Czechoslovak Stamps Printed On Diestamp Print Presses

I have happened to come across an interesting site by Victor Manta presenting, among other stamps on art, those issued in ex-Czechoslovakia printed from flat plates on diestamp print presses: http://www.artonstamps.org/art-on-stamps-1.htm

Select:
Czechoslovakia

and then:
Local Masters
Foreign Masters
P. Ginz & Columbia

Florian asked me to post this video which shows the production
of the 2016 Czechia - Liechtenstein joint issue.
The stamps portray Gerrit Dou's painting Young Woman on a Balcony
printing done on the Waite & Saville die-stamp press.

To explain further as to what is involved in printing these
multicolour engraved painting stamps, Florian states that :
the sheet below shows 5 single prints from each of the dies and the resulting print in five colours in register demonstrate how the final result is achieved.....




....The document (print run: 2,000) is sometimes referred to as Aachen proofs. It was published by the Czech Post to mark the Government Postage Stamp Printers' Association award for excellence in the category "Best Intaglio Stamp" issued in 2014-2015 for the stamp featuring the painting "Head of a Girl" by Hans von Aachen.

Engravers working on these dies for the Waite & Saville presses
had to interpret a painting on a stamp using just 5 or 6 colours.

Here is what Adrian mentions about Milos Ondracek the engraver
of the Hans von Aachen stamp.

"A large part of Ondracek's work consists of stamps depicting artwork, issued in the annual "Art" series of Czechoslovakia, and now the Czech Republic. These often form quite a challenge. Not only does a work of art need to be reduced in size enormously, without losing its characteristics, but there's the added problem of only having available a limited number of colours. The challenge is therefore to use several layers of engravings so that the five or six hues end up being a dazzling spectrum of colours."


See the whole article on Adrian's Stamp Engravers blog.
http://stampengravers.blogspot.ca/2...k-milos.html

Florian asked me to post the following:

The latest Art on Stamps issue showing a painting entitled "The Victor" by Jaroslava Pešicová was honoured with a document featuring a set of five proofs from each of the dies plus all the five in register, all of them executed by engraver Václav Fajt (b. 1952).




The document is similar to the Aachen proofs shown in the previous post , executed by engraver Milos Ondracek (b. 1936). The subscription price was the same: 380Kc but the print run was 1500, not 2000 as before. Both Ondracek (81 now) and Fajt (65) are Czech senior engravers who are still active in stamp engraving but with diminishing opportunities as offset printing takes over in stamp production.

PTC Praha a.s. stamp printer has announced in their recent newsletter that their large Fr. Heim & Co. flat-bed machine, now reconditioned, has been put again into operation printing a giant souvenir sheet measuring 124 by 203 mm for Slovakia. The S/S contains one 2.60 € stamp measuring 44.4 x 54.4 mm. The black proof of the sheet's engraving by František Horniak is also available (see https://www.pofis.sk/en/catalog/pro...es-in-levoca ).

Thank you, lithograving.

Here is the stamp as shown by the World Association for the Development of Philately on http://www.wnsstamps.post/en/stamps/CZ044.17 with its enlarged image ( http://www.wnsstamps.post/stamps/20...CZ044.17.jpg ) demonstrating the fine engraving by Václav Fajt and the perfect work of the Post Printing House's printers.

Florian,

referring to your old post od 28.04.2014:



Die stamping in 1928???? Is this a translation problem????? Apart from the Stickney press there was just sheet-fed recess/intaglio?!?!?

pozdrawiam, Rein

It is a shame that Czech Post insists on using double-sided sticky tape to adhere the six lovely colour separations to their backing sheet (at least on the Aachen item - the only one I currently own). Over time these "proofs" will surely suffer as the adhesive breaks down and the front of the items discolours where the tape is. I have carefully (VERY carefully) removed the adhesive from the reverse of my copies to prevent this from happening. Not ideal as it ruins the backing sheet, but at least it will go some way towards preserving the engravings. GLENN

Galeoptix - Rein,

It was only yesterday afternoon that I had another look at this thread and found your post of Jan. 26 requiring a reply from me.

The very first diestamp print press used for printing Czechoslovakian stamps was a JOHNSTON, which the Bratislava 1937 S/S was printed on (see http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1937-329a.htm ), followed by three more S/S's issued in 1938
(see http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1938-335a.htm , http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1938-342a.htm , and http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1938-347a.htm ).

After WWII, a number of WAITE & SAVILLE and HEIM diestamp print presses besides the JOHNSTON came into use.

