guide OR Liberated Republic ST Joined types PA Pane R Retouch ŘZ Line perforation VM Matrix flaw VN Negative flaw VN1 First negative flaw VN2 Second negative flaw VS Group flaw TD Plate TF Matrix TV Printing flaw ZP Stamp position. Inestimable value 1 The Czech abbreviations have been kept in this English translation to aid the reader in puzzling out auction catalogs and other Czech philatelic literature; thus OR instead of LR (Liberated Republic) tr. 5

6 1. Designer, trial designs I. General Section The design for the image of the Liberated Republic was produced by Vratislav Hugo Brunner ( , a Czechoslovakian master painter and professor of graphic design at the College of Art in Prague). The core of the design, which then bore the slogan 1918", had for the most part already been created when an artistic jury awarded him first prize for it in a competition for the best stamp designs celebrating the first anniversary of the ČSR. At that time, however, the Postal Ministry had little respect for this artistic jury. So Brunner waited for use of his design until after a later competition for stamps with an allegorical theme. For this competition, Brunner used a slight modification of the original motif, that is, without its date, and in two variations: one had a lined background (fig.2), just as did the unaccepted original design, and the other (fig. 3) with a plain background. The design underwent further modifications and changes until the effect of the definitive design was achieved by representing its denomination twice and adding the letters VHB under the middle part of the lower frame. A series of trial prints were taken from this by typography as well as by photogravure, and from them were made various sets of printing blocks as often as was needed for this issue. One may find a synopsis of these trial prints in the second volume of the Monografie. For nearly eighty years it was not possible to distinguish between those trial prints that were created by the print shop for actual use and those that were simply reproductions. During that period, efficient Fig. 1. reproduction techniques made forgeries possible, and they were particularly prominent during the latter part of this period. The effect was exacerbated in many cases by a lack of caution in collectors before hastily purchasing uncertified trial prints. Fig. 2. Fig Printing the Stamps The Czech Graphics Union in Prague printed every denomination of the stamps from the Liberated Republic (OR) issue. They used the cheapest method of the day for printing the stamps typography. It worked on the principle that color was impressed upon the paper only where there were raised surfaces on the printing plate (such as on the typeface or on a relief printing block), as illustrated in figure 4. Fig. 4. 6

7 This printing technique (press diagram in fig. 5) was fast and inexpensive, but the final result, the stamps, contained numbers of imperfections within the stamp s image (printing flaws and plate flaws). Fig.5 The images in stamps produced by typography had neither shading nor highlights, and the outline of the shapes within the image were dependent upon the quality of the printing plate (TD). When engraved, and particularly for fast engravings, the raised colored parts and the flat white parts of the plates merged, especially around the denomination numerals and the letters in its captions, increasing the number of white spots. Quality plates were produced using galvanization (see below). Every now and then, on the verso of the stamps, could be found a light impression of the image on the paper. While typography did reduce a stamp s quality, it paradoxically gave philatelists an inexhaustible supply of material to study and collect. 2.1 Final Design for the Released Stamp Production of the printing plates always started with the approval of a design (its pattern). While the 25h stamp had its own pattern with a lined background, the remaining denominations shared a common pattern that used a flat colored background. This latter pattern, with its stylistic numeral 30, was used to produce the first two stamps in the series, those with denominations of 20 and 30h, then it was modified. These modifications were related to changes to the allegorical figure s hand and the initials VHB. On the left side of the 20 and 30h denominations, the fingers are close together, while the letters in the initials are small and indistinct (fig. 6). These features also appear on the 25h stamp. Fig. 6. Fig. 7. Fig. 8. The modified pattern used for every other denomination, the 40, 50, 50, 100, 150, 185, and 250h, has those fingers, especially the ring and little fingers, further apart and the letters in the initials taller and bolder (fig. 7). The 50h OR stamp, when compared to the rest of the series, has a characteristic difference in that, of the three peaks on Mt. Kriván, the right-hand peak (fig. 8, right) is somewhat lower than on the other 7

