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Marginal Markings Committee Craftsmen's Initials |
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Three groups of craftsmen were involved with the handling of engraved printing plates. The first were the siderographers, or transferrers. who transferred the engraved master die to a transfer roll and, subsequently, plate containing the appropriate geometric arrangement of a large number of replicated stamp images. Next were the plate finishers, or cleaners, who touched up the images, and burnished and hardened the plates. And finally, there were the machine operators, or printers, who mounted the plated on the press, made the production run, and then removed and stored the plates. The use of these craftsmens' initials gave a record of accountability.
Siderographer initials F.P.L. (Frank P. Lauderback), plate finisher initials A.C.N. (Arthur C. Noble) and a string of printer's initials on the 2˘ Washington. All three types of initials could be found on a single plate for a short time (1908-1912).
A siderographer at the BEP operated a transfer press,
used to transfer the stamp design from a die to a roll and then enter the
impressions on a steel plate. Upon completion of a plate, the
siderographers used the press to enter their initials in the margin of the
plate.
These initials are known from 1906 until
1928.
Siderographer initials G.L.D. (George L. Dant) on the 7˘ Washington and H.M.C (Harvey L. Coté) on the 10˘ Franklin.
Siderographers Clyde Volchester De Binder (C.V.DeB.) and Andrew Black (A.B.) initialed the frame and vignette, respectively, of these 5˘Norse American plates.
Siderographer Bernard Michael Connelly (B.M.C.) initialed the 1˘ Postage Due issue. Initials can be found on air post, special delivery, special handling, parcel post and U.S possession issues, as well as commemoratives and definitives.
After a plate was finished by the
siderographer, a plate finisher burnished out any marks or scratches in
the plate’s surface. Their initials were entered in the
margin once they had finished this task. Since the plate finishers did not have
a press, they used a punch which, with the blow of a hammer, left an
impression on the plate. These initials are known from 1908 until
1928.
Plate finisher initials J.P.L. (Joseph P. Lennon) and A.W.L. (Albert W. Leger) on a 2˘ Washington. Multiple finishers initials are often found. The first set of initials is thought to belong to the more experienced craftsman. Plate finisher initials W.E.S. (Walter E. Spring) on a 10˘ air post issue and R.J.L. (Robert J. Little) and W.W.M. (William W. Malone) on a 20˘ special delivery issue.
Once the plate went to press, printers entered
their initials each time they checked out the plate. This provided for long strings of
printers initials extending the length of the plate, and, in some cases, a
second string was started once the bottom of the plate was reached with
the first string. These initials are known from the early 1890's until
1911 or 1912.
A string of printer's initials in the UL selvage of the 1˘ Franklin Issue, with plate finisher initials J.S.S. (Jake S. Seitz).
Printer's initials in the LR selvage of the 2˘ Pan-American Issue.
OAM monogram on plate 11329. | |
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SUBJECT REFERENCES John S. Meek, "Initials of Siderographers and Plate
Finishers, Positions of Siderographer Initials", The
John S. Meek, "Initials of Siderographers and Plate
Finishers, The Craft and Its John S. Meek, "Initials of Siderographers and Plate
Finishers", The John S. Meek, "Initials of Siderographers and Plate
Finishers, The Eight Sample Steel Plates", The
John S. Meek, "Initials of Siderographers and Plate
Finishers, The First Plate Finisher Initials, Part I", The
John S. Meek, "Initials of Siderographers and Plate
Finishers, Transferrer’s Initials on Booklet Panes", The United States
Specialist, Vol 45, October 1974, pg. 460-461. John S.
Meek, "Initials on the Aeronautics Issue”, The
John S.
Meek, "Initials on the
John S.
Meek, "The Special Handling Stamps”, The
John S.
Meek, "The Postal Savings Stamps”, The
John S.