Before WWII, in addition to rotary steel print performed on two Stickney machines, a number of commemorative, high value, and air post issues were printed on sheet-fed flatbed HUMMEL presses by Èeská grafická unie, Prague
(see http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1925-190.htm up to http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1925-193.htm ,
http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1925-194.htm ,
http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1925-195.htm ,
http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1925-196.htm ,
http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1926-225.htm ,
http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1926-226.htm ,
http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1927-227.htm ,
http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1927-228.htm ,
http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1928-233.htm up to http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1928-242.htm ,
http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1929-243.htm up to http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1929-247.htm ,
http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1929-254.htm ,
http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1929-255.htm ,
http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1929-256.htm ,
http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1931-257.htm (both shades),
http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1930-261.htm up to http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1930-264.htm ,
http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1930-L7.htm up to http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1930-L14.htm ,
http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1934-283a.htm , http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1934-284a.htm

Also, one commemorative issue was printed on a sheet-fed flatbed NÁDHERNÝ press by the printer A. Haase, Prague in 1923
(see http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1923-176.htm up to http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1923-179.htm (overprinted International Olympic Congress in 1925, and VIIIth Sokol Rally in 1926).

- BTW, the Warsaw 1928 Philatelic Exhibition S/S is reported to have been printed on a sheet-fed flatbed NÁDHERNÝ press in Poland as well (see https://www.kzp.pl/index.php?artyku...-1928-zn0235 ).

Finally, a sheet-fed flatbed NÁDHERNÝ press was used in 1938 to print some values of the 1930 air post issue from new plates and add a 30h value
(see http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1939-L9A.htm , http://www.cpslib.org/pages-large/1939-L11A.htm
http://www.cpslib.org/pages-years/1939.htm - the 30h value issued on April 22, 1939).

Zdravím,

Florián

P.S. Did you notice my belated reply of Dec. 12, 2017 (see https://goscf.com/t/36707&whichpage=2#508851 ) to your query of June 27, 2017 on the Stickney Rotary Press thread? I am sorry.

Florian,

die stamping as in Mexico!

The black printing has NO straight lines!

Galeoptyx - Rein, could you provide a link to your post on the Mexican Waite & Saville printed stamps, please?

As far as I can remember, judging from their appearance, I was unable to believe they had been printed by the same type of press.

Florian,

http://foro.filateliaargentina.org/...16&start=112

pozdrawiam, Rein

Galeoptix - Rein,

I am just a layman collecting and appreciating just some of the engraved stamps that appeal to me from an aesthetic point of view.

I am no expert on technical data, so I am unable to discuss these things with you. What I am doing here is merely relata refero.

In fact, I don¨t know what you were getting at when you said "die stamping as in Mexico! The black printing has NO straight lines!" Could you explain what you intended to suggest?

Yet I can see that the four Waite & Saville presses shown while used in Mexico are very different from those used in my country (see
https://goscf.com/t/37395&whichpage=4#349902 and
https://goscf.com/t/37395&whichpage=5#470644 ).

What can they have in common but the the firm that produced them?

Groetjes,

Florián

Florian,



In all colours [red, blue, brown, black] the lines are NOT completely filled with ink...

pozdrawiam, Rein

Galeoptix - Rein,

Thanks for the two very fine blow-ups of yours.

Your observation about not all the lines being completely filled with ink is very interesting but I have to point out to you that some of them in all colours (such as the two in blue below the chin of the cherub - unlike the background in blue - in the latter blow-up) in fact are, so the background is left like that on purpose.

Just study II - Taille-douce a plat in DE LA GRAVURE AU TIMBRE (5) of May 27, 1915 on http://blog-impressions-timbrees.bl...y-date=false on Papy24's blog in French
interpreting retired printer Miroslav Vondøich's words on the multicoloured flat plate printing of stamps in Prague.

Mr Vondøich's article appeared in the 9/2004 issue of the FILATELIE monthly on pp. 40-41, (44-45/56) (see http://knihovna.filaso.cz/filatelie_2004_09.pdf ).

Groetjes,

Florián

The PTC Praha a.s. won the Government Postage Stamp Printers' Association award for excellence in the category "Best Intaglio Stamp" issued in 2016-2017 for the stamp interpreting Jaroslava Pešicová's painting "The Victor" engraved by Václav Fajt (see https://goscf.com/t/37395&whichpage=5#508947 ). The 17th Conference of the GPSPA was held in Paris on June 6-7, 2018.