8 stamps (fig. 8, left); thus an excellent variation for tracing changes to the initial printing block. 2.2 Plate Identification and Production Once the numerals were pasted to the pattern, it was photographed, a new negative created, and by photochemical means an image about twice the size of an actual stamp transferred to the face of a master printing block. For several denominations, multiple blocks were fabricated (a minimum of three for the 150h OR). From the block (or blocks), 100 high quality black prints were produced on chalk paper. These were cut out and glued to thick cardstock in ten rows of ten, then the appropriate set of control numbers were affixed under the bottom row of stamps. This formed an paste-up about twice the size of the plate. Inaccurate gluing of these prints from the printing block on the paste-up led to vertical and horizontal variations, or even tilts, in some stamps. An example of leftward cant can be seen in position 75 of the 60h denomination. Variations in the placement of stamps from the same plate position may be found on the plates of every denomination produced during this period. An image of the paste-up was reduced to actual plate size on a glass photographic negative using a reducing prism. The image was transferred photographically to a light-sensitive chemical coating on a metal plate, then following a hardening chemical bath, the plate was etched. These were next placed in a matrix of four plates, initially free standing and later, as a rule, with a protective frame. The plates described above were used for the production of the OR issue from 1920 to This period could be called the period of etched plates. At the beginning of this period, there was no standard method for plate identification, but later the print shop workers, obviously for their own purposes, added identification marks. Using various nips, spots, and crosses, they marked the control number decimal lines on plates that had no protective frame, and for those that did, they placed vertical and horizontal arabic numerals on the frame. Sometimes these identifying marks were cumulative, and marks in the control numbers appear with marked protective frames. Later, these print shop identifiers were used to advantage by philatelists as a facile means for specifying a plate and eventually the production sequence. Few collectors paid attention to collecting plate marks and identifiers, and then only for typographically produced stamps. At the end of 1923, plates were being produced by electroforming reproduction, an electrochemical displacement process. It was essentially an electrochemical reaction in an electrolytic solution that made sharp three-dimensional (sculpted) images. Creating images of substantive height, breadth, and depth suited every plate used for typographic printing. While a glass negative was the starting point for etching plates, impressing was the basis for electroforming. There were perhaps two good practical processes: impressing or electroforming. When impressing was selected as the production method, the entire plate, manufactured by etching, with control numbers and a place identified for the future plate, was used as a base; then, together with the appropriate protective frame, it was forced with great pressure onto a 1.5 mm lead foil. The first stroke of the hydraulic press completed the impression of the auxiliary plate with only a slightly raised relief the base. This plate was the first step in a kind of removal that eventually deepened the impression to the needed size. With respect to electroforming, the matrix for the selected plate (again etched with control numbers, a protective frame, and a place for the future plate) was thoroughly degreased, dusted with an asphalt powder on the unprinted side and edges, then heated. The dust was baked on as an insulting film on the end that connected to an electric current. The remaining conductive places on the plate functioned as a base for an eventually coating with a layer of galvanized silver about mm thick. This plate was then attached to the negative electrode (the cathode) and placed in an electrolytic bath of copper sulfate, while a plate of 8

9 Fig. 9. copper was suspended from the positive electrode (anode). The flow of direct current electricity to the conductive portions of the plate coated it with a layer of copper. When it had reached the required thickness (ca. 1.5 to 2 mm), the galvanization was stopped and the whole layer, which was the part that functioned as the matrix, carefully removed from the form. This thin layer was the foundation of the plate. The lead impression manufactured and the galvanized copper matrix had common characteristics: both were complete negatives of the original plate and thus had the same purpose. Although these two techniques were used for the manufacture of the Liberated Republic plates, it has not been possible to reliably determine if either of them might have been used in the production of the Allegory s Dove issue. As was described earlier, before galvanization it was necessary that the verso and edges go through the step of being degreased to prevent there being any insulating film. The remained was coated with a thin layer of silver by galvanization, and in a later phase the matrix was again given another thin coat of either chrome or nickle. Both the silver, and in the next step of the process of galvanization the layer formed by dipping the matrix in chrome (or nickle), noticeably improved the printing part of the matrix. The next dip in a galvanizing bath applied a layer of copper to the matrix. This layer was described in the polygraphic literature as the kernel and, depending upon the duration of the time the electric current was applied, ranged in thickness from 0.1 to perhaps 1 mm. The kernel (chrome or nickle plated) was carefully separated from the matrix, then placed on a level, flat mat with the image facing downwards. The reverse side was then smoothed with solder and lined with tin foil. All four sides of the frame were sealed with lead and after cooling, the verso trimmed to a height of about 4.5 mm. This printing plate (the galvanized one) was beveled along its edges to more tightly fit into the press s matrix of plates (TF). This describes the process of how an absolutely faithful copy of the raised printing part of the base (TD) was produced and which was used as the matrix. Four of these electroformed plates were assembled together into a four-plate matrix, marked with any needed identification, and finally used to produce a lithographic stone. Plates manufactured by electroforming and used from 1924 until the printing of this issue ended were all identified by serial numbers and the last two digits of the year. Generally, the serial number was placed in an area at the lower left corner of the plate, and on the right appeared the number identifying the year of manufacture. However, there are cases for which identification must be accomplished through an entirely different method, or the identifier was removed when the TF was broken down to clean the plates. With respect to the electroformed plates for the green 50h stamp, there are a small number of plates with neither frames nor identification. Protective frames appeared on both etched and electroformed plates. In reality, for etched plates, protective frames (in so far as they were fitted with them) were placed on the TF flooring (and for that reason their distance from the stamps varies between different printings); as for electroformed plates, the protective 9

