George Rogers Clark issue of 1929
I’m going to introduce you to my favorite United States commemorative stamp. Here it is. I hope you will forgive the huge image:
Isn’t that drool-worthy? It is printed by a type of recess printing technically known as intaglio. A master artist takes weeks — sometimes months — with a scribing tool on a piece of copper. There is no room for error. He works in mirror-image. Everywhere he scratches, there will ink be deposited. Every place left unscratched, there the color of the paper will show through.
In this style of stamp, which is called frame and vignette, the artist cuts two plates: in this case, the one that takes the scarlet ink, and the one that takes the black ink.
How it works is this: the frame plate is inked all over with a wool (or these days, synthetic) roller. The ink gets both into the crevices and onto the smooth copper. Then, a sharp blade, called a doctor blade, squeegees the surface of the plate. The flat areas are now devoid of ink, but the ink remains in the crevices. High-quality paper is wet, then pressed under enormous pressure against the engraving plate by another plate or roller. The paper is literally squeezed into the crevices, where it picks up the ink. It is allowed to dry, and then the same process is repeated with the vignette, or image inside the frame.
The plates are extremely expensive to make, they wear out (so there have to be duplicates — don’t worry, the engraving usually only happens once, and is mechanically repeated through a process I can explain if anyone cares), they have to be replaced — lots of costs. Coupled with the very low number of people skillful enough to do this, and the salaries they can command, this is an extremely expensive way to make stamps, and is only very rarely used these days.
You can always tell an intaglio stamp, by (carefully!) dragging the back edge of a fingernail across the stamp. Every tiny line will register as a bump. It’s exquisite. It’s true art.
This stamp, an oversized issue for the day (about 40mm × 31mm), and even then a rarity in two colors, is amazing. Why this topic, George Rogers Clark’s capture of a British fort 150 years prior, was chosen for this honor, and not, say, the sesquicentennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, is beyond me. But they did it.
Hold on, the story gets better. As was the custom, when this stamp was being produced, each plate was numbered. The numbers are printed by the plates in the waste paper around the block of stamps, or selvedge. Twelve frame plates were engraved, twelve vignette plates were engraved, and all 144 combinations exist. More interestingly, they are all approximately the same rarity. To spice things up even more, there are plate blocks from the left and right of the sheet, which was cut into two panes for resale. The left side has the word “Top” on the selvedge above one stamp in scarlet, then the plate numbers (in their appropriate colors; they are after all deposited by the plate) above two more stamps. They are collected in 3×2 blocks. On the right side, the word “Top” is in black above one of the steps, and the order of the plate numbers is reversed, and the letter “F” appears next to each plate. So all told, there are 288 collectible plate blocks, all of which exist, all of which are obtainable, and all of which are pretty cheap.
If you’ve wondered how someone can devote a lifetime of study to one single stamp, here is an example. If someone completes the plate blocks, he could then start examining mis-registrations (or other freaks), or plate flaws, or different plate states. He could obtain trial proofs, india paper proofs, and printer’s waste. He could probably win a major award at an exhibition with a study of this one stamp.
I collect plate blocks of this issue. Here is my checklist at the moment:
I have a whole album, with a slipcase, devoted to this one issue. Stop by and see it some time.
As you can see, I have a ways to go. I’m only 15% of the way there. They’re all out there. Wish me luck.
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January 29th, 2008 at 9:52 am
January 29th, 2008 at 11:56 am
I really know next to nothing when it comes to the world of stamps, but this was a fascinating read.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Well done and very interesting — my favorite stamp has always been the $1.00 Trans-Mississippi — I love that whole issue, and the bi-color proofs are cool too. Needless to say, I don’t even own one plate block of this issue (PB of 6 catalogs around 50 grand) — but I can dream….. but yeah, something about the George Rogers Clark issue always made me feel like it was undervalued, but that’s just because I’m prejudiced in favor of the quality of a stamp’s art rather than the quantity which obviously has a lot more to do with the value….anyway… peace, Jerry
January 30th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Jerry, yes, the $1 Western Cattle in Storm! Absolutely the most beautiful artwork on a stamp. I wish the Spanish-American war hadn’t interfered with the plans to issue the originally-planned frame-and-vignette issues. I was thrilled in 1998 when I was able to buy the frame-and-vignette versions printed from the original plates — at 1⁄1000th the price! Check this out, that I made and had serviced:
February 2nd, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Wow, that’s cool as hell! I never think of anything of like that! If I ever stumbled across it at an auction or online or in a shop, however, I’d snatch it up in a heartbeat….I may not be great at thinking up cool shit, but I always recognize cool shit before anyone else does….perpetually the critic, I suppose….anyway, your philatelic passion and knowledge is laudable, Joshua, and you’re excellent proof that philatelist does not equal dork…..about 40 years of it myself now and no one has every mistaken me for one, even if sometimes I’ve done something or other that might suggest my dorkhood…peaceout, Jerry
May 30th, 2008 at 7:53 am