US Postage Stamp Etched Copper Printing Plate 1935-45. One of a kind

Description

Retired US Postage Stamp Etched Copper Printing Plate 1935-45.
Size is 7 1/8 x 11 3/4 inches.
Pre-Owned, Good Condition, Retired Copper Printing Plate for US Postage Stamps.
c. 1935 -1945 Era.
Stamps printed from this include all in the 1934-1945 year range:
1945 3 Cent Texas Statehood ALAMO Stamp
5 Cent Benjamin Franklin
10 Cent Washington
1945 Florida State Centennial
1937 .00 George Washington and Green
1930's Airmail 8 Cent, 16 Cent, 21 Cent
Nov 1935 25 Cent Trans-Pacific Air Mail
1938 6 Cent Air Mail Eagle
.60 Graf Zepplin Stamp
's $ .50 Transport Plane
6 cent Air Mail
Air Mail Bi Plane Stamps6 cent, 12 cent and 24 cents
1944 3 Cent Completion of First Transcontinental Railroad.
1943 5 Cent Overrun Countries Flag Stamps Commemorative as Nazi Germany had taken over:
Denmark and Poland Comm. Flags on this plate
A few others to discover yourself.
Ships from the USA
Fast Order Processing.
Printing Stamps by Line-Engraving
Intaglio, or gravure printing has the design cut below the surface of the non-printing area, either by chemical or physical means. It is in a sense the opposite of relief printing in that the area to be printed is cut below the image carrier. Intaglio is by far the most difficult and time-intensive means of printing, yet the quality of the print is far superior, since the intensity of the printed design is in direct proportion to the depth of the cuts made by the engraver. The art of engraving, cutting the fine lines into the die, is considered by some to be the highest form of craftsmanship an artist may obtain. Although it is possible to obtain an engraving by etching the design into the plate by chemical means, the quality in no way compares with the beauty of a finely hand-tooled design. An engraver who does portrait work must hone his skills for anywhere from 10 to 15 years before he can call himself a craftsman. Even then only one in a hundred has the competency to become a first-class portrait engraver. This is why it so difficult to counterfeit U.S. stamps, the level of skill is that great, and this of course is why many governments throughout the world have chosen to print their stamps, securities and paper currency by the line engraved method.
Two metals are often used as the image carrier, copper and steel. Copper is softer and easier to engrave, while the harder steel will allow more delicate work. Although the initial printings from a copper plate may prove indistinguishable from printings from a steel plate, over time the softer copper plate will wear out much more quickly. Artists prefer copper plates for preparing their engravings since plate wear is not an issue on small runs. Engravers of stamps and securities usually use steel plates for the larger runs needed.
The engraver uses a tool called the graver and cuts fine line after fine line to create the design. The progress is exceedingly slow and a casual observer may not note any change in the design over many hours or even days of work. For quality work, the graver must be kept sharp and sharpening the engraving tools is considered an art in itself. Amazingly, the design must be entered in reverse in order that when it is printed it will appear normal. This again is a technique learned only after many long hours of practice.
It is of course possible to directly engrave the design into a steel or copper plate. This may prove practical if the design is not repeated more than a few times. Each design will be slightly different from its neighbor since it is for all practical purposes impossible for an engraver to exactly duplicate his work. It is easy to see how time-consuming engraving, for example, all 200 designs on the early plates used to print U.S. stamps.
LINE ENGRAVING
Line engraving has a very long history. Developed during the fifteenth century, engraving was at first traditionally regarded as a branch of the goldsmith's art. During the latter 15th century and into the 16th century the art of engraving was developed to a very high degree by the Italian school, often by artists who turned their hands to engraving. Rapidly following them the Nuremburg school in Germany (Martin Schongauer, Durer, Van Mechens) took engraving to new heights of technical perfection. After this time the art of engraving gradually spread throughout Europe, England had resident engravers and the start of a school by around 1600.
Up to about 1820 the metal plate used was copper. A copper plate could be used several hundred times to produce a print, by which time the image quality would have deteriorated due to wear of the soft metal. Reworking of the plate would then be necessary by the engraver to improve the quality.
Copper, being a soft metal, was easier to engrave than steel allowing the artist more freedom in the effects that could be produced. Also, being soft, the engraved lines were not as fine or hard edged as possible with steel. These two effects tended to allow a richer, warmer feel to good copper engraved prints when compared to those printed from steel plates.
Another advantage of copper was that to make alterations to plates, such as updating maps, possible to accomplish. The plate could be heated and beaten out flat in the area to be changed, this would then be polished smooth and re-engraved.