10 frames were an integral part of the manufacturing process. Whether the plate was manufactured by galvanization or by matrix, and despite the fact that the effect of milling the edges of the plate reduced and thus varied its actual size, an attempt was made to make the distance identical between the frames and the first and tenth columns of stamps. A diagram of the process of manufacturing printing plates is shown in fig. 9. Stamps in all the denominations of the OR issue were printed using etched plates, but 30, 50 (green) and 60h stamps were printed by electroformed plates as well. While two different negatives were used for the 50h green stamp, only the second was used to make a base for producing electroformed plates. Only four-plate printing matrices were used to print OR stamps. Etched plates were mounted in pairs of the same denomination with other OR denominations or other issues being released at the same time. Electroformed plates, however, were typically placed in groups of four consisting of the same denomination or issue. Part of the makeup of the TF were also typographic lines of various length printed like horizontal dividing lines which looked like the place where the printed sheet was to be divided into halves, but their use was to guide the perforating mechanism. A vertical line that separated the plates of the 50h red stamp was used to assist in cutting the sheet into panes (PA). The horizontal distance between plates in the TF, that is, the distance between stamp imprints from neighboring plates (not the distance between their protective frames) was between 24 and 25.5 mm. This represented two comb perforation amounts (see section 6.1) Booklet plates (tête-bêche) Besides manufacturing standard 100-stamp plates, plates were made to issue booklet stamps. The entire booklet release for the years was meant to be financed by the PIRAS company on the understanding that it would be free to advertise on both sides of the booklet. The booklets measured 7.5 x 5 cm and were to be sold for 8 and 9 Kč,and, besides stamps from the Dove issue, were to contain OR stamps in the 40, 50, and 60h denominations. The best guess was that the booklets were to contain a set of six stamps (2 groups of 3), likely with a gutter in the middle (fig. 10). Fig. 10. The blocks of six described required a specially arranged plate whose purpose was to obtain fifteen blocks of six from a single impression. The booklet plate arrangement became three vertical blocks of thirty stamps cut from a standard 100 stamp plate, yielding 90 stamps. Within these blocks, the middle was inverted with respect to the others, and the right one separated by an area containing two vertical bars rather than stamps (the separation coupon). These actually were two inner protective frames. Two additional protective frames were placed at the more traditional left and right edges of the plate. This resulted in a wide block separated from a more slender block by the coupon. The panes were cut at this coupon and with further trimming fifteen booklet blocks were obtained. The TF for the booklet release was always made up from two of the described plates. Based upon studies of variations in the stamps on the 100 stamp plates and the plates from the booklet releases, their exact rearrangement can be determined by matching up the characteristic flaws from the paste up and negatives. 10

11 The diagram of every two-plate TF for the 40, 50, and 60h stamps is shown in figs 11, 12, and 13. This diagram indicates not only which stamp positions were used to create the wide and narrow blocks, but from the variations in each stamp s image the positions from the 100 stamp plate that were used to lay down the carpet. Fig. 11 Fig. 12. Fig. 13. A decision to increase postal rates (starting January 1, 1922), rendered the booklet unusable, so panes of stamps in the booklet arrangement were openly sold at postal windows, starting with the December 5, 1921 release of the 40 and 60h OR stamps, and followed by June 8, 1923 release of the 50h OR stamps. While full 11

12 panes were available at post office windows, most often tête-bêche pairs were chosen, either close together or with the wider separation coupon between them as described above. Stamps intended to have been used for booklets may be identified because they were line perforated Trial prints, printers waste Before the actual printing of the stamps, or when the plates were cleaned, a great many trial prints were made on various types of paper. These are described in detail in volume two of the Monografie. While printers waste, that is, prints of the stamps in their original or other colors, on papers of varying colors and thickness, sometimes with gum and with perforation variations, often interest collectors, it is impossible to safely advise this activity for the real amount actually used in the process has never been substantiated. Counted among the printers waste are so-called gutters (fig. 14), documentation for two plates in the TF or documenting specific panes, plate identification, and so on. Fig Paper, colors, and gum, as well as their defects Most stamps were printed on white paper, and only rarely on yellowish paper. The thickness of the paper varies, from thin with the print showing through to thick. The gum was chiefly a smooth white, sometimes a grainy yellowish. Every color appears in many shades and various hues. Varieties of color and thickness were due to what was supplied to production, variations in shades of color was more a function of how production was carried out, for instance using colors from different batches. Counted among printing flaws are muddied, doubled, and partial imprints. These may be found on every denomination, including imperforate stamps. Folded paper is of interest (generally accompanied by no imprint), as is wrinkled paper, in smaller or larger segments. One may also find paper joins. It is possible to find printing press offprints for every denomination, sometimes complete, sometimes partial. Less often sheet transfers are found. Printings on the gummed side are much sought after. Paper, gum and printing defects result from imperfect press operation and lack of attention, or perhaps because of poor quality control. These may be found in printers waste that should have been destroyed but was instead smuggled out to philatelic markets by the print shop workers. Nevertheless, even today these tickle the interest of some collectors. 3. Stamp types Type, for stamps, is defined as some change in their design that is repeated within a denomination, usually occurring during the manufacture of their plates and as a consequence of the printing technique selected or some choices made in the workrooms of the print shop. For types of the OR stamps recognized by philatelists, the150h stamp resulted from the way its plate was made, while the 40h stamp variations are the result of a retouch. The following describe their general appearance and original pane positions. 12