Plating Guide for Plates V and VI of the HRAD ANY 15 H Knihtisk Series 1: Vol. 5, No. 3 by F Hamr 1987 Originally published as Hrad any 15 h Rekonstrukce V. a VI. desky Translated into English with the kind permission of the The Author by Dr. Mark Wilson KNIHTISK Winchester, Virginia
Series I: Plating the Hrad any. Vol. 5: Fifth Design. No. 3: 15, Plates V-VI. Copyright 2004 by Lunasa LLC. All rights reserved. Translated from the original Czech with the special permission of the author. Knihtisk is the imprint of Lunasa LLC, of Winchester, Virginia. www.knihtisk.com Knihtisk is a labor of love. Its publications represent the volunteer work of fellow collectors and are sold at prices that merely sustain production. Manufacturing or accepting unauthorized copies undercuts the efforts of contributors and may discourage further work. The only authorized source for copies of Knihtisk publications is Lunasa LLC. Please support this effort to bring out-of-print, highly specialized, or materials hidden behind the veil of other languages into the hands of collectors by refusing to accept copies from unauthorized sources. Of course, you may make print or make electronic copies for your personal use, but you must never release or keep a copy to avoid payment. Please note that series, volumes within series, and numbers within each volume may be published non-sequentially and at irregular intervals. Suggestions for future publications or your own contributions should be sent to the published address of Knihtisk. Caveat: This is an amateur translation by a collector who professes no special knowledge of the Czech language. As a result, there may be unintentional misrepresentations of the meaning of the original text. The alternative would have been to keep the translation private rather than sharing it with other interested collectors. Suggestions for corrections, clarifications, or additional information should be emailed to info@knihtisk.com or sent via ordinary mail to Knihtisk, 316 Devland Drive, Winchester, Virginia 22603. The Translator Cover Illustration: Lower left corner block of eight from Plate I showing both types of the fourth spiral and the lower left inner frame variations. April 2004 ii
Plating Panes of the 15h Denomination The 15h is one of two denominations that were printed from six plates (the other is the 5h Fifth Design). After finishing plating the panes for Plates I and II, I started plating panes for Plates V and VI. To plate those panes I had a greater amount of identifiable block material. After those two, I skipped Plates III and IV, to which I returned at a later time. I have concentrated upon variations in the spots within the drawing of the first leaf, as well as the colored spots at the tip of the fifth and sixth towers, in the identification and description for individual positions. These are very distinctive characteristics for identifying stamp positions, as are the rays in the sky, which may be used as well. The drawings in this study are of the same sort as my earlier ones, but fall short of those made by several of my colleagues. All the same, they have served me well as drawings for plating yet another set of panes, and for the exploration of still another issue of Hrad any stamps. Hamr František 1
This information was taken from the Monographs on Czechoslovakian Stamps, Volume I, written by Dr. F. Kubát. Stamps in the 15h denomination were printed in the so-called Fifth Design. It was derived from the fifth revision of Mucha s second draft. The entire set of printing plates were made using a single auxiliary setup. This setup was created from the auxiliary setup used for the 25h denomination, but with the numbers in the value tablet replaced. The auxiliary setup was twice the size of the printing plates. Using a prism, a glass negative the size of the printing plate was made by photographing the auxiliary setup. The image from the negative was transferred to metal plates and etched, from which were derived six printing plates. The plates were used in printing matrices that contained four plates in the following combinations. A printing form was used to produce about 40,000 sheets, then taken apart to clean the plates, which were then put in a new printing matrix. The entire output for these stamps was about 116, 650, 000 stamps which were produced by about 30 of these printing matric arrangements. If they were able to clean multiple plates from the same form no one knows. Work was done on the open fourth spirals for these first two plates of this denomination. But in several positions the spirals were left uncorrected, which is why joined types are found on these two plates. Printing began on the 15h denomination on June 3, 1919 and imperforate stamps were released June 7, 1919. From the entire printing of 116,650,000 stamps, some 52,090,000 were imperforate and 64,560,000 perforated. Some of the stamps were used for SO 1920 overprints and others overprinted and surcharged for postage due use. In the end, the release of imperforate stamps totaled 52,031,400 and perforated was 60,473,000. 2
