PLATES

PLATES

Perkins Bacon versus War Savings Die3.

There were only two sets of plates ever made for the 1d. They are both distinctly separate from any of their KGV cousins.

wpe10.jpg (21470 bytes)

The first set comprised 4 hardened steel plates, suitable for typography, from Perkins Bacon & Co. They were in use for 23 years, covering 3 colour changes, multiple watermarks, and perfs. Each of the four plates were organised as 2 panes of 10 rows of 6. They were intended to be printed as a block of four on. However, the rusted left plates were withdrawn for a decade, leaving the majority of printings on right plates only.

Unlike most other plates which had them, the Jubilee line was made up of a series of short bars each corresponding in size to the width (or height) of the adjoining stamp, and, there were no jubilee lines between gutters (around panes). Therefore, the plate for any sheet or stamp(s) with outside margin(s) is immediately apparent.

wpeD.jpg (24261 bytes)

Corner example of co-extensive lines around the four plates, this one, lower left plate, bottom corner.

Due to wartime conditions, there was a shortage of KGV watermark paper. The KGV recess paper was of no further use since those recess issues had been abandoned. An electroplate (not steel plate) was created to use this paper while shortages continued. As it happened however, sufficient supplies of locally produced unwatermarked paper became available for the quad steel plates so this 'printing' was redundant. It was issued 15 months after printing simply to expend the stock on hand.

This electro was created* in October 1916 and printings occurred in Jan to Apr the following year.

The 1d die itself was modified to make it suitable for stamping lead cliche moulds. It (the die) then became unsuitable for any subsequent use.

Plate layout was (of course) identical to the original recess (and later, war savings) issues: a single pane, 12 rows of ten, specifically to accommodate the paper size. 120 lead moulds were stamped by the modified 1d die and a copper plate electrolytically grown therefrom.

Perforation did not occur until Dec 1917, and they were not released until July 1918.

Although Cooke undoubtedly was the printer (with JBC CA monograms), Harrison created both plate, and die.

See Die3 for a fuller description.