The Quantz-Press - Bundesdruckerei Berlin

The head of the Bundesdruckerei responsible for stamp printing - Hans Zerbel - published a very detailed survey of the various presses they used for printing German stamps.

In this article the Quantz press was mentioned - printing reel-fed 4 colours offset-litho combined with recess! As claimed then it was the first in the world of that type of presses.

http://www.post-und-telekommunikati...kendruck.php

This press was introduced in 1972 and withdrawn in 2002 in order to be destroyed...

The name Quantz was invented by philatelists, Zerbel did not mention the actual name! Koebau or Goebel???

During the IBRA 73 Stamp Exhibition in Munich, the Bundesdruckerei spread this commemorative sheet:

Thanks for the link Rein.
With all your knowledge of printers who do you think
manufactured this Quantz press?

The article mentions that if there is any future need for
engraved stamps, they would turn to the Austrian State Printer.
Ironically since this article was written in 2008 the
above mentioned printer also stopped printing engraved
stamps unless you can call Etch-Art engraving.


Also what exactly is this new (in 2001) rotary press
mentioned which is capable of
über 6 Druckwerke im Offset- und einem Druckwerk im Flexodruck mit Schleifperforation .....
(more than six stations/colours? of offset and one station/colour? of flexoprint with grinding? perforations....)

Schleifperforation also known as APS!



In the BDPh Forum someone suggested "Die Firma Giori / KBA als Hersteller von Wertpapierdruckmaschinen hat das damals m.W. auch gebaut" hence Koebau wasn't a bad guess...

http://www.bdph.de/forum/showthread...ntz-maschine

If this so called Quantz press was acquired by the Bundesdruckerei
in 1972 then the first West German stamp that was printed
by it would be the one below.

Scott 1125 1973

1 colour recess engraving and 3 colours offset



The Bundesdruckerei printed offset/recess combo
stamps before 1972 but usually only in two or 3 colours.
Like the one below from the long running tourism series
where the vignette is one colour engraved and the frame
one colour offset.

Scott 1010 1969

The Bundesdruckerei (Federal Printer in Berlin) had
also produced multicoloured offset/recess print combination stamps
for West Berlin back in 1965/66 for the New Berlin series.

Here are some from that set, they appear to have 2 colours
engraved and 3 colours/inks offset.

Germany West Berlin

Scott 9N225



Scott 9N226



Scott 9N229



Scott 9N232

The original question was whether the 1972 press was Goebel or Koebau. It is reasonable to assume that it was made by Goebel of Darmstadt. Read on....

For just a month, I have owned the book "100 Jahre Bundesdruckerei" by Gerd Gnewuch (1979). It is in German, of course. On page 195 is the following German text, as translated for me by Google Translate.

"Since December 1972, a combined multicolour-offset-steel engraving rotary machine for printing postage stamps has been in use. It is the first special machine in the world, in the combination of four-colour offset printing wet / two-colour steel engraving printed in an endless paper web. The performance of this machine is determined by the capacity of the perforator that works with 800 beats per minute. This corresponds to a press output of about 8,400 sheets per hour."

That's all it says and promptly moves on to banknote printing and makes no mention of Goebel, as you will have noticed. However, the landscape format book (I personally hate this unwieldy format!) has a photo of a press alongside the text and there is clearly a GOEBEL DARMSTADT manufacturers plate visible on the side of the press.

There are no stamps visible in the above Goebel image, but there is a second photo showing a man holding a sheet of banknotes and that press (which is behind the man) is branded KOEBAU-GIORI-DE LA RUE machine.

I consider it reasonable to therefore assume that the 1972 stamp press was Goebel.

Hope this helps. GLENN

Here's the image of the Goebel 1972. GLENN

Glenn, thanks for all that great info and pic.

Now I know that this Quantz press was capable of two-colour steel engraving.
Somehow I got the impression before from what information there was that
it combined only one colour engraving with 4 colour offset.

Which puzzled me when I looked at these West German stamps
from 1975 where I definitely see 2 engraved colours.

Scott 1196 - 1199 Michel 860 - 863










Thanks again and have a Happy New Year

Getting back to the article by Hans Zerbel which explains the evolution of Bundesdruckerei printing presses.

Here is a prime example of how offset/litho has taken
over stamp production in the last decade.


The Quantz combination (recess/offset) press was scrapped end of 2002

The letterset press which printed the castles defintives beginning in 1987
(prior to that they were printed via typograhy) and the scenic definitives
was also scrapped in 2002

The recess engraving press (Giori type, Koebau ?) which printed the Famous Women
bicoloured stamps was scrapped in 2003

The photogravure press printed it's last stamp in mid 2003 but continued printing
labels for ATMs and it was scrapped in 2005.

Now, all Bundesdruckerei printed stamps come off this super fast
6 colour offset, 1 colour flexography * press which printed it's first
stamp in January 2001.

* Flexography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexography

Two-colour steel engraving with only ONE plate/cylinder as in the so-called "Giori" or "Lambert" process.

I finally found out why it was called the Quantz press.
See the link to the thread on the German BDPh forum.
Galeoptix (ReintjedeVos) is a member there.

http://www.bdph.de/forum/showthread...aften/page30

Apparently it was named after the first stamp printed
on this press.

Germany Berlin 9N342 1973
Johann Joachim Quantz



Just odd that with a press that could print in 6 colours
( 2 recess engraving & 4 offset) the first stamp off the press
was done in only one colour.