The Birth of a Die

Get to know Gibbons Stamp Monthly Archive through this month's sample article, first published in January 1968.

The Birth of a Die A PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY

Robert H. Pratt

The use of the engine turning lathe to create a multiplicity of background engravings by Perkins Bacon is well known. These intricate and feathery creations with their well-nigh unforgeable designs were the trademark of the Classic stamps. In combination with expert hