Greece Scott 198 Versus 214 - Engraved Vs Lithographed

Sorting Greek stamps in an old album that I got at auction a few years ago and am trying to distinguish between the engraved Hermes and Iris series stamps of 1911-21 from the lithographed stamps of 2013-23.

Wondering if there are any folks here who are experienced with stamps from Greece who can distinguish, if possible from a photo, which of these is Scott 198 (engraved) versus Scott 214 (lithograph). The stamp on the left was mounted as 198 while the right stamp was mounted as 214. I'm questioning whether that was correct. Given my general clumsiness, I can't detect much difference in the feel of the surface of the stamps. The left stamp paper appears to be firmer, but the right has no gum so don't know if that is the reason.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Although the photos aren't completely clear, I am inclined to say that both are engraved with different shades. One good way to tell is to look at the value tablet. If engraved, the color in the value tablet will have lines or cross hatching. I believe that with Litho, the value tablet color will be solid.

shermae - thanks for the comments. Not sure if the closeups below help - not seeing any lines or crosshatching but my eyes are not strong.

I've only been collecting for a few years and I might be wrong about this, but I lightly feel the stamps with my finger.

The lithographed stamps are very smooth. My finger slips off of them easily.
Engraved stamps have a texture that offers slight resistance, like very very fine sandpaper.

I don't think it's a very reliable test, but it seems to me that it works.

Easy to tell under microscope. The engraved will look like the ink was etched in. The lithographed will look smooth. I also use the microscope to check for chalk surface.

An easy way is to place an aluminium foil on the stamp and rub the foil with a gum eraser ..if it is engraved you will see the design on the foil...

perf12 - I did as you suggested and there was no imprint of the design on the foil.

Hard to tell unless one sees the stamps themselves in front of one. With regards to the two stamps in the top picture, the one on the left looks engraved while the one on the right looks lithographed. This is mostly based on the appearance of the different crossing lines in the top boxes for "HELLAS". The ones on the left look finer/clearer/cleaner/crispier/sharper than the ones on the right. On their backsides, the engraved stamp should show some albino/blank design impression/depression/embossing/debossing while the lithographed stamp should not show it.

I have a relatively small number of examples with these designs. Of these all my 1 lepton stamps are litho but I have quite a few other values which are engraved.

The printing looks very similar to me but two aspects stand out, as others have already mentioned:

- My engraved stamps are distinctly rougher to the touch on the front than the litho stamps.

- Of the three engraved 3 lepta stamps I've looked at just now, all show distinct impressions on the reverse corresponding to the lower value tablets.

In practice, I've used touch to identify the engraved stamps and the impression on the back to confirm this.

The Greek catalogues distinguish four different sets ("periods") of the litho stamps and list them separately depending on paper etc. adding to the challenge of identifying them.