Collecting By Engraver

Glad it was some help to you Barb.
Looking forward to seeing more of your
engraved stamps.
Do you perhaps have any British Colonial issues,
those nice bi-coloured ones?

@ nethryk - Yes, Pierre Munier certainly had great talent. I particularly like the Pascal one.

So here we have another engraver who worked well past the
normal retirement age of 65.
They either love their work or really need the money.

Here are a few more colonials. I'm uncertain about the first since there is no engraver name.

Nice stamps Barb, thanks for showing them.

Actually the first one is engraved but the others
appear to be typographed even though they have an engravers name
on the lower right.

Those typographed stamps were cut by an engraver but not printed via recess engraving.

ARRGH! So how does one know? typographed with engravers names and Engraved with no names. I'm so confused.

Sorry Barb it's probably my fault for confusing you by
not explaining it properly.

I sincerely doubt that; but beyond the "clarity" of an engraved image, what else do we look for?

Barb,check out this previous thread on SCF which mentions a couple of
ways in identifying engraved stamps.

https://goscf.com/t/14824

Thanks lithograving for the great illustration on the different printing methods, I was a bit confused as well.

A question that has been in my mind for a while is this: between the late fifties and the early seventies many countries stamps changed to, well there is no nice way of saying this, just plain ugly!

Is this because of a change in printing methods; from engraved stamps to photogravure? Sweden seems to be one of the few countries that did not change dramatically, is this because they continued, for the most part, to issue engraved stamps?

thanks

alex

Perf14 - For what they're worth, here are my opinions on the questions you raised above:

1. A question that has been in my mind for a while is this: between the late fifties and the early seventies many countries stamps changed to, well there is no nice way of saying this, just plain ugly!

Agreed. But then again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose.

2. Is this because of a change in printing methods; from engraved stamps to photogravure?

Printing by offset is much cheaper than intaglio engraving.

3. Sweden seems to be one of the few countries that did not change dramatically, is this because they continued, for the most part, to issue engraved stamps?

Fortunately for us, Sweden has been good about "keeping the faith." Worldwide, new issues of high quality intaglio engraved stamps are few and far between these days.

- nethryk

bfranton - Your beautiful Labuan orangutan stamp was engraved and printed by Waterlow & Sons of London, and issued in 1899, Scott No. 96, SG No. 112. Standard postage stamp catalogues such as those published by Scott, Stanley Gibbons (the older editions, anyway), Michel, Yvert & Tellier, and Facit (the best in this regard) generally disclose printing information for each stamp issue. When in doubt, I simply look it up. And I confess that even after all these years that I have been collecting engraved stamps, I am still so wary of goofing up that I look up EVERY stamp before posting an image of it on this or any other online forum. :) - nethryk

Perf14 I second everything nethryk mentioned.

Even though like you said there was a switch from engraving to photogravure from the fifties
onwards, photogravure stamp printing has been around since 1914 (Bavaria).
Many countries used that method from the late twenties on...Austria, Egypt, Germany, UK etc.

Photogravure (Heliogravure, Rotogravure, Gravure) stamps are cheaper to print than engraved ones, they are still more expensive to produce than offset/litho and that's why very few stamps are still printed via
gravure. One of the few who still uses it is Avery Dennison who prints hundreds of millions for the US Postal Service.

Actually there are lots of examples of photogravure (and offset and even typographed) stamps
which in my opinion are absolutely beautiful and would look much inferior if printed
by way of engraving.
One only has to look at the many examples of Harrison & Sons and Hélio Courvoisier who basically
perfected photogravure printing. By using subtle and muted colours photogravure stamps can
be quite stunning in every way an engraved one can and in some instances even more so.
Even monochrome photogravure can have a pleasing effect just
look at the Machins.

There are lots of offset and typographed (letterpress, surface printing) stamps which could only have been
printed by those methods and just wouldn't look as good engraved.
For instance engraving cannot produce solid colour blocks
in a way lithography & typography can.
That's my opinion but as nethryk said Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and everyone is entitled to his opinion.

Perhaps we should have a separate thread strictly about different print methods. The Pros and Cons.

I believe we haven't had any Russian engravers yet on this thread.
Here are a couple issued in 1965, designed by A. I. Kalashnikov
but I don't know who engraved them.

Once again thank you both for excellent answers. I admit that my statement of ugliness was a bit too "sweeping" as there are many beautiful stamps printed by other methods. Your example of the Machin series is an extremely good one, like many others I love the series.





Personally, I feel that it would be an extremely useful thread, as there are many printing methods that are not discussed very often. For example, tonight, while reading about early Italian stamps I came across a new one for me "chalcography" (which,as far as I can make out, is the engraving onto copper plates rather than steel ones (?))

Again thank you both for your answers...when are you two going to collaborate on a book?

alex

Another Russian (Soviet Union) set issued in 1967.

Combination print steel engraving/photogravure.
Engraved by ?

Scott 3409 - 3413

The following link outlines some of the different printing methods and, perhaps, could be used as a starting block for the new thread you mentioned, in case you were in mind to follow up on it...

As you can see it lacks somewhat in examples and pro's and cons...


http://www.2-clicks-stamps.com/arti...printed.html

alex