Meek, "Initials on the
John S. Meek, "Initials on the Sesqueicentennial
Issue", The
John S. Meek, "The Norse American Issue", The
John S. Meek, "The Huguenot-Walloon Issue of 1924”,
The United
States Specialist, Vol 50, February 1979, pg. 94-98. John S. Meek, "The Harding Memorial Issue”, The
John S. Meek, "The Pilgrim Tercentenary Issue”, The
John S. Meek, "The Victory Issue”, The
John S. Meek, "The Panama-Pacific Commemorative
Series”, The
John S. Meek, "The 1909 Commemoratives”, The
John S. Meek, "The John S. Meek, "The Pan-American Issue, Part III, Plate
Printers Initials”, The John S. Meek, "The John S. Meek, "The Air Mail Stamps of 1918”, The
John S. Meek, "The Air Mail Stamps of 1923”, The
John S. Meek, "The 1926-27 Air Mail Stamps”, The
John S. Meek, "The Flat Plate Definitives 1922-26”,
The
John S. Meek, "The John S. Meek, "Scott 569 – The 1922 Issue 30˘ Value”,
The
John S. Meek, "The 25˘ John S. Meek, "The 20˘ John S. Meek, "The 17˘ Wilson Stamp, Scott 623”, The
John S. Meek, "The Statue of John S. Meek, "The 14˘ American Indian Stamp, Scott
565”, The
John S. Meek, "The 13˘ John S. Meek, "The 12˘ John S. Meek, "The 11˘ Rutherford Hayes, Scott 563”,
The
John S. Meek, "The 10˘ John S. Meek, "The 9˘ John S. Meek, "The 8˘ Grant, Scott 560”, The
John S. Meek, "The 7˘ McKinley, Scott 559”, The
John S. Meek, "The 6˘ John S. Meek, "The 5˘ Theodore Roosevelt, Scott 557”,
The
John S. Meek, "The 2˘ John S. Meek, "The 2˘ John S. Meek, "The 2˘ John S. Meek, "The 1˝˘ Harding, Scott 553 and 576”,
The
John S. Meek, "The 4˘ Martha Washington, Scott 556”,
The
John S. Meek, "The ˝˘ Nathan Hale, Scott 551 and CZ
70”, The
John S. Meek, "The 1˘ Franklin, Series of 1922, Scott
552, 575, CZ 71 and CZ J15”, The John S. Meek, "The 1˘ Benjamin Franklin, Series of
1902, Scott 300, and 314, Part I”, The United States
Specialist, Vol 54, August 1983, pg. 333-335. John S. Meek, "The 1˘ Benjamin Franklin, Series of
1902, Scott 300, and 314, Part II”, The
John S. Meek, "The 1˘ Benjamin Franklin, Series of
1902, Scott 300, and 314, Part III”, The
John S. Meek, "The Two-Cent Stamps of the Series of
1902, Part I”, The John S. Meek, "The 1˘ Shield Die II Plates, Scott 319
and 320”, The John S. Meek, "The Three, Four, Five and Six Cent
Stamps of the 1902 Series”, The United States Specialist, Vol 55,
February 1984, pg. 63-67. John S. Meek, "The Higher Values of the 1902 Series”,
The United
States Specialist, Vol 55, May 1984, pg. 207-210. John S. Meek, "Washington-Franklin Stamps I”, The United States
Specialist, Vol 55, June 1984, pg. 277-278. Larry S. Weiss, "Pressmen's Initials on Offset
Printing Plates", The United States Specialist,
Vol 55, December 1984, pg 539-548. Larry S. Weiss, "Offset Plates Pressmen's Initials – A
Newly Reported Item", The United States Specialist,
Vol 56, June 1985, pg 259-260. John S. Meek, "Washington-Franklin Stamps II”, The United States
Specialist, Vol 56, September 1985, pg. 391-400. John S. Meek, "Washington-Franklin Stamps IV”, The United States
Specialist, Vol 56, November 1985, pg. 461-465. John S. Meek, "Scott E6 and E7”, The
John S. Meek, "Washington-Franklin Stamps V, Two Cent
Solid Star Plates”, The W. Wallace Cleland, BIA Plate Number Checklist,
1-20000, Bureau Issues Association, Inc., 1990. Gene Hessler, The Engraver's Line, An Encyclopedia of
Paper Money & Postage Stamp Art, BNR Press, 1994. John S. Meek, "The Three-, Four- and Five-Cent
Battleship Documentary Stamps and the Eight-Cent Plates”, The
Myron Hyman and Roger S. Brody, "Marginal Markings on
the 2˘ Shield Booklet Pane”, The United States Specialist, Vol 70,
February 1999, pg. 75-78. Doug D’Avino, "An Initial Mystery: Who is ‘GL’?”,
The United
States Specialist, Vol 73, July 2002, pg. 296-298. Doug D’Avino, "An Initial Mystery: #461 or Not #461?”,
The
Doug D’Avino, "An Initial Mystery: Was Scott #394
Printed by Plate 6048?”, The Doug D’Avino, "Initials on Washington Franklins",
http://home.earthlink.net/~davinod/Initials.htm,
2003. Rodney A. Juell, "Misidentification of Siderographer
and Plate Finisher Initials”, The Doug D’Avino,
The Encyclopedia of United States Stamp Collecting: Marginal
Markings, The
John S. Meek, "Washington-Franklin Stamps III – The
Early One Cent Plates”, The
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