The following rough estimate of the stamps issued in specific kinds of perforations was made from a census of the stamps: Comb 13 3/4 x 13 ½ 28,140,000 A Comb 11 3/4 900,000 B Comb 11 ½ 1,200,000 D Line 13 3/4 28,150,000 C Line 11 ½ x10 3/4 40,000 E Line 11 ½ x 13 3/4 28,000 G Line 13 3/4 x 10 3/4 15,000 H Line 13 3/4 x 11 ½ 2,000,000 F Variations in the control numbers on the bottoms of the panes may be used to identify the panes from specific printing plates : Plate V Broken decimal line 15., a Type I fourth spiral, and the right dove s tail is +. Plate VI Double break in the decimal bar on the 15., a Type I fourth spiral, and the right dove s tail is +. There are philatelically interesting variations in the stamps. 1. Types a) Spirals every stamp on both plates is a Type I. b) Trimmed Numerals Same positions on both plates: Type I: All positions not give below. Type II: Bottom on numeral 1 trimmed 13, 71, 78, 89, 94. Type III: Bottom on numeral 5 trimmed 9, 81. Type IV: Bottom trimmed on both numerals 68, 75. c) Shifted numerals Same positions on both plates: Type I: All positions not given below. Type II: Tilted downward 5, 19, 23, 45, 54, 64, 66, 67, 71, 72, 74, 82, 90. Type III: Tilted upward 91. Type IV Shifted downward 33, 80, 90. Type V: Shifted upward 8, 16, 34, 57, 82. Type VI: Shifted to the left 14, 15, 21, 28, 56. Type VII: Shifted to the right 1, 60, 91. 3
2. Plate repairs before printing The right dove s tail a) Top and right closed (+ ) Plate V: all positions except 6, 24, 33, 54, 87 Plate VI by chance 5. b) Top open and right closed ( +) only by chance on Plate VI, 59, 68, 69. 3. Plate repairs after printing The Monographs mention none. 4. Colors vermillion, brown red, brick red, carmine. 5. Paper Thicknesses from 0.03 to 1.0 mm. 6. Plate defects a) Primary Unrepaired right dove s tail ( ) Plate V: 6, 24, 33, 54, 87. Plate VI: all except 5, 59, 68, 69.. b) Secondary Both plates, positions 11, 78, 79. c) Tertiary Plate V: 1, 19, 20, 26, 40, 59m 71, 87, 99, 100. Plate VI: 1, 5, 28, 60, 89, 91, 92. 7. Printing defects a) In the image double prints, printing on the gummed side of the paper. b) Offsets entire printing press, partial printing press. c) Fogs (veils) none reported. d) Wandering rings in various places. e) In the color over-inked, under-inked. f) In the paper single fold.. g) In the perforations rough, displaced, extended and foreshortened comb, miscentered. 8. Ministerial perforations line 10 ½, in June 1919. 9. Forgeries none reported. 10. Envelopes a) Single domestic letter rate. b) Double (certified) domestic letter rate. 4
New Findings No corrections were confirmed for stamps printed with Plates V and VI, except for the repair of the right dove s tail. Evidently, in connection with that, the fourth spiral remained uncorrected. The new finding was that stamps printed with these plates rarely were imperforate. I could only document a block of four (positions 83, 84, 93, 94) from Plate V and a pair (positions 75, 76) from Plate VI.. The printing defect from position 28 on Plate VI, a damaged Š was found only for some printings. In addition to the defects mentioned by the Monografie, I found the following conspicuous variations: Secondary 7 Gap in the shading lines on the right dove s rear end. 28 Gap in the lower curve of the S in SKÁ. Tertiary Plate V 3 Damaged O in SLO. 4 Colored spot over (sometimes touching) the corner of the roof. 15 Gap in the lower loop of the S in SKÁ. 16 Colored mark crosses the left frame by the second spiral. 37 Colored spot on the left side of the numeral 5's neck. 46 Dot and line in the right margin opposite the ninth and tenth spirals. 49 Colored mark in the right frame opposite the ninth spiral. 54 Two colored spots in the left margin near the second hacek. 60 Colored spot on the oval in front of the numeral 1. 68 Colored spot on the numeral 5's crossbar. 70 Flag on the fifth tower. 74 Colored spot on the top of the P. 86 White bump on the Á. 100 White splotch on the S in SLO. Plate VI 4 White spot on the white frame line over the O in SLO. 8 White mark connects the ninth and tenth leaves. 45 Longer left leg on the M in MUCHA. 61 Gap in the white frame line over LO. 76 Left frame damaged under the upper corner. 88 White splotch on the first hacek. 5
Fifth Design Schema 6