In contrast to intaglio and relief printing processes, the plate used in Planographic printing вЂ“ as indicated by the root word вЂplanoвЂ™ вЂ“ is flat. Originally, Planographic stamps were printed using a stone or metal plate. From 1855 until the end of Queen VictoriaвЂ™s reign, all of BritainвЂ™s surface-printed stamps were produced by De La Rue & Co., which still prints banknotes, passports and tax stamps to this day. Letterpress stamps are also known as surface-printed or typographed stamps. Next, the ink is rolled across the plate, which is then used to print the design onto the paper. With letterpress printing, the image to be printed is raised in relief on the printing plate. In most cases, dots rather than lines are used to create the stampвЂ™s image: 'screened' dots share the same size but have different depths, while вЂunscreenedвЂ™ dots vary in both size and depth, creating a grainier look.ДЇirst 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. Here, photo-chemical etching is used to create recesses in the printing plate. This was first adopted in Britain in 1934, during the end of George VвЂ™s reign, and is still used to this day. The second, and later, sub-category is known as photogravure. 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. With these, a die is carved by hand and then used to impress printing plates, which are then used to print the stamps.ДЇamous examples of line-engraved stamps include BritainвЂ™s first-ever postage stamp, the Penny Black, as well as the Penny Red (above) and Two-penny Blue. The first, and earliest, are line-engraved intaglios. There are two basic sub-categories of intaglio stamps.

These ridges are created by the paper of the stamp being pushed into the plateвЂ™s recesses. Not only can you see the ridges of ink created by the recessed intaglio process, but you can usually feel them too. Next, the recessed area is filled with ink, while high pressures and temperatures are used to transfer the ink to the paper. 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. The most common printing process used for British and Commonwealth stamps issued before 1970 is known as intaglio. However, identifying the printing method used for any given stamp can sometimes help in identifying it, which in turn is important if you want to have an idea of how much itвЂ™s worth.ДЄccordingly, this article offers an overview of the main printing processes and methods used for postage stamps. For the newcomer, it may initially be difficult to tell one printing process from another. Such processes and methods have evolved over the years, becoming more sophisticated with each era of stamp printing. And one of the subtler ways in which stamps differ is through the printing processes and techniques used to produce them. Because while stamps all serve to pay for postage, they vary in many, many ways. However, you canвЂ™t really say the same thing for stamps. Click the link for more information.How printing processes and techniques can affect a stampвЂ™s valueД®ggs are eggs, as the old saying goes. There are four traditional types of printing: relief printing (with which this article is mainly concerned), intaglio, lithography, and screen process printing. Means of producing reproductions of written material or images in multiple copies. In hard-ground etching the plate, usually of copper or zinc, is given a thin coating or ground of acid-resistant resin. The art of engraving with acid on metal also the print taken from the metal plate so engraved.

In its narrowest sense, it is an intaglio printing process in which the lines are cut in a metal plate with a graver, or burin. In its broadest sense, the art of cutting lines in metal, wood, or other material either for decoration or for reproduction through printing. Seals and signet rings usually bear intaglio designs, so that when stamped upon wax or other plastic substance the impression is in relief. The design, often a portrait head, is commonly cut in the light-colored vein, and the dark one is left as the background. , small relief carving, usually on striated precious or semiprecious stones or on shell. It is the reverse of a relief or cameo cameo Intaglio (ДntДѓl`yЕЌ, вЂ“tГ¤l`вЂ“), design cut into stone or other material or etched or engraved in a metal plate, producing a concave, instead of a convex, effect.

Intaglio printing process