Now that we have a separate forum specifically for the technical aspects of what goes into the making of a stamp lets use it.
There is no better way than with a video demonstration.
This one shows how the Canadian $1 definitive souvenir sheet Scott 1689b was engraved by Jorge Peral and printed via combination offset and recess engraving by the Canadian Bank Note Co
This one shows the production of the US 29c 1993 Percy Julian stamp printed in 1 colour black engraving and 6 colour offset by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
Litho: Thanks very much for uncovering these videos and starting an important thread here! I think we'll all appreciate this!
I won't have a chance to look through them for a couple of days, so hopefully it'll be covered in the various videos, but I genuinely do not really understand the different stamp printing methods, especially for stamps of the classic period.
I've read the Scott catalog explanation, and even tried to follow the relevant sections of The Fundamentals of Philately, and it just doesn't register properly with me. I have a feeling that if I could see these methods demonstrated, or at least illustrated better than the Williams' and Scott descriptions, I'd have a better chance at understanding.
If you find other online resources that would help explain these processes, I, and I bet many others, would find them very valuable.
I'm glad you find these vids useful and maybe some of the other stuff too.
All these videos have been around for awhile and links have been posted here on SCF and other forums but I figured if they were accessible all in one place it might help.
I've been interested in printing methods for some time now but sometimes I wonder if I know anything at all.
There is so much information out there and some of it is conflicting as to what is what.
I'm hoping that as we go along more people will contribute with more info and correct any errors I/we made in previous posts.
I can only locate a couple more and they are not as instructive as the ones above.
Hopefully some forum members can find and post additional stamp printing videos.
This clip from 1940 shows the production of the 1939 Netherlands semi postal Scott B118. Photogrure printing by Joh. Enschede en Zonen, Haarlem. Pity it is so short and you really have to crank up the volume to hear the narrator.
This video is showing in the William H. Gross Stamp Gallery at the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum. This video traces the history of stamp production from nineteenth-century hand-operated presses to modern offset production with print runs in the billions.
Thanks a lot for the link to the video on the stamp production methods used in the famous National Stamp Printing Works, Périgueux, France. Much appreciated, again.
This old British Pathe film demonstrates the original stone lithography printing and ends with the then (1940's) modern offset printing. I didn't realize that the stone plate was that thick.
A ManRoland 5 ink web fed Lithoman printing press. This press prints newspapers and therefore 2 sides simultaneously but the printing of postage stamps would be very similar.
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