Czechoslovakian Postage Stamps of the First Republic Essays from the Monografie Masaryk 1920 Jan Karásek, Antonín Michele, Dr. Bohuslav Svoboda Monografie Československých Známek Díl II Pages 148 154 Translated for The Society for Czechoslovak Philately by Mark Wilson KNIHTISK Scottsdale Arizona 2008
Translation 2008 by M. Wilson. Original Ing. Jan Karásek, 1971. Knihtisk is the imprint of Mark Wilson, of Scottsdale, Arizona. www.knihtisk.org 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. ii
500h and 1000h Denominations Printing the Stamps The denomination within the value tablet on the template prepared by Švabinský for Karel was 2000, but in preparing the engraving the numerals were changed to 1000. The engraving with the numerals 1000 was used to create 100 prints needed to manufacture the photograph used to electroplate the image onto metal. In also facilitated in the construction of the second paste-up (for the 500h). The prints were arranged in rows of ten, electroplated, and then ten of these galvanized rows made up a printing plate. In the second preparatory print a second original the numerals 500 were engraved into an empty value tablet. That is why the denomination numerals in every stamp position for this plate are always identical. Each denomination used only one printing plate. The distance between the stamps on each plate ran from 5.0 to 5.6 mm horizontally and 5.5 to 6.0 mm vertically. Printing began and likely was completed in 1919. Compared to the printing of the Hradčany issue, there were a number of important differences with this printing: 1. For the first time, an engraver was in close contact with the designer and at the same time both craftsmen assisted the print shop. 2. The plates were built from individual electroplated blocks. 3. For the first and last time (through 1939) chalk paper with a lithographed color wash was used on stamps, in order to best improve the appearance of the stamps. 4. The printing matrix held a single plate when printing each of these denominations. 125h Denomination The design is identical to both of the previous denominations. The printing plates were manufactured photo-chemically, which is why the engraver s signature is missing from under the picture. The paste up was made from 25 black prints (we have yet to learn if they were printed in a normal or doubled size) and manufactured using a reversed glass negative. The two 100-stamp printing plates were placed in a printing matrix next to one another. The space between the stamps in the vertical and horizontal directions differed in addition to the differences between the four blocks (that is, the blocks of 25 stamps). The distances ranged from 5.6 to 6.1 mm horizontally and 6.5 to 6.9 vertically. A plate flaw, a short base on the numeral 2 is found in position 80 of Plate II. The upper left quarter of the pane of 125h stamps, as an accident in the etching process, became much lower than the remaining stamps. As a consequence, there are two types of stamps that differ in the numerals found in the value tablet: 151
Type I Bold numerals found in 75 positions on the pane, including, of course, the issue s characteristic plate flaw, the short base on the numeral 2. Type II Faint numerals found on 25 positions on the plate. Figure 248. Type I Bold numerals. Figure 249. Type II Faint Numerals. Figure 250. Short base on the 2 (position 80/II). 152
Figure 251. Edge block of nine imperforate stamps. Notice the perceptible differences in their horizontal and vertical spacing. Plate Identifiers This issue has neither plate identifiers nor control numbers. The plate markers are found only on trial prints of the 125h with broad margins and are roman numerals between the 91 st and 92 nd positions on the pane s lower margin. Colors Few color variations are found in the higher denomination stamps. The 500h varies from pale dark grey to a very dark gray. The 1000h varies from a lighter dark brown to a blackish dark brown, which may be found only rarely. The 125h stamp is known in several shades of grayish blue (falsely mistaken for light blue) and a dark blue color. A few, an unknown number of panes of stamps, were released in a color considerably different, light or clear blue which was identified as ultramarine (or light ultramarine). 153
Paper The 500h and 1000h stamps were printed on white chalk paper surfaced with a lithographed color. The were coated with a brownish, smooth, glazed and thick gum. The stamp paper, which had been dipped in water, lost its characteristic sheen. The 125k stamps were printed on smooth white paper. The gum had a white, was applied in a thin coat. Perforations All three stamps were line perforated 13¾. Poorly centered stamps are plentiful and were caused by misalignment of the perforating machine. A fair number of the upper and lower corner stamps have perforations in the image because the perforation guides used to align the stamps did not always appear in the margins. Figure 251a. Different formats of the stamps imperfect perforation work. 154