Austrian Etch-Art Printing

This one showing St.Theodul is a perfect example
of how poor this print method really is.

Again as on the other examples the stamp was printed
predominantly by offset and only the black lines of the
bishop,his staff and chain are printed by laser engraving.

Austria Scott 2447




It looks as if they let a little kid use the laser, just look at
the squiggly lines on the face.
Absolutely terrible, and this from the Austrian State Printer
who produced so many miniature masterpieces over the decades.

While I agree that the result is certainly less than perfect, we do not know what the original artwork submitted by T Fischer looked like. It is likely that it was identical to what has been rendered by the Etch Art process.

I will stick my head above the parapet and state that I think it is wrong to blame the process and that instead the artist needs to go back to art school! If Etch Art was incapable of reproducing "reasonable" designs (it will never match hand-engraving), then none of those acceptable stamps depicted previously could exist.

GLENN

I agree Glenn that maybe the poor results can be blamed on the designer Tristan Fischer not the print method.
Moreso since the designer apparently is also responsible for the laser engraving.

But personally I don't see a future for this type of "engraving"

It is definitely cheaper and faster than traditional intaglio (recess) engraving and that's the bottom line for
most Post Office Departments.
Postal authorities all over want the best looking stamps at the lowest price and why not.

And the cheapest and fastest from design to production is via
offset, offset/litho, photo/offset whatever you want to call it.

Stamp production in Austria is in decline (as in most countries except maybe India) just look at the two examples
above. The one with the Bishop had a print run of 270,000, the Chamois was 265,000

Compare this to an average of 3 million for Austrian commemoratives from the late fifties to the millennium.

I read somewhere recently that the Österreichische Staatsdruckerei only printed 40 million stamps in 2012
compared to 200 million a decade ago.

No surprise there since all Austrian definitives and some commems are now printed
by Joh. Enschedé Stamps B. V., Netherlands who themselves just averted bankruptcy.
In addition most of the commemoratives issued in the last quarter of 2013 and the new 2014 issues
are printed in Hungary by ANY Security Printing Company PLC.

It appears that Etch-Art laser engraving is improving
and for this stamp at least it is comparable to traditional
engraved stamps.

Austria Scott 2454





As mentioned in the beginning of this thread, there is no engraver
involved.

Therefore the way I understand it, the designer, in this case Adolf Tuma
creates the engraving on a computer program and a laser
cuts the die according to the depth and width of the lines
programmed.

Here are more Austrian Etch/Art stamps.

Scott 2452

Tirolean Postmaster 16th Century



Scott 2470

Madonna and Child. Painted by Lorenzo Lotto (1480 - 1557)

Scott 2487 2014

Vienna Double Bass



Scott 2497 2014

900th Anniversary of Klosterneuburg Monastery



Scott 2557 2015

St. Teresa of Avila, 1515 - 1582

Austria 2014

Scott 2523



Infanta Margarita Teresa in a white robe by Velazquez

Only the fine black lines on her face,hair,dress and the
diagonal lines of the background are done via Etch-Art.
The effect is more evident when viewing the physical stamp
but is hardly visible on the image of the scan.
Would the stamp look much different if printed purely
offset/litho?
Probably not, to me it appears almost as a wasted effort.

Austria 2015

Scott 2569

European hare (Lepus europaeus) continuing annual
Wild Animals and Hunting series.



Even though the black brown lines were done by laser
engraving guided by the designer not an engraver,
they add to this stamp.
To me it appears that the bunny is in motion and separate
from his surroundings.

Austria 2015

Scott 2575

200th birthday of Don Giovanni Bosco



Even though the results aren't worthy of a Toth or Nefe,
I believe the designer David Gruber did a fine job
on the computer.

Austria 2015

Scott 2582

The Semmering Railway, built over 41 km of high mountains between 1848 and 1854,
is one of the greatest feats of civil engineering from this pioneering phase of railway building.



The black lines are printed via etch-art engraving, the rest
offset.

Austria 2015

Scott 2585

Susanna Bathing (or Susanne and the Elders) by Tintoretto.
Painting is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria.



One of the elders taking a peek at Susanna.
Notice the black diagonal etch-art lines.