Austrian Etch-Art Printing  

 

For the past year or so the Austrian State Printer has been printing certain stamps using a new method called Etch-Art.
Here is a quote from the Austria Post website.




From what I can gather it's basically laser engraving without an engraver.
Etch-Art is used in combination with offset and only a small section of the stamps is etch-art.
It doesn't show up very clear in the scans but it is very obvious when holding the stamp
at an angle against the light. Also you can feel the raised portions but there are no indentations or impressions
on the back which is characteristic of recess engraving.
So goodbye engravers.

Austria Scott 2378

Here are a couple of examples.





The black lines of the coat,hat,bag, shoes and the black shadow are in Etch-Art the rest is offset print.




Austria Scott 2402

Here are two more Austrian stamps printed by combination
offset and Etch-Art.

They were both issued in 2012, I have no catalogue numbers.

Austria Scott 2371



The black lines of the tower are raised and look much like recess engraved.



Again in the one below the black lines are applied by this
laser printing.
The colour of the side panels is actually silver but show
up as blue grey in the scan.
Any one have a method so that gold and silver scan properly?

Austria Scott 2381



I wonder if this new technology will catch on and whether other
printers have produced stamps with similar laser technology.

Great details on the stamps, especially the clock tower.

(sigh)... another art taken over by computers... I suppose people not as old fashion as me would say it opens up more doors for artists. But as usual, quality suffers in some ways. Still, these new stamps are a step above just plain "flat" ones.

BeeSee, the scan does not show it as well as I was hoping
but it is very sharp when viewed obliquely.

Well Nells that's progress for you but like you said a little bit
of engraving is better than none.

I like them. The old engraving style was never coming back. The different processes they been using in the interim leave at lot to be desired. The detail these impart is very nice. I'm sure they will use this on high value. I imagine it still cost more than other printing methods.

Also watch for micro engraving on these issues. They can and probably will hide secret details.

I agree with you 1847bill, I like the process too.




You're right on there too. So far I've only seen them with a value
of €1.45 ($1.88) which I believe is the International (world) letter
rate for Austria Post.

With Etch-Art, I cannot fathom out why there is no debossing (indentations) on the back of the stamp when the process achieves embossing (raised print) on the front! Also, can I assume that the designer has to draw the lines usually made by the engraver with his burin?

The Norway image attached is of one of its mini-sheets in the design stage. It shows the kind of "engraved drawing" that I mean. Here the designer of the stamp drew the engraved lines with pen and ink on paper and it was printed, in this instance, by litho to simulate intaglio. I always thought that this issue was let down by the sole use of litho, so I guess it would have benefited from being printed with Etch-Art, had it existed then, if a hand-engraved image was deemed too expensive.

Surely the process will never achieve the subtlety achieved by the traditional output of the engravers that we all love so much. That said, the Norway designer has made a very good attempt at simulating engraving.

I would prefer Etch-Art to "flat" printing any day, so I am not being negative, but simply trying to understand how Etch-Art really works, as I remain baffled by certain aspects of it.

GLENN MORGAN

Hi Glen,

Appreciate your input as usual.

I admit I don't get this print process either.

For the amount of money the Austrian State Printer (actually Austria Post) is saving by getting rid of the engravers and intaglio presses it just isn't worth it IMO.

Austrian engraved stamps were in the top 10 best especially when they were monochrome so even though engraved printing is more expensive than litho or photo, AP has lost a lot of the prestige it had.

Most of the recent Austrian offset stamps even though sometimes quite colourful are crap and the stuff printed for them by the Dutch firm Joh. Enschedé is disposable paper garbage.

But just about all Postal agencies (here in Canada same thing) are in the same boat.

They don't care about the collector at all but hope to make a few bucks with one time topic buyers like for example these Ad infinitum Chinese New Year series here in Canada and the Canadian Football scam stamps.

Sounds familiar...

Lithograving..It's a shame and a disservice how Canada Post has neglected the collectors out there. When I was living in Vancouver the main post office had a great philatelic counter..then they got rid of it. Having moved to Ottawa a couple of years ago..the main post office has very little to offer...and now they're getting rid of the postal museum at the Museum of Civilization..soon to become the Museum of Canadian History. They have mentioned that the Postal museum will be relocated. Too bad it doesn't get the same showcase similar to the Canada Currency Museum located just down the street from the main post office on Sparks St.

Here are a couple more Austrian Etch-Art/offset combination
stamps I acquired recently.

Austria Scott 2399



Austria Scott 2400





Very rarely do you see an Austrian stamp where the designer's
name is omitted.

The designer for the train stamp was Peter Sinawehl. It was a joint issue with Germany, who used a totally different design and printed it by offset.

GLENN MORGAN

Thanks Glenn, actually I also found that info on the Austrian Post site
but I just wanted to emphasize the fact that no designer was on the stamp.

Here is the AP site which lists new issue info and also has many years archived.
http://onlineshop.post.at/onlinesho...n_123?page=6

Up to a couple of years ago the site had every stamp archived back to 1946 and in greater detail than now.

Now it's just about making money.

Here are a couple more examples of Austrian Etch-Art

Both were issued in 2013, I have no catalogue numbers.

The one below is printed multicolour offset and only
the black outline of the chamois was printed on top
via etch art laser engraving.

Austria Scott 2427





The raised portions are easily seen by holding the
stamp obliquely towards a light.

Scott 2428