Marginal Inscriptions Of Peru 1876-1895

Just getting started on researching the production origins of the grilled stamps of Peru from 1876 through 1895, for postage, postage due, officials, occupation, etc. Do any of you have examples of marginal inscriptions you could show or describe in words?

So far this is my only example, but I would like to see more of it and others from its same time period.




Presumably "Compania Nationale something, something"

Just about anything you can show on this would be a help and a delight.

Nationale is not a Spanish word. Nacional is.

"COMPAÑIA NACIONAL DE BILLETES DE BANCO"
NATIONAL BANK NOTE COMPANY, the printer

Thank you Jorge; the content of the inscription is good to have. That said, I also need to see the style of the imprint(s) that were used for the Peruvian stamps from this period (1876-1895). It seems they are seldom offered for sale on eBay. Don't know about other venues.

Can anyone fill in this gap in my knowledge with a word about the availability of these imprints?

For example, was all the work done by National for these stamps in the years when new intaglio prints were made (exclusive of later overprinting)? National merged with American in 1879. Were new issues created after that; if so, how do the imprints read; i.e. who printed them?

Would it be safe to assume that American acquired the printing plates from National at that time?

As a side note, these are the only stamps I collect from Peru, specifically because of the grilled National Banknote postage due stamps featuring a llama and the steamship that was previously used on the 12c US 1869 pictorial (Sc 117).

Brian

Some years ago I also was interested in those stamps, especially the grills (and see which types were used). I also looked mostly for the 10c grey as they seemed to have been printed by both NBNCo and ABNCo and that was interesting for me.

I don't have the literature at hand, but from what I noted was that the 1870s stamps were printed by the NBNCo and the 1880s ABNCo (also somewhat logical). ABNCo could have used the same engraved plates, but changed the colors mostly. It would be interesting what you find out about the imprints, I would expect only the NBNCo imprints.

Here the most interesting article, where you also find the imprints described. Perhaps there were different ones, like those or shorter:

ENGRAVED & PRINTED BY THE NATIONAL BANKNOTE CO. NEW YORK
GRAVADO E IMPRESO POR COMPANIA NACIONAL DE BILLETES DE BANCO NUEVA YORK.
https://peru-philatelic-study-circl...874-1879.pdf

I only have one imprint from the earlier stamps around 1866, only ending with "BILLETES DE BANCO NUEVA YORK".

Probably the study circle can help you the most in this topic, as said looking forward to reading your new information about the imprints, and of course also the grills (probably you know the Dixon article).

Rileysan wrote:



In February of 1879 National was absorbed lock, stock, and barrel into a "consolidation" of three companies, all of which ended up under the name "American Bank Note Co." However, the consolidation tended to continued to print with unaltered plates until those needed replacement. As a result the same stamp issue might bear the imprints of both National and American. That is how it usually worked, but I have not seen the pattern for stamps of Peru which were printed before and after the consolidation by the same machinery.

This is why my request is very specific to stamps of the years 1876-1895. The stamps which floortrader showed are of the Columbian Bank Note Co and are too late. But it would be interesting to see if either National or American placed an imprint within the design area as Columbian did. The partial example I showed is from a marginal imprint, which is what I expect was the usual pattern for the two companies I am focused on.

So far I have seen only three partial imprints: the one I showed, and two imprint "captures," in a large lot, neither of which showed the company name. Still hoping to see more. If you know someone who seriously collects late 19th century Peru, have them take a look at this thread.

Much thanks to littbarski for the imprint description and the link to the article by CN Gonzales. He seemed to indicate that the imprint appears marginally top and bottom (English) and the sides (Spanish). Since he stops at 1879, he only gives inscriptional info for the National Bank Note Co. But for me it's a start!!

Thanks.

You find many original letters of the correspondance with the American Bank Note here:
https://peru-philatelic-study-circl...ournals.html

I have never really read them :), but I guess somebody did.

About the plates: are the marginal inscriptions independent from the rest of the plate? So could the ABNCo have used their own imprints even on plates that they got from the NBNCo (without changing the designs of the stamps) ?

When the ABNCo used later the plates that were engraved by the NBNCo, this is good to know whether the imprints are in general changed or not. I do not know this.

PS: Here another imprint, again not the area you search, but perhaps interesting how the imprint is placed (twice)
https://kelleherstampassets.s3.us-e...9/825676.jpg

Hard to believe a company like American would accept and issue those earlier stamps from another printer when their quality standards are much higher.
Judge for yourself ----

After the merger, American Bank Note Co. continued printing Peruvian stamps using the previous plates made by National Bank Note Co.

Deficit stamp printed by National - Marginal inscriptions



Peruvian stamp overprinted with the coat of arms of Chile (1881-83) during the Chilean occupation in the War of the Pacific:



One of the Deficit stamp (Postage Due) printed in 1907 by American with the old National plate (click on image to enlarge):


Peruvian stamps printed by National always have a grill. American ones don't.

Chile
Tax stamps printed in 1878 by National Bank Note Co.



When the 1,2 and 5 cents plates were worn out, American made new ones with its marginal inscription:



10 cents stamp printed in 1907 by American with the old National plate.
It has inscriptions in English (horizontal) and Spanish (vertical).
These bilingual inscriptions are also on the Peruvian plates made by National

Thank you very much, really extremely helpful and interesting!
I am sure this will also help essayk a lot.
About the plates and the imprints it is just as I expected and remembered from my research some years ago. Very nice to see all those examples by you!

I would like to know:
- you show for Chile the "substitution" imprint for the worn plates naming ABN, do they also exist for Peruvian stamps, or would we only see the National imprints?
- what about the 10c Grey stamp, the stamp appeared too late to be National - normally. But it also has a grill (at the beginning), which would mean it should be made by National. Do we have any source saying anything about the 10c Grey stamp and why American Bank note made this with grill, but all the other stamps without grill, maybe the 10c Grey was actually National Bank Note made, and only was "on hold" until the 1880s?

The 10 cents. Grey stamp:

The war with Chile began in April 1879.
At the beginning of 1880 Peru was to receive a final shipment printed by National (all with grill) just before the merger with American in 1879.
This shipment included the new 10 cents. in grey color.
But due to war contingencies the shipment was left in custody at Guayaquil-Ecuador.
In 1884 when the war was over this shipment was finally delivered to Peru.
Later in 1886 American made a new printing of some stamps of this series, with National plates and without grill :
1ct violet . 2cts green - 5cts orange - 10cts grey - 20cts blue - 50cts vermilion - 1sol brown

thank you again, you really know about this. That was something I always wondered with the 10cts.

If there are no American Bank Note imprints to find probably, then it would be hard to distinguish a National 10cts "missing grill variety" from a regular 10cts American Bank Note, correct? Or is the paper so much different that the 10cts paper is easy to detect as a ABN? (when I looked at the 10cts I never really detected a very certain paper definition of ABN - same paper thickness, paper mesh, perhaps a bit softer but not always).

There is much to discover in Peruvian stamps, also with the grills, although they are not that collected in Peru. I always looked at each grill very exactly to see if it is the correct grill for the correct stamp size. Never found an error exept one double grill.

@Jorgesurci

THANK
YOU!!

The photos are magnificent, and your notes get right to the heart of the matter.

You note: "Peruvian stamps printed by National always have a grill. American ones don't."

This action by American after the three company consolidation [NatBNCo, ContBNCo, AmerBNCo] makes sense inasmuch as National had a lease with Charles Steel for the use of the grill, as did Continental, but American never did. By the time of the three company "consolidation" in 1879 the grill was passe for US production and American (who had existed independently since 1857) had not and did not buy in.

The plates were physical assets of these companies, so printing from the "National" plates was worthwhile for the consolidation under the "American" name. But the patent rights for the grill belonged to Charles Steel, for which National and Continental were lessees. However, with the consolidation, those leases were non-effective, and, as noted, American BNCo (consolidated) could print from the original plates but could not apply the grill.

Given the legal status of the patent rights, the grill really should not be expected on stamps printed after the consolidation in 1879. However, the fact that it does seem to appear on Peruvian stamps as late as the 1890s raises an interesting question. It seems to me that all of the grilled stamps later than 1879 were distinguished by various designs applied as letterpress overprints on a set of common designs beneath. Might it be that the underlying stamps with a grill were printed in large quantity before February 1879 (or at about that time) and then modified thereafter for subsequent new issues by this extensive letterpress (typographed) overprinting?

Putting it another way:
Was any new Peruvian intaglio design released to the public with a grill after February 1890? [I do not expect an affirmative on that one, but would like to hear from someone who knows.]

FWIW

Here are some NBNCo imprints of the same styles to compare: (these images are close but not quite at the same scale) Accurate rendering would give same size images.


US 10c of 1870-early

US 10c of 1870-late


Peru 10c specimen of 1907 (from jorgesurci above)


The Peruvian imprint is of the same style and size as the later plate margin imprints of the National Bank Note Co.