REGISTRATION NO 105 / 1969

Affiliated to Philatelic Congress of India

Durbar Hall – Golconda Fort

Official Journal of The Hyderabad Philatelic & Hobbies Society (Registered), Hyderabad

DATED E- MAGAZINE
Monthly Publication
VOL. 59 / # 09 /2021
SEPTEMBER– 2021
This issue of The Hyderabad Philatelist is compiled, edited, and designed by Sri Shri Prakash Agarwaal (President)
2
 Table of Contents
01-01 Cover
02-02 Advertisement
03-03 Editorial /Table of Contents
04-04 Advisory & Managing Committee
2020-2022
05-06 Postage Stamps of Princely State of My Dear Friends & Fellow Members,
Faridkot Greetings for a grand Dashahara,
07-18 Art of Engraving & Intaglio Printing
19-25 Stamped with Diamonds Friends, with immense pleasure we present you
26-29 Printing processes of postage the September 2021 issue of our E magazine
stamps “The Hyderabad Philatelist”, with many
30-34 Determining Printing methods can interesting articles and amazing untold facts of
confuse anyone the philatelic world.
35-39 Highways & Bridges
In fact, more important and most awaited news
commemorated on US stamps
is happening of “HYPEX – 2021”, an annual
40-40 Exhibition news
feature event of our association since long.
41-43 Alphabetilately - E
44-46 Stamps News This time, it is more important for all of us as it is
47-47 World Tourism Day Celebrations being celebrated along with the 103rd Annual
48-49 Catalogue Supplement Convention of the “Numismatic Society of India”
50-50 New Gibbons Catalogues hosted by “The Salar Jung Museum”,
51-51 Society’s Membership Form Hyderabad, in the Eastern Block of the Museum
52-52 Acknowledgements from 23-25, October 2021. We are fortunate
enough to be associated with this very important
and memorable event as the regional supporters
and have organised a stamp, coin and notaphily
dealers meet at the same venue for three days.
You can reach us……
PRESIDENT Indeed, we consider it as a very big platform for
SHRI PRAKASH AGARWAAL
us to be associated with such big organisations
“DIVINE SPACE”, G 1, Ground Floor,
8-2-603/23/17/18, Road # 10, Banjara Hills, and look forward to a grand success.
HYDERABAD- 500 034 T.S.
CELL : 9346777206, EMAIL : spagarwaal@yahoo.com / As ever all this will be possible only with the
spagarwaal07@gmail.com (Preferred) energetic support of the members and we
0R
VICE-PRESIDENT
request them to come forward and render their
B. K. NAGPAL valuable services.
CELL : 98850 31013 / rrnbkn@yahoo.in
or write to
HydPhilSociety@yahoo.co.in
We look forward for a positive response.
Thanking You,

For The Hyderabad Philatelic & Hobbies

Society;

AGARWAAL SHRI PRAKASH

PRESIDENT

3
 THE HYDERABAD PHILATELIC & HOBBIES SOCIETY
‘DIVINE SPACE’, G 1, Ground Floor, 8-2-603/23/17/18,’Road # 10, Banjara Hills,
HYDERABAD - 500 034, TELANGANA STATE, [BHARAT] INDIA
CELL : 09346777206, EMAIL : spagarwaal@yahoo.com / spagarwaal07@gmail.com
society email : hydphilsociety@yahoo.co.in
Registration No 105/1969

ADVISORY COMMITTEE
2020 – 2022

MOHD. BADRUDDIN KHAN AJEET RAJ SINGHEE DR. RAJA REDDY SATISH G. SHAH
[L] 040 24381910 [L] O4O 2360 8453 [M] 98480 18660 [M] 9391013665
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MANAGING COMMITTEE
2020 – 2022

PAST PRESIDENT PRESIDENT VICE-PRESIDENT SECRETARY

SUNDER BAHIRWANI SHRI PRAKASH AGARWAAL B. K. NAGPAL DEVENDER KUMAR JAIN

[M] 9985357370 [M] 9346777206 [M] 9885031013 [L] 040 27759674
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Rediffmail.com spagarwaal07@gmail.com

JOINT SECRETARY TREASURER

VIKAS LAKHOTIA VIQAR AKBAR

[M] 9885068379 [M] 9985112302
vikas_743@yahoo.com akbar.bright.co@gmail.com

CHANDA SHANKAR GUPTA T.RAMLINGESHWAR RAO C.J. KESHAV KUMAR SAGI SRINIVAS RAJU

[M] 9490796335 [M] 96401 42626 [M] 9440084280 [M] 9849302830

trl_1963@yahoo.in Sagisrinivasraju900@
yahoo.co.in

RAJASHEKAR TUMMALA SRIKANTH SUGURU

[M] 9491884981 [M] 9290744447

Rajashekar.tummala@ sripowers@gmail.com
gmail.com

4
 Postage Stamps of FARIDKOT STATE
Princely State of British India
Princely State of 1803–1947

Faridkot
Source : http://feudatory-states-stamps.com

HISTORY FLAG COAT OF ARMS

Faridkot was a princely state in the Punjab

Agency (presently in the state of Punjab). The
first stamps of the state were issued between
1879 and 1886, during the reign of Raja
Bikram Singh, who ruled from 1874 – 1898.

The stamps were hand stamped on various

papers; laid and wove, thick and thin, white
and whitey brown. They were imperforate
and without gum. The stamps became
obsolete in 1886 and were supplanted by the
issues of the state as a convention state.

Faridkot was a Sikh princely state. The region Faridkot State in a 1911 map of Punjab
was ruled over by the Bat Sikh Brar dynasty,
and rulers achieved prominence within the FAST FACTS
Mughal Empire. After disputes among family Historical era New Imperialism
Established 1803
members, Hamir Singh became the first
Independence of India 1947
autonomous chief of Faridkot in 1763. A Preceded by India
neighboring Sikh empire seized the territory
in 1803, but the British forced return to the Succeeded by India
previous ruler in 1807, as they established
hegemony over the area. In 1845, the prince
supported the British against the Sikhs, and
was rewarded with additional territory. Again,
the rulers supported the British during the
Indian Mutiny of 1857.

The state consisted of over fifty villages and

two towns. The population of the city of
Faridkot was originally located within a fort
but expanded beyond the walls in 1873. The
state of Faridkot was uneventfully planned,
administered, and run. It acceded to India in
1947.

After the independence of India in 1947,

rulers of Indian Princely States were deprived
Bikram Singh, Raja of Faridkot (1842-98) c. 1887
of their titles and power. In a series of moves,
5
many of their assets were seized. The “privy purse” they were supposed to receive was abolished in 1971.
The socialist government of India actually raided their assets and threw some members in prison.

Yet, throughout this, Harinder Singh Brar, the former maharajah of tiny Faridkot, managed to hold on to a
fortune worth, today, almost 3 billion dollars. Unfortunately, after his son’s death in an auto accident, the
former maharajah went into a deep depression and ended up being in the control of his courtiers. His
assets were put into a trust, with servants and advisors serving as trustees. When he died, his family
members – mother, wife, and daughters – were disinherited, or received only token amounts. A twenty-
year battle, which may not be over yet, has now resulted in a verdict that Harinder Singh Brar’s will was
forged. His elderly daughters, who lived modest lives, were then set to inherit his vast fortune.
Unfortunately, one passed away before the verdict. Living her last years in a tiny portion of one of the
vast estates, and dependent upon a decidedly unprincess-like allowance, she died neglected and
impoverished. Although fond of reading, she was not allowed into the library of the estate. As of 2018,
and after many court battles, the two surviving daughters of the maharajah will apparently inherit this
property.
THE STAMPS
1879 – 1886

1 Folus Ultramarine - Thick Laid Native Paper 1 Folus Ultramarine - Ordinary Laid Paper

1 Folus Ultramarine
Wove Paper Tête-bêche Pair

1 Folus Ultramarine 1 Piasa Ultramarine

Wove Paper Wove Paper

1 Folus Ultramarine - Thin Whitish-brown Wove Paper

6
 The Art of Engraving
and
Intaglio Printing
Source : https://stampaday.wordpress.com
By Mark Joseph Jochim

Sweden – Scott #1586 (1986)

I am intrigued by the process of printing, whatever medium it may be reproduced upon, but my
favorite method has always been images created from steel (or line) engraving and printed by intaglio
(or recess) printing. This, of course, is the combination that produced so many of our classic postage
stamps and is also seen on currency and prints or illustrations, mainly from the 19th century. The
process is still used on a number of items and every year there is at least one stamp issue that receives
praise from the philatelic press and collectors alike for the beauty of the engraving and printing. There
are definitely more websites dedicated to engraved stamps as a specialty than, to typographed,
lithographed, gravured, etc. stamps and at least two that are devoted to the stamps engraved by just
one man, Czeslaw Slania.

Many of the terms used when discussing these stamps overlap or have no difference in meaning with
collectors referring to line-engraved intaglio as “engraving”, “recess printed”, “line engraved”,
“etched,” and others. By definition, engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually
flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as
when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or
another metal, for printing images on paper as prints or illustrations; these images are also called
“engravings”. Engraving is one of the oldest and most important techniques in printmaking.

Line engraving is a term for engraved images printed on paper; in addition to being used when talking
about 19th century stamps, the term is also mainly used in connection with 18th or 19th century
commercial illustrations for magazines and books, or reproductions of paintings. Steel engraving is an

7
overlapping term, for images that in fact are often mainly in etching, mostly used
for banknotes, illustrations for books, magazines and decorative prints, often
reproductive, from about 1820 to the early 20th century, when the technique
became less used. Copperplate engraving is another somewhat outdated term for
engravings. With photography long established, engravings made today are nearly
all artistic ones in printmaking, but the technique is not as common as it used to be;
more than other printmaking techniques, engraving requires great skill and much
practice, even for an experienced artist.

Engraver Elie Timothée Loizeaux at work. Born in Vinton, Iowa, on March 4, 1873, Loizeaux started as an
apprentice engraver at the American Bank Note Co. in 1892 and remained in there until his retirement in 1947.
He was one of the last great master engravers of the golden age of steel engraving at ABNC. He worked side-by-
side with legendary engravers as Charles Skinner, Robert Savage and Edwin Gunn. Elie T. Loizeaux died on
August 6, 1956.

Engraving for the purpose of printmaking creates plates for intaglio printing.
Intaglio engravings are made by carving into a plate of a hard substance such as
copper, zinc, steel, or plastic. Afterward ink is rubbed into the carved areas and
away from the flat surface. Moistened paper is placed over the plate and both are
run through the rollers of an intaglio press. The pressure exerted by the press on
the paper pushes it into the engraved lines and prints the image made by those
lines. In an intaglio print, the engraved lines print black.

Intaglio printmaking emerged in Europe well after the woodcut print, with the
earliest known surviving examples being undated designs for playing cards made in
Germany, using drypoint technique, probably in the late 1430s. Engraving had been
used by goldsmiths to decorate metalwork, including armor, musical instruments
and religious objects since ancient times, and the niello technique, which involved
8
rubbing an alloy into the lines to give a contrasting color, also goes back to late
antiquity. Scholars and practitioners of printmaking have suggested that the idea of
making prints from engraved plates may well have originated with goldsmiths’
practices of taking an impression on paper of a design engraved on an object, in
order to keep a record of their work, or to check the quality.

In all these figures the outline is the primary focus, followed by the lines which mark
the leading folds of the drapery. These are always engravers’ lines, such as may be
made naturally with the steel cutting tool called a burin, and they never imitate the
freer line of the pencil or etching needle. The most important of the tools used in
line-engraving is the burin, or graver, a bar of steel with one end fixed in a rounded
handle, somewhat resembling a mushroom with one side cut away. The burin is
shaped so that the sharpened, cutting end takes the form of a lozenge, and points
downward. The burin acts exactly as a plough in the earth: it makes a furrow and
turns out a shaving of metal in the same way a plough turns the soil of a field. The
burin, unlike a plough, is pushed through the material. This particular characteristic
at once establishes a wide separation between it, and all the other instruments
employed in the arts of design, such as pencils, brushes, pens, and etching needles.

A diagram of a burin showing its component parts: the handle, shaft, cutting tip and face.

A collection of gravers tools used for engraving.

9
The malformed hand of Hendrik Goltzius, which was especially suited to the use of a burin. Goltzius’s Right Hand,
1588 – pen and brown ink ; 9 x 12 5/8 in. (23 x 32.2 cm) – Teylers Museum, Haarlem

A tint burin consists of a square face with teeth, enabling the creation of many fine,
closely spaced lines. A stipple tool allows for the creation of fine dots. A flat burin
consists of a rectangular face, and is used for cutting away large portions of material
at a time. In use, it is typically held at approximately a 30-degree angle to the
surface. The index and middle finger typically guide the shaft, while the handle is
cradled in the palm. Of note is the 16th-century Flemish engraver Hendrik Goltzius,
whose malformed hand was ideally suited for the cradling and guiding of a burin.
Shading is used in the greatest moderation with thin straight strokes that never
overpower the stronger organic lines of the design. In early metal engraving the
shading lines are often cross-hatched. In the earliest woodcuts they are not. The
reason being that when lines are incised, they may as easily be crossed, as not.
Whereas when they are reserved, the crossing involves much non-artistic labor.

Martin Schongauer was one of the earliest known artists to exploit the copper-
engraving technique, and Albrecht Dürer is one of the most famous intaglio artists.
Schongauer used outline and shade as a unified element, and the shading, generally
in curved lines. His skill is far more masterly than the straight shading of Mantegna,
the engraver trained by Raphael. Dürer continued Schongauer’s curved shading,
with increasing manual delicacy and skill, and over-loaded his plates with quantities
of living and inanimate objects. He applied the same intensity of study to every art
form he explored. Italian and Dutch engraving began slightly after the Germans, but
were well developed by 1500. Drypoint and etching were also German inventions
of the fifteenth century, probably by the Housebook Master and Daniel Hopfer
respectively.
10
St. Jerome in His Study (1514), an
engraving by Northern
Renaissance master Albrecht
Dürer.

A detail of a stipple
engraving by
Francesco Bartolozzi
(1725-1815), showing
technique.

11
Peter Paul Rubens and the engravers he employed, made marked technical
developments in the field of engraving. Instead of his finished paintings, Rubens
provided his engravers with drawings as guides, allowing them to discard the Italian
outline method and in its place substitute modeling. They substituted broad masses
for the minutely-finished detail of the northern schools, and adopted a system of a
dark and light characteristic of engraving, which reportedly Rubens stated,
rendered the detail as more harmonious.
In the nineteenth century, Viennese printer Karel Klíč introduced a combined
intaglio and photographic process. Photogravure retained the smooth continuous
tones of photography but was printed using a chemically-etched copper plate. This
permitted a photographic image to be printed on regular paper, for inclusion in
books or albums.
The decline of the art of engraving was due to the fact that the public refused to
wait for several years for proofs (some important proofs took as long as 12 years to
create) when they could obtain their plates more quickly by other methods. The
invention of steel-facing S copper plate enabled the engraver to proceed more
quickly; but even in this case he could no more compete with the etcher than the
mezzotint engraver could keep pace with the photogravure manufacturer.
Line-engraving flourished in France until the early 20th century, only through official
encouragement and intelligent fostering by collectors and connoisseurs. The class
of the work has entirely changed, however, partly through the reduction of prices
paid for it, partly through the change of taste and fashion, and partly, again, through
the necessities of the situation. French engravers were driven to simplify their work
in order to satisfy public impatience. To compensate for loss of color, the art
developed in the direction of elegance and refinement.

“Trinity College. View from St John’s College, Old Bridge” by John Le Keux, circa 1840. This steel engraving was much used
for decorative topographical prints such as this.

12
In the 1940s and 1950s the Italian security printer Gualtiero Giori brought intaglio
printing into the era of high-technology by developing the first ever six-color intaglio
printing press, designed to print banknotes which combined more artistic
possibilities with greater security.

In addition to the burin, there are a number of other tools employed by the
engraver. The angle tint tool has a slightly curved tip that is commonly used in
printmaking. Florentine liners are flat-bottomed tools with multiple lines incised
into them, used to do fill work on larger areas or to create uniform shade lines that
are fast to execute. Ring gravers are made with particular shapes that are used by
jewelry engravers in order to cut inscriptions inside rings. Flat gravers are used for
fill work on letters, as well as “wriggle” cuts on most musical instrument engraving
work, remove background, or create bright cuts. Knife gravers are for line engraving
and very deep cuts. Round gravers, and flat gravers with a radius, are commonly
used on silver to create bright cuts (also called bright-cut engraving), as well as other
hard-to-cut metals such as nickel and steel. Square or V-point gravers are typically
square or elongated diamond-shaped and used for cutting straight lines. V-point
can be anywhere from 60 to 130 degrees, depending on purpose and effect. These
gravers have very small cutting points. Other tools such as mezzotint rockers,
roulets and burnishers are used for texturing effects. Burnishing tools can also be
used for certain stone setting techniques.

The elements of engraving with the burin are evident in the engraving of letters,
specifically, the capital letter B. This letter consists of two perpendicular straight
lines and four distinct curves. The engraver scratches these lines, reversed, very
lightly with a sharp point or stylus. Next, the engraver cuts out the blacks (not the
whites, as in wood engraving) with two different burins. First, the vertical black line
is ploughed with the burin between the two scratched lines, then similarly, some
material is removed from the thickest parts of the two curves. Finally, the
gradations from the thick middle of the curve to the thin points touching the vertical
are worked out with a finer burin.

Macro shot of banknote portrait pattern (Intaglio print, tactile effect). Denomination: 1000 Hungarian forint.
Depicted area: 18.1 x 13.5 mm. Lens: Olympus M.60 mm + Raynox 250.
13
The hollows are then filled with printing ink, the surplus ink is wiped from the
smooth surface of the metal, damped paper is laid upon the surface and driven into
the hollowed letter by the pressure of a revolving cylinder. The paper draws out the
ink, and the letter B is printed in intense black.

When the surface of a metal plate is sufficiently polished to be used for engraving,
the slightest scratch upon it will print as a black line. An engraved plate from which
visiting cards are printed is a good example of some elementary principles of
engraving. It contains thin lines and thick ones, as well as a considerable variety of
curves. An elaborate line engraving, if it is a pure line engraving and nothing else,
will contain only these simple elements in different combinations. The real line
engraver is always engraving a line more or less broad and deep in one direction or
another; he has no other business than this.

Landing of Columbus, engraved by the BEP based on Vanderlyn’s 1847 painting. This vignette was used as the
back of the Series 1875 $5 National Bank Note.

14
In steel engraving, the illustrations are based on steel rather than copper plates.
Engraving is done with a burin pushed along the plate to produce thin furrowed
lines, leaving “burr” or strips of waste metal to the side. This is followed by the use
of a scraper to remove any burs, since they would be an impediment during the
subsequent inking process. Steel plates are very hard for this technique, which is
normally used on softer copper plates. So steel engraving also used etching, where
acid creates the lines in the plates in the pattern made by selectively removing a
thin coating of acid-resistant ground by tools. This is much less effort. As well as
etching needles, the etched part of steel engravings made great use of roulettes,
small wheels mounted in handles which have regular sharp projections which
produce broken lines of dots and dashes when rolled across the plate. Roulettes of
different types were used together with the burin and needle to create densely
packed marks which appear as tonal to the eye, and allow a great variety of textures
and effects. True burin engraving was generally used to finish the etched image.

First a broad, general outline is made on the plate before starting the detailed
image. Engraving will produce a printed reverse or mirror image of the image on
the plate. Sometimes engravers looked at the object, usually another image such as
a drawing, that they were engraving through a mirror so that the image was
naturally reversed and they would be less likely to engrave the image incorrectly.

Baptism of Pocahontas, engraved by Charles Burt for the BEP based on Chapman’s 1840 painting. This vignette
was used as the back of the Series 1875 $20 National Bank Note.

Steel plates can be case hardened to ensure that they can print thousands of times
with little wear. The copper plates used in traditional engraving and etching, which
are softer and so much easier to work cannot be case hardened but can be steel-
faced or nickel-plated by electroplating to increase the number of impressions that
could be printed. From about 1860 the steel-facing of copper plates became widely
used, and such prints tend also to be called steel engravings. It can be very difficult
to distinguish between engravings on steel and steel-faced copper, other than by
date. The most reliable way of distinguishing between unfaced copper engraving
and steel or steel-faced engraving is the “lightness and delicacy of the pale lines” in
the latter. The hardness of the plate surface made it possible to print a good
15
number of impressions without the metal of the plate wearing the lines out under
the pressure of repeated intaglio printing, which would have happened with
unfaced copper. So “A shimmering pale grey became for the first time a possibility
in line engraving, and it is this that provides the most recognizable characteristic of
steel beside the heavier and warmer mood of copper”.
Modern professional engravers can engrave with a resolution of up to 40 lines per
mm in high grade work creating game scenes and scrollwork. In addition to hand
engraving, today there are engraving machines that require less human finesse and
are not directly controlled by hand. They are usually used for lettering, using a
pantographic system. There are versions for the insides of rings and also the
outsides of larger pieces. Such machines are commonly used for inscriptions on
rings, lockets and presentation pieces.
When the plates are created by the engraver, these can be printed by the intaglio
process. Sometimes this is also called engraved or recess printing. Intaglio is the
family of printing and printmaking techniques in which the image is incised into a
surface and the incised line or sunken area holds the ink. It is the direct opposite of
a relief print. Normally, copper or zinc plates are used as a surface or matrix, and
the incisions are created by etching, engraving, drypoint, aquatint or mezzotint.
Collagraphs may also be printed as intaglio plates.
In intaglio printing, the lines to be printed are cut into a metal plate by means either
of a burin, in which case the process is called engraving; or through the corrosive
action of acid (etching). In etching, for example, the plate is covered in a resin
ground or an acid-resistant wax material. Using an etching needle, or a similar tool,
the image is engraved into the ground, revealing the plate underneath. The plate is
then dipped into acid. The acid bites into the surface of the plate where it was
exposed. Biting is a printmaking term to describe the acid’s etching, or incising, of
the image. After the plate is sufficiently bitten, the plate is removed from the acid
bath, and the ground is removed to prepare for the next step in printing.

INTAGLIO PRINTING PROCESS

1. Depressions are cut into a printing plate. The plate shown here is not to scale: the grooves can be less
than a millimeter wide.
16
 2. The plate is covered in ink.
3.

4. The ink is wiped off the surface of the plate, but remains in the grooves.
5.

4. Paper is placed on the plate and compressed, such as by a heavy roller.

5. The paper is removed, and the ink has been transferred from the plate to the paper.

To print an intaglio plate, ink is applied to the surface by wiping and/or dabbing the
plate to push the ink into the recessed lines, or grooves. The plate is then rubbed
with tarlatan cloth to remove most of the excess ink. The final smooth wipe is often
done with newspaper or old public phone book pages, leaving ink only in the
incisions. A damp piece of paper is placed on top of the plate, so that when going
through the press the damp paper will be able to be squeezed into the plate’s ink-
filled grooves. The paper and plate are then covered by a thick blanket to ensure
even pressure when going through the rolling press. The rolling press applies very
high pressure through the blanket to push the paper into the grooves on the plate.
The blanket is then lifted, revealing the paper and printed image.

At one time, intaglio printing was used for all mass-printed materials including
banknotes, stock certificates, newspapers, books, maps and magazines, fabrics,
wallpapers and sheet music. Today intaglio engraving is largely used for paper or
plastic currency, banknotes, passports and occasionally for high-denomination
postage stamps. The appearance of engraving is sometimes mimicked for items
such as wedding invitations by producing an embossment around lettering printed
by another process (such as lithography or offset) to suggest the edges of an
engraving plate.

17
 Micro-topography of an ordinary French post stamp (detail) showing the thickness of ink obtained by intaglio.
The words “la Poste” appeared in white on red background and hence corresponds to areas with a lack of ink.

As mentioned before, the best known stamp engraver is Czeslaw Slania whose work
has been featured in at least four A Stamp A Day articles (his name doesn’t always
appear on the stamps). I’ve included brief profiles of Slania here and here. Websites
dedicated to his work include a tribute page by Chuck Matlack and a database of
his work by Ann Mette Heindorff. I was surprised to learn that he did not engrave
the stamps issued for Stockholmania 86 (a joint issue with the United States’
AMERIPEX 86 issue) although he was the Royal Court Engraver for Sweden at the
time. In addition to the Slania sites mentioned, I also recommend the Engraved
Stamps database and the Stamp Engravers blog.

Sweden – Scott #1588a (1986) booklet pane

Scott #1586 is part of a booklet pane of four stamps released on January 23, 1986,
marking the STOCKHOMIA 86 stamp exhibition (Scott #1588a). It was a joint issue
with the United States; the U.S. counterpart is Scott #2201a which promoted the
AMERIPEX 86 stamp show with four Stamp Collecting themed stamps.

The stamps in the Swedish booklet picture an early Swedish stamp (Scott #33a
issued in 1879) with a bull’s-eye cancel on one of two 2-krona values (Scott #1585),
stamp engraver Sven Ewert preparing a stamp die on the second 2-krona stamp
(Scott #1586), a page from a stamp album bearing two Swedish stamps (Scott #268
and #271) and a magnifying glass enlarging a United States 3-¢ent Landing of the
Swedes and Finns stamp (Scott #836) on a stamp denominated at 3 krona (Scott
18
#1587), and a boy using tongs to retrieve stamps for his collection after soaking in
a bowl of water (Scott #1588) on the 4-krona value. All four stamps were printed by
lithography and engraving, perforated 11. They were designed by Richard Sheaff,
except the magnifying glass stamp, which was designed by Eva Jern. The American
stamps were lithographed and engraved by Sterling Sommers for Ashton-Potter
(USA) Ltd., perforated 10 vertically.

Souvenir card with three intaglio-printed vignettes produced for Stamp Expo 400 in Albany, New York in
September 2009.

19
 Stamped with
Diamonds
Source : https://www.naturaldiamonds.com
By Reena Ahluwalia

We have heard of
stamps featuring
royalty, significant
contributors to
society, space, sports,
movie stars and
beyond… but
diamonds?
Yes, they exist.

It was 1840 when British Penny Black, the

world’s first adhesive postage stamp was
issued. The revolution in steam powered
rail transport and industrial printing
increased the reach of stamps globally.
Now letters with postage stamps could
travel faster and in mass scale. This meant
not only that the personal letters could be
sent across the world, but also information about
politics, societal issues, culture, commerce, and
investments could now be spread farther and with
much ease. Postage stamps, this way, truly
revolutionized communication and education.
20
Diamonds on postage stamps stood as symbols of growth and vision for countries,
representing aspirations, stories as well as pride in their natural resources. What
could communicate this shining vision better than diamonds?!

Posting sparkles
The legacy of popular diamonds is celebrated as exhibits in museums, or in private
auctions and collections. The majority of people never get to behold these natural
wonders in person. One of the most unique ways that the socio-cultural impact of
diamonds has been celebrated is in postage stamps.

Diamonds adorn postage stamps in countries across the world. Australia, Belgium,
Canada, Russia, South Africa are some of the more than 40 countries that feature
natural diamonds on stamps. Often deeply entwined with the cultural fabric of the
country and people, diamond stamps are a love-letter to mother nature’s most
unique wonders.

A Glittering Legacy
The social importance of natural diamonds and the cultural impact it has had all
over the world is undeniable. Since they were first discovered, diamonds have been
instrumental in communicating life’s most meaningful messages, forging
connections and self-expression, and now making an impact where it matters.

In the present day, diamonds not only serve as powerful symbols of expression,
they are impacting society in tangible and positive ways. Diamonds are empowering
and enriching communities. Diamond producers are actively reducing carbon
footprint, conserving water, preserving biodiversity, consistently working towards
protecting the environment and playing a crucial role in healthcare, education and,
promoting gender equality and inclusivity.

Famous Diamonds on Postage Stamps

A symbol of pride and a celebration of heritage, postage stamps have highlighted
some of the most fascinating diamonds of the world. In fact, the world’s most
famous and coveted diamonds are recorded for posterity on postage stamps.

Here are some of my favourite diamond postage stamps.

I love the magnificent Cullinan Diamonds on South African postage stamps issued
in 1980.

Also breathtaking are the fabulous 2019 South African stamps featuring some of the
most celebrated diamonds, like the Eureka, the Star of South Africa, the De Beers,
the Excelsior, the Jubilee, the Cullinan, the Golden Jubilee, the Centenary, the Heart
of Eternity, the Blue Moon of Josephine, the Millennium Star and the Premier Rose
diamond.
21
The 1971 Soviet stamp featuring the historic table-cut Shah diamond with engraved
inscriptions is another stamp that I greatly appreciate. As well, a 2017 Russian
stamp of the Orlov diamond. Both the Shah and Orlov diamonds originated from
the fabled Golconda region in India.
FAMOUS DIAMONDS ON WORLD POSTAGE STAMPS

Images : Royal Mail, Wikipedia, the Russian Post, the Diamond Fund of Russian Federation and the South
African Post

22
 A stamp from Botswana depicts a sorter examining a rough diamond. Depicting the transformation
process of a diamond, this stamp celebrates diamond mining in Botswana.
Image: Botswana Post.

The Diamonds of Antwerp

It was in the early 15th century that Antwerp gained prominence in the realm of
natural diamond trading. With Lodewyk van Berken inventing a new form of
diamond polishing tool, the scaife, natural diamonds could be made to sparkle like
never before. This invention changed the diamond industry, European nobility
flocked to acquire diamonds that were polished with the scaife. As more buyers as
well as craftsmen flocked to Antwerp, by the 1890s, a well-known diamond industry
had been established in Antwerp.

In fact, Antwerp’s diamond district, also known as the Diamantkwartier or Diamond

Quarter, is still the largest diamond district in the world with a turnover of an
estimated 54 million dollars every year. Even though much of the cutting and
polishing work have been moved to other centers, 50% of the world’s diamonds
come back to Antwerp to be cut and polished every single year.

A symbol of pride, these celebrated postage stamps often make history.

Image: Antwerp World Diamond Centre
23
 A stamp of ingenuity
In Belgium, “Antverpia 2010” postage stamp is known to be one of the most
celebrated ones of all time. With only a handful of postage stamps in the world
featuring diamonds, and even rarer featuring a diamond jewellery piece and a living
jewellery artist’s work; “Antverpia 2010” postage stamp is one that every collector
lust after.

In 2010, the Antverpia 2010 postal stamps were issued to immortalize the significance of diamonds in Antwerp
where 50% of the world’s diamonds come to be cut and polished every single year.
Image: Antwerp World Diamond Centre

On April 15, 2010, a special edition

diamond stamp was issued by the
Belgian Post. A tribute to the 101-
carat Bel Canto diamond necklace
that I had designed, this stamp was
named Antverpia 2010. The HRD
Design Awards winning necklace
was immortalized as a celebration
of the historical significance of
diamonds in Antwerp and the
crucial role Antwerp plays in the
world of diamonds.
How it was made! Reena’s hand drawn design blueprints
The diamond necklace featured on and the ‘Bel Canto’ diamond necklace during fabrication.
this stamp was designed by me in Images: Reena Ahluwalia and Thierry Van Dort.
collaboration with Diarough N.V,
one of the world’s most influential diamond companies based in Antwerp.

Bel Canto means ‘Beautiful Singing’. My necklace is inspired by the Opera. For me
music is all about feelings and emotions. In my design I have attempted to
24
recreate melody, the high and low notes sung by legendary Soprano Maria Callas. I
believe that’s what diamonds do so effortlessly, they evoke emotions, transform
ideas and express the sublime.

Award-winning, 101-carat ‘Bel

Canto’ diamond necklace by
jewellery designer Reena
Ahluwalia on “Antverpia 2010”, a
special edition Belgian postage
stamp.

Image: Reena Ahluwalia and

Thierry Van Dort

Stamps as cultural record

Postage stamps preserve history, circulate ideas and connect people and
geographies. Just like diamonds have over the ages.
As the digital age advances, the enigmatic world of postage stamps will see changes.
Still, the love of personalized letters will ensure that stamps won’t go away. Newer
stamps will keep being issued, but some, precious and rare, stand the test of time –
much like ethereal natural diamonds.

World Postage stamps including key players in the world of diamonds. Diamond postage stamps have varied
themes – from rough to polished diamonds to royal diamond jewels, diamond mining, and even movies that
feature diamonds like James Bond as well as beloved Disney characters in India.
Images: Israel Post, La Poste – The French Postal Service, The B-post, Deutsche Post, Indian Postal Service, the
Royal Mail, BotswanaPost, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Postal Corporation.

25
 Printing How
Processes of printing
Postage Stamps
Source : https://www.empirephilatelists.com
By Simon Chandler
processes
Eggs are eggs, as the old saying goes. However, you
can’t really say the same thing for stamps. Because and
while stamps all serve to pay for postage, they vary
in many, many ways. And one of the subtler ways
in which stamps differ is through the printing
techniques
processes and techniques used to produce them.
Such processes and methods have evolved over the can
years, becoming more sophisticated with each era
of stamp printing. For the newcomer, it may initially
be difficult to tell one printing process from affect
another. However, identifying the printing method
used for any given stamp can sometimes help in
identifying it, which in turn is important if you want
a
to have an idea of how much it’s worth.
Accordingly, this article offers an overview of the
main printing processes and methods used for
stamp’s
postage stamps.
value
Intaglio
The most common printing process used for British and
Commonwealth stamps issued before 1970 is known as
intaglio. Intaglio stamps are printed from copper or steel
plates, with the area of the image to be printed being
recessed into the surface of these plates. Next, the
recessed area is filled with ink, while high pressures and
temperatures are used to transfer the ink to the paper.
Source: Wikipedia

26
Not only can you see the ridges of ink created by the recessed intaglio process, but
you can usually feel them too. These ridges are created by the paper of the stamp
being pushed into the plate’s recesses.

There are two basic sub-categories of intaglio stamps. The first, and earliest, are
line-engraved intaglios. With these, a die is carved by hand and then used to impress
printing plates, which are then used to print the stamps.

Famous examples of line-engraved stamps include Britain’s first-ever postage

stamp, the Penny Black, as well as the Penny Red (above) and Two-penny Blue. As
noted in the section below, line-engraving was used for the vast majority of Queen
Victoria stamps up until 1855, when surface printing became more commonly used.

The second, and later, sub-category is known as photogravure. This was first
adopted in Britain in 1934, during the end of George V’s reign, and is still used to
this day. Here, photo-chemical etching is used to create recesses in the printing
plate. In most cases, dots rather than lines are used to create the stamp’s image:
'screened' dots share the same size but have different depths, while ‘unscreened’
dots vary in both size and depth, creating a grainier look.

Relief/Letterpress

Source: Stanley Gibbons

First used in Britain with the 1855 Queen Victoria 4d carmine issue (above), most
low-value British postage stamps were printed using the letterpress method up
until 1934. With letterpress printing, the image to be printed is raised in relief on
the printing plate. Next, the ink is rolled across the plate, which is then used to print
the design onto the paper.

Letterpress stamps are also known as surface-printed or typographed stamps.

27
From 1855 until the end of Queen Victoria’s reign, all of Britain’s surface-printed
stamps were produced by De La Rue & Co., which still prints banknotes, passports
and tax stamps to this day.
Planographic
Originally, Planographic stamps were printed
using a stone or metal plate. In contrast to
intaglio and relief printing processes, the
plate used in Planographic printing – as
indicated by the root word ‘plano’ – is flat. So
rather than raising or recessing an area of the
plate to create the design of a stamp, ink is
applied directly to the plate, while water is
applied to those areas not to be printed. This
is based on the assumption that oil and
water don’t mix.

There are three sub-categories within the

Planographic family. The first are
lithographed, which are printed directly to
paper and which have been in production
since at least the 1850s. Some of the earliest
examples are several British Guiana stamps
printed from 1852, including the 4c. Black on
deep blue (above), printed by Waterlow &
Sons, which was acquired by De La Rue in
1860. Source: Stamp Auction Network

Generally, lithographed stamps lack the ‘three-dimensional’ quality of most relief

stamps. They also tend to have sharper and cleaner edges than photogravure
stamps.

Offset lithography is another Planographic sub-category. Used on modern stamps

(such as the QEII Machin stamps), this printing method involves using the stone or
metal plate to print to an intermediary medium (e.g. rubber) which is then applied
to the paper.

More recently, photo-lithography involves using light to transfer a design from a

photomask to a light-sensitive photoresist, which is then photo-mechanically
etched to the paper.

Embossed
Much less common than stamps printed using the three above methods, embossed
stamps are printed by pressing the stamp paper between a recess and a relief die.
28
This gives the resulting stamp a three-dimensional shape, protruding outwards from
one side and inwards from the other.

Source: Stanley Gibbons

Much less common than stamps printed using the three above methods, embossed
stamps are printed by pressing the stamp paper between a recess and a relief die.
This gives the resulting stamp a three-dimensional shape, protruding outwards from
one side and inwards from the other.

Normally, embossing is used to create postal stationary. However, Britain issued

three embossed stamps between 1847 and 1854, the 6d mauve/purple (above),
10d brown, and the 1/- green.

More recently, embossing has been used to produce a small number of

commemorative stamps.
In Summary
There are four main printing processes divided as follows:
Intaglio Line Engraved and Photogravure
Relief Typography and Surface Printed
Planographic Lithography, offset Lithography and Photo-lithography
Embossing Generally used in Postal stationery but GB issued three
embossed stamps 6d / 10d / 1 Shilling between 1847-1854

29
 Determining Royal Mail Stamps
100 Years of
NOBEL PRIZES

printing Source : https://www.linns.com

By Rachel Supinger

methods can
confuse anyone
When it comes to printing processes,
stamp collectors and printers often use
the same words to describe completely
different things or different words to
describe the same things.

Naturally, such inconsistency can cause

confusion, not only for relatively new
collectors but for seasoned collectors as
well.Even among stamp collectors,
sometimes the same words in stamp
printing processes can mean different
things.
However, knowledge of stamp printing processes becomes increasingly important as one becomes
more deeply involved in stamp collecting.

Various stamps from around the world have been printed in the same design with different printing
methods, and often this has a significant impact on the stamps' market values.

This column, therefore, will attempt to enlighten on the basics of stamp printing techniques and some
of the distinguishing characteristics of the various methods.

There are four basic types of printing methods: intaglio, relief, planographic and embossing.

In intaglio, which includes line engraving and photogravure, the

ink lies in recessed portions of the printing plate. The designs of
stamps printed by intaglio are generally very sharp and crisp.

Photogravure, on the other hand, uses a process of photography

and etching to create the recessed design on the die.

In the early days of stamp creation, intaglio stamps were all line
engraved.

The first line-engraved postage stamp was the first adhesive

postage stamp, the 1840 Penny Black of Great Britain, shown in
Figure 1.

Ink is applied to the engraved plate, then the plate is wiped clean, Fig. 1
leaving ink only in the recessed areas. Next, paper is pressed
30
against the plate under great pressure, forcing the paper into the recessed areas and transferring the ink
to the paper.

Originally, this was done on a flat-bed

press.

A flat-bed press is pictured on the stamp

shown in Figure 2. This 1939 United States
3¢ stamp (Scott 857) celebrated the 300th
anniversary of printing in colonial America.

Later, printing plates were curved and

wrapped around cylinders on a rotary press
so that printing could be done on a
continuous web of paper rather than
individual sheets. The Figure 2 stamp was
printed on a rotary press.
Fig. 2

Often the difference between stamps of the same design printed on a flat press and on a rotary press can
only be determined by careful measurement. The design from the rotary press might be slightly taller than
that from the flat press because of the curvature of the plates.

A characteristic of line-engraved stamps is that the ink stands up above the surface of the paper. Also, to
some extent, the back of the stamps often bear an impression of the design because of the pressure
applied during printing.

The raised effect of the ink can usually be seen with a magnifier, and it can even be felt by running a
fingernail across the surface of the stamp.

Generally, the aberrations of the paper, especially the impressions on the back, are more pronounced in
dry-paper printings than in wet-paper printings.

Photogravure, or simply gravure, is similar to line engraving in the method of ink transfer, but the printing
plate recesses are created differently.

The stamp design is photographed through an extremely fine screen to create a pattern of dots, or more
recently, the pattern is created digitally. Instead of the skilled hands of an engraver, a chemical or electrical
process etches the design into the printing plate.

The dot formation can be seen throughout the design of a photogravure stamp under magnification. The
pattern consists of dots of the same size but of varying intensities, based on the depth of the recesses in
the printing plate.

The 1952 2½d definitive stamp of Great Britain (Scott 296), shown in Figure 3,
is an example of a stamp printed by photogravure.

Under magnification, the distinctive physical characteristics of photogravure

are evident on the 2½d stamp.

In the lighter portions of the background, the dots are easily seen. The uninked
portions that make up the letters "E" and "R" in the upper corners have no dot
pattern, while the pattern is very distinct around the outside edges of the
letters. Fig. 3

31
Because photogravure stamps are not subjected to the intense pressure of a line-engraved stamp, the
printed surface of the gravure stamps feels flat and no impression appears on the back.

In some photogravure stamps, the dot pattern is irregular with cells of various sizes and depths. These
grainy stamps are called "unscreened photogravure."

The unscreened photogravure method was used on the 1945 2d purple and slate black definitive stamps
(Scott 55) of South Africa, shown in Figure 4.

Unscreened photogravure was used to print the borders of this 1945 definitive stamp pair from South Africa.
Fig. 4
The 1933-54 definitive series from South Africa used both screened and unscreened photogravure
printing, with combinations of both on some stamps. It is a good reference set with which to familiarize
oneself with the differences between screened and unscreened photogravure.

Relief printing can be considered the opposite of intaglio printing. In this method, the inked portion of the
printing plate is raised, while the un inked portion is recessed. The concept is similar to the manner in
which a typewriter or a rubber hand stamp prints.

Relief printing, like line-engraving, can cause distortions in the back of the stamp as the raised portions of
the plate press into the paper. The distortion in a relief stamp, however, results in a raised image on the
back of the stamp rather than a depressed image on the back as in line engraving.

Another notable characteristic of relief-printed stamps is an excess of colour around the edges of lines in
the design.

This is caused as the ink is squeezed outward and over the vertical edge of the printing surface when
pressure is applied by the ink roller. When the paper is pressed against the relief, the excess ink at the
edges of the design is transferred to the paper.

This halo effect is usually evident under strong magnification.

Relief-printed stamps usually do not have very fine lines because there is not enough material on the plate
to support the fine lines, and the rigor of the printing process would quickly degrade the plate.

Fine and intricate detail is virtually impossible with this method of printing.

Relief stamps also are usually printed on comparatively rough paper that absorbs the ink more readily than
smooth paper. Ink printed on smooth paper by the relief method is likely to smear.

The earliest forms of relief dies were made from wood. Throughout history, however, relief dies also have
been made from ivory, rubber, stone, brass, copper and other metals.

The designs on relief plates can be engraved as they are with intaglio or projected through a screen (called
a halftone screen) and etched chemically or mechanically as a screened photogravure plate is.

32
The 1913 10¢ salmon postage due stamp from the Netherlands
Indies (Scott J30) shown in Figure 5 was printed by relief.

Stamps printed by planographic processes are very flat by

comparison to the other printing processes.

This is because the surface of the printing plate is flat.

The most commonly known method of planographic printing is

lithography.

This type of printing is based on the principle that oil and water do
not mix. Ink used to print stamps is oil based.

The printing surface is treated to hold water in the areas that are
not to be inked. When the ink is applied to the plate, the areas with Fig. 5
the water repel the greasy ink.

In offset lithography, the printing base prints an impression on a rubber-covered cylinder that rolls over
the surface of the paper, to which the ink is transferred.

Another form of lithography is photolithography, in which the design is transferred directly to the printing
surface through a photo-mechanical process.

The designs of lithographed stamps can be very intricate, but the lines have a tendency to be unsharp.

The edges of the printed areas appear, almost unfailingly, in lithographed stamps as an irregular string of
beads. This is because planographic printing is made up of minute dots of ink that are squashed flat by the
printing rollers as they are transferred to the paper.

Lithographed stamps can appear similar to relief stamps printed with a halftone screen, but the
lithographed stamps lack the three-dimensional quality of the relief-printed stamps.

Many modern stamps, especially multicolor stamps, are printed using offset lithography. This method
allows for a great deal of flexibility in design, and it is considerably less expensive than the other printing
methods.

The 2001 30-penny Gibraltar Christmas stamp shown in Figure 6 is a good example of the design
capabilities of offset lithography. The design is colorful with lots of intricate detail.

The enlarged detail of the royal cypher in the upper-left corner of the stamp shows the irregular edges of
the printing and the dot pattern typical of the process.

Embossing is not often used in the production of stamps; however, it is commonly found used to make
postal stationery.

Fig. 6

33
Embossing is the result of paper being pressed between a
recessed die and a corresponding relief die to create a three-
dimensional impression in the paper that is evident from either
side.

The 2001 Great Britain stamp shown in Figure 7 (Scott 1995),

the European rate of the Nobel Prizes set, was produced by
embossing.

Embossed designs can be produced with or without ink.

Fig. 7

A Greek God of Covers

It isn’t difficult to understand why the Kingdom of Greece, in 1860, decided the head of Hermes would
be the most fitting illustration to use on their first postal adhesives.

Whilst in Greek mythology Zeus is the sky and thunder god who rules as king of the gods, and apparently
the Father of Hermes, there is none better in all the heavenly realm to place on your post than Hermes,
because he’s the ‘messenger’ of the gods.

So it stands to reason that he’d be the one who’d bless all Greek dispatches. That’s how the Greeks saw
it, anyway

34
 Highways and Bridges
Commemorated on U. S.
Postage Stamps
Source :https://www.fhwa.dot.gov
By George Austin Hay

The transporting of letters and postcards by mail has been

going on for years. Stamps required for this activity have
pictured every conceivable topic imaginable-overing the
unique heritage of America. Narrowing the subject to
highways and bridges points up a pictorial view of history.

In a postage stamp there is a particular kind of art-a small-size

design that portrays a large side of national history. That
stamp not only is used in moving the mail, but evokes a part
of our unusual past.

On The Highway
Issued in 1999
This mint stamp clearly shows a highway with the double yellow line
dividing opposite lanes of travel-a safety device familiar to every
motorist nationwide. Such a marking is needed expressly when
driving at night.

The Oregon Trail Issued in 1993

In 1843, the Oregon Trail was one of the early routes of travel for
pioneer settlers heading west, which began at Independence,
Missouri. The push westward was made by the French, Dutch,
Spanish, Russian, and Americans. Many felt it was the best route to
the coast. Fur traders, missionaries, and farmers drove wagons over
a well-beaten trail. Those seeking California gold crowded the stream
of travel near the Great Salt Lake. One of the important events was
the Statehood of Oregon, in 1856. The majority of travel consisted of
overland stage coaches and the Pony Express. Riders galloped along
around the year 1860. Then came the railroad in 1869, and since then
the Oregon Trail became United States Route 30.

35
 The Mississippi River Bridge AKA The Eads Bridge
Issued in 1898

The Eads Bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis was constructed from 1867 to its opening in 1874.
The structure was built by Captain James Buchanan Eads, and is considered the first bridge made of steel.
The U.S. Postal Service preferred to attach the sobriquet "Mississippi River Bridge" rather than employ the
proper, personal, private name "Eads."

The span is double deck, with the upper level carrying a highway with sidewalks. On the lower deck, two
lines of railroad tracks fill the space. This marks the first time steel is used in truss-bridge construction. A
franchise was obtained from Congress specifying that a clear span of 500 feet must be provided. A report,
published by Captain Eads in 1868, was a convincing presentation in non-technical language, on the "action
of trusses and arches, also the logic of the foundation design." Progress, along with precautionary
measures, were recorded in notebooks that filled seven volumes.

Funding for the Bridge building came from contracts with the Keystone Bridge Company of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. The Vice President was a young man of 35 years by the name of Andrew Carnegie. His
connections with Eads were numerous. In his autobiography, completed shortly before his death, Carnegie
credited his connection with Eads Bridge as starting him on his career. To this day the span is in full use.

The Brooklyn Bridge

Issued in 1983
In l869, actual construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, over the
East River between Brooklyn and Manhattan, started. John
Augustus Roebling, original architect of the project, was
injured in an accident. Blood poisoning resulted in his
untimely death. Fortunately his son, Colonel Washington
Augustus Roebling, took over direction of the work involved
from then on until completion. The grand opening was in
May 1883.

This great bridge handles two elevated railroad tracks, two

streetcar (trolley) tracks, road lanes for vehicles, and even a
foot walk for pedestrians. Just to observe the massive stone
towers one is in awe of their height. They had to be lofty to
carry the cables which in themselves-wire by wire-measured

36
16 inches in diameter. Tons of steel wire had to be used to hold up the incredibly heavy bridge deck.

With the long main span, and two shorter spans, the bridge is 1 mile long. It is constructed of four cables,
each anchored to plates of many tons, embedded in masonry foundations. Each foundation has a weight
of 44 thousand tons. Every cable contains more than five thousand steel wires-a total of fourteen thousand
miles of wire. It took thirteen years to build the bridge. At present thousands cross it each day. Even this
writer, when working in New York, walked across this Bridge with friends and couldn't help but marvel at
the magnificence of it all.

The Peace Bridge

Issued in 1977

The Peace Bridge has been significant in the growth of the country. It crosses the Niagara River from
Buffalo, New York to Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada. The stamp commemorates more than a century of
friendship, trade, and peace between the United States and Canada. The two nations share the longest
undefended border in the world. New advances in construction have been used. The Peace Bridge was
built for pedestrian and vehicular traffic. Clearance at one end of the span is for canal or ship movement.
The bridge is made up of five steel arches and a single truss span. At the elaborate opening ceremonies in
1927 a number of luminaries attended, including Edward, Prince oales.

The Great River Road

Issued in 1966
The beginning of the Great River Road goes back to 1936. The objective
was to develop an extended highway corridor following the course of the
Mississippi River. This proceeded for more than three thousand miles-from
Ontario, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico at Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Ten states participated and were involved in the Mississippi River Parkway
Commission: Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota,
Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. In developing one of the
most unusual scenic Byways in the country, each of the ten States formed
their own parkway commission in carrying out the planning process.
Existing highways are interconnected with sections of new construction.

In 1940, the Commission met with the Bureau of Public Roads,

forerunner of the Federal Highway Administration, and the National Park The George
Service on developing parkway plans. A Bureau of Public Roads feasibility Washington
study was completed in 1951. These findings were presented to Congress Bridge
in a joint report by the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of the
Interior. The purpose was that it would benefit mainly the middle part of Issued in 1952
the country but have national significance as well. It is a viable tourist
attraction with farm to market activity, retail trade, lodging, dining, and
urban revitalization. Indeed the Great River Road is a national heritage
37
corridor.
 The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge In 1928, a San Francisco
Issued in 1939 delegation urged Congress
to pass a bill authorizing a
bridge to connect San Francisco with Oakland and Berkeley-with 5 miles of water between. The legislation
was defeated, but in 1932 Congress approved a $73 million loan with the endorsement of President
Herbert Hoover. The first shovel broke ground in 1933, and 3 years later the span was opened to vehicular
traffic with excited celebration. After competing ferries cut their fares in half in 1927, the bridge traffic
amounted to 23 thousand vehicles a day. With the opening of the Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco
in 1939, tolls were reduced from 50 to 40 cents, and when cut further to 25 cents, the ferries gave up.

The roadway was built on two suspension bridges, with a central pier or anchorage at mid-channel. There
are two decks: the top one handles six lanes for cars and light truck traffic. The lower deck carries three
lanes for heavy trucks and multi-wheelers. There are also two streetcar (trolley) tracks provided. The
structure is a combination of suspension and cantilever spans connected with a tunnelled island.

The Golden Gate Bridge

Issued in 1998

The Golden Gate Bridge has the longest single span in the
world, and the tallest bridge towers. Each of the cables has a
diameter of one yard, and is composed of 27 thousand wires.
Foundations have been sunk to solid rock
100 feet below water. The two main
cables, each a yard wide, are outlined for
the entire length by electric lights-
magnificent evening sight. The Golden
Gate Bridge and the Oakland-Bay Bridge
were under construction at the same
time; the Golden Gate Bridge is
considered one of the most attractive
spans in the world. The wonder of the
extraordinary length of the span and the
way it fits in with the site, make it one of
the most exhilarating of bridges.

38
 Alaska Highway
Issued in 1942
There were years of consideration and talk concerning the
strategic importance of defense and the Alaska Highway.
Between the ending of the Great Depression and the
beginning of WWII, actual work began on the Alaska
Highway. This route continued north from the United States
through mountain passes, connecting airports, and ending in
Fairbanks. The War Department staff, feeling that Alaska
must be protected, suggested the largest highway
construction work known to date. During building, thousands
of work troops, wearing clothes to withstand sub-zero

temperatures hacked through woodlands using a variety of equipment including bulldozers.

The road was primarily used for transporting equipment to airports. The Public Roads
Administration established a district office in Seattle, Washington, along with field offices at
other locations for contractors who had overseen work of thousands of road builders. In
1942, the Alaska Highway, through miles of scenic forest-land, was opened. This stamp was
issued in l992, marking the 50th anniversary.

The Mackinac Bridge Connecting The Verranzano-Narrows Bridge

Peninsulas of Michigan Issued in 1954
Issued in 1958
The Verrazano-
The Mackinac Straits Narrows Bridge,
Bridge extends over between Staten
the Mackinaw Straits Island and Brooklyn,
between Mackinaw New York, is the
City and St. Ignace, longest single
Michigan. The suspension bridge in
Mackinac Straits the world. It is named
connects Lake Huron for Giovanni da
and Lake Michigan. Verrazano,
The total suspension Florentine explorer
length of the span is
who discovered New York harbor in about
more than a mile and a half between the cable 1524. The massive span features a double
anchors. The principle of the suspension bridge deck thoroughfare, each wide enough for six
is that it has three essential parts: towers, lanes of traffic. The diameter of the cables
anchorages, and cables. Towers for suspension measures 1 yard-identical with those on the
bridges are built of stone or steel. Anchorages George Washington Bridge. The Narrows
secure the ends of the cables, and most often Bridge is important in that it by-passes New
are built of concrete or masonry. Cables are the York City. A map, illustrated on the stamp
most important element of a suspension bridge, itself, pinpoints the positions of the Bridge
since they carry the horrendous weight of the with its close relationship to Staten Island and
roadway. Brooklyn and also Manhattan and Jersey City,
New Jersey.

39
Medals won by our life member
Capt. Vijay Wadhwa
At
FILANANIAS – 2021
(Virtual Exhibition)
Held in Manila, Philipines
In Advance Class

40
 is for
E E F O’s
EFO's stands for "Errors, Freaks, and
Oddities", i.e. misprints, misperfs, and
other production blunders.
Perforations shouldn't run down the
middle of the design; grass shouldn't
be blue; 2-cent stamps shouldn't say "5
cents" - but all of these errors have
been found on US stamps.
Re-Entry Error
Note that I say "have been found", not "have occurred", (production error)
since production errors are a common and natural part of
printing, especially for materials produced in the huge
quantities common for US postage stamps - 50 million
stamps is the minimum these days. But most errors are
caught and destroyed in the printing plant - it is the
relatively few that are missed and reach the public that
concern us here. Once sold over the counter at a Post
Office, an error is fair game.

Such mistakes in the design or printing of stamps are highly

collectible, and can be grouped loosely into the EFO
hierarchy. In general, an Error means a human error, such
as feeding the paper upside down (creating an Invert
Error), or skipping a step (creating a Color Missing Error); a
Freak is some random production accident, such as a paper
fold or a color shift; and an Oddity is some unusual but
non-dramatic mishap such as a streak or smear. The
appeal of EFO's is another example of the rule that "one What's wrong with this picture? No, it's
man's trash is another man's treasure". Production Errors not the perforations, which are poorly
(e.g., Inverted Jenny) are generally the most popular (and aligned, but not so bad as to be
valuable), but Design Errors make headlines too (e.g., considered freaks or errors.
Legends of the West). A related collecting/study area is Look closely at all the denominations -
Production Varieties, such as plate flaws, some of which can you find the 5c stamp among the 2's?
qualify as EFO's as well.
41
These stamps were engraved, and printed in sheets of 400, from flat plates about
18"x22". The plates were created by a laborious process of pressing steel dies
against the plate to transfer the engraved image, one position at a time, to build up
the full plate of 400 images. This process, called "rocking in", was automated to
some extent, by the use of rollers containing multiple copies of the die. After the
initial "rocking in", the plate was reviewed, and if any of the images had not
transferred properly, it was erased and re-entered individually.
Keep in mind that the plate looked something like this:

Note that it was mirror-reversed and dark and glossy, since it was made of steel.
And the die the siderographer used was also metal, but NOT reversed. So, noting
that 5's and 2's look somewhat alike when reversed (and perhaps inverted), it would
have been easy for a new or distracted siderographer to pull the wrong die from
the vault for re-entry on the plate. We can also assume that no one thought to check
the re-entries! In this case, there were three re-entries made, so on plate number
7942 there are three occurrences of this error, a single one in the lower right pane
(position LR18) and TWO in the upper left pane (positions UL74 and UL84) - see
below. If you look closely at all the examples, both above and below, you should be
able to see clearly that the re-entries do not line up precisely with their left and
right neighbours - this is one common evidence of re-entry.

Note that the pane above is imperforate. The distribution and use of imperforate stamps was on the decline by 1917(see "K is
for Kansas City Roulettes"), so few examples of this error in the imperforate form were found, and their scarcity - plus the
popularity of this error- are reflected in its value - the catalogue value of the block shown above (of which only 48 are known
to exist) is $24,000! The perforated version (of which there are over 100,000 in collectors' hands) is not exactly cheap, though,
and catalogues at $400 for a well-centreed example.

42
 Imperf Error (Omitted perforations - production error)

Here's an example of an "imperf error", i.e., a case where the stamps failed to receive the perforations they should have had,
and were released in error. Such mistakes are supposed to be caught and destroyed at the printing plant. Like most errors,
their value is a factor of relative scarcity and desirability to collectors - supply and demand. True imperfs (stamps with not the
slightest trace of any perforations or marks) are popular, and this one has additional appeal because of its theme, space. Its
current catalog value is $1,000.

Misperfs (production errors)

These are called "misperfs", and fall into the category of production freaks rather than real errors. They are far more
common, and less valuable, though one with unusual visual appeal can be more expensive. Note the differing choices about
how to separate them – should the design prevail, or the perfs? That's up to you.

Color Registration Freak or Color Shift

(production error)

A colour registration freak like this makes it obvious that the different
colours were printed in multiple passes, and makes it all the more
impressive that they can do it so well so much of the time. This one is
Missing colour errors are another sort of fairly dramatic and appealing, but still cost me only $15. The common
production error, and like imperfs, are often term for this sort of thing is "color shift".
quite valuable. The block on the left above
catalogues $10,000. The normal block on the
shows how dramatically the lack of the one ink
affects the image.

43
As we all know, this year is the 20th
anniversary of the release of Peter
Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring, first
in his Lord of the Rings film trilogy. To
celebrate, New Zealand Post are bringing
out some spectacular new stamps, with
brand new artwork inspired by the movie
– and we’re delighted to have an
EXCLUSIVE first look for you here at
TheOneRing.net. Fans will NOT want to
miss adding these gorgeous works of art
to any collection!

NZ Post is thrilled to be sharing our

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship
of the Ring 20th Anniversary products
with collectors and fans around the
world in only a few weeks; and we’re
excited to offer TheOneRing.net a
preview of the artwork for our
commemorative stamps and
miniature sheets!
These products feature key moments
from The Fellowship of the Ring, in the
form of original paintings by award-
winning Wellington artist Sacha Lees.
Lees worked as a designer and
sculptor on the films, and designed NZ
Post’s The Fellowship of the Ring
stamps in 2001.

The stamps, miniature sheets,

first day covers and
presentation pack for this
exciting issue will be available
from 1st September, with pre-
orders scheduled to open on 9
August.
44
 sells for
almost $12
Source : https://www.linns.com million, an
By Matthew Healey, New York
Correspondent all-time
record price
The famed 1847 Mauritius Ball
cover, one of three known, sold
for the equivalent of almost $12
million during a June 26
Christopher Gaertner auction in
Germany. The realization is
believed to be the highest price
ever paid for a single philatelic
item. Image courtesy of
Christoph Gaertner.
It seems Mauritius Less than three weeks after the
orange is the new British much-hyped June 8 sale of the
unique British Guiana 1856 1¢
Guiana magenta. Magenta and the United States
1918 Jenny Invert plate block fell

somewhat short of expectations, a rare cover bearing an 1847 1-penny orange Post Office stamp of Mauritius
(Scott 1) has sold for more than double its presale estimate, hitting the equivalent of almost $12 million. That
stunning realization is believed to be, by a jumbo margin, the all-time highest price paid for a single philatelic item
— whether a stamp, block or cover.

The famed Mauritius Ball cover, one of just three known and the only one remaining in private hands, was
hammered down June 26 by the German auction firm of Christoph Gaertner for €8.1 million. With the buyer’s
premium of 23.8 percent, that works out to $11.94 million at current exchange rates. As well as setting a new
world record, it marks the first time any philatelic item has fetched more than $10 million.

The sum easily beats out the 1856 British Guiana stamp (Scott 13) and the unique plate block of the U.S. 24¢
airmail invert (Scott C3a), which were sold on June 8 by Sotheby’s in New York City for $8.3 million and $4.87
million, respectively. The British Guiana 1¢ Magenta had previously been sold by Sotheby’s in 2014 for $9.48
million, the prior record price for a philatelic item.

A representative of Gaertner declined to identify the buyer by name, but did say the winning bid came from a
“German speaking collector” who resides in Europe.

The Mauritius Ball cover realization made up but a third of the total hammer results for the firm’s June 26 Rarities
sale, which added up to more than €25 million. The June 26 sale was part of Gaertner’s 50th series of philatelic
and numismatic auctions held June 19-26.

Top postal history results of the past include the second and third Mauritius Post Office covers, known respectively
as the Bordeaux and Bombay covers because of their destinations. The former was last sold by David Feldman in
Geneva in 1993 for 6.1 million Swiss francs, while the latter was sold by the same firm in 2016 for €2.4 million.

45
 of the British army Important British
V army vehicles are
honoured on eight
E commemorative
stamps that Great
H Britain’s Royal Mail
issued Sept. 2 in four se-
I tenant pairs. Featured
on the stamps are the
C Mark IV tank, Matilda
Mark II tank, Churchill

L
AVRE (Armoured
Vehicle Royal
Engineers), Centurion
E
Various British army vehicles are featured on a set of 10
new stamps issued Sept. 2 by Great Britain’s Royal Mail.
Mark 9 tank, Scorpion
Eight different armoured vehicles (tanks and other tank, Chieftain Mark 5
S armoured transports) are shown on four se-tenant (side-
by-side) tank, Challenger 2 tank
and Ajax armoured
vehicle.
pairs, and a souvenir sheet of
four illustrates three
additional support vehicles
and a helicopter.
Royal Mail worked closely with
the British Ministry of Defence
to plan and develop the British
Army Vehicles stamps.
Royal Mail revealed the
designs of the British Army
Vehicles stamps in a press
release sent Aug. 27.
“The stamp set features
stunning paintings of eight
British Army Armoured
Vehicles including Main Battle
Tanks from across the
decades,” Royal Mail said.
“A further four stamps,
presented in a miniature
sheet, include a range of
specialist support and patrol
vehicles used by the British
Army.”
46
 CPMG Telengana region Sri S. Rajendra Kumar releasing the
picture post cards on Golconda Fort alongwith other dignitaries

Releasing
the
permanent
Pictorial
Postmark

47
Commemorative Indian Postage Stamps, Miniature Sheets, Sheetlets and My Stamps issued in September 2021
STAMPS
Rao Jaimal Rathore
17.09.2021

SPECIAL COVERS
LATE NEWS
AUGUST 2021

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07.08.2021 Operative Society 26.08.2021
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28.08.2021 28.08.2021 29.08.2021

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29.08.2021 29.08.2021 29.08.2021

48
 Nashik Grapes ISKCON
31.08.2021 31.08.2021

Geographical Indication Registry Product

31.08.2021
Mysore Sandal Soap Bangalore Blue Grapes Bangalore Rose Onions

Mysore Silk Mysore Agarbathi Arabica Coffee

Coorg Arabica Coffee Baba Budan Giri Deavnhalli Pomelo

Kolhapuri Chappal Hadagali Mallige Youwecan- 9th Anniversary

SPECIAL COVERS
SEPTEMBER 2021
Kangra Tea of Himachal Pradesh Jain Saint Dada Kushal Suri Ji Holy Pind Dan
02,09.2021 18.09.2021 18.09.2021

Philatelic Bureau Shimla Picture Postcard – Dharwad

Spl. Cancellation

49
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50
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51
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Without their help, (mentioned below),
it would not have been possible for us to publish
this Journal
Our sincere thanks.
01 Col. Dr. Jayanta Dutta & Dr. Anjali Dutta
02 Ashok Bayanwala
03 Ranibow Stamp Club
04 MB’s Stamps of India
05 Stamps of India
06 Indian Philately Digest
07 India Stamp Ghar
08 India Philately.UK
09 warwick & warwick.com/ Colin Such
10 http://www.sandafayre.com/philatelicarticles.aspx
11 https://blog.stamps.org/category/world-stamp-
news
12 https://www.wopa-plus.com
13 http://www.stampdomain.com
14 http://www.collectgbstamps.co.uk
15 Arpinphilately.com
16 Stampworld.com
17 http://feudatory-states-stamps.com
18 https://en.wikipedia.org
19 https://worldpostcardday.com
20 https://info.mysticstamp.com
21 https://www.allaboutstamps.co.uk
22 https://www.davidfeldman.com
23 https://www.stampprinters.info/DS2.pdf
24 https://www.linns.com
25 http://www.stampnewsnow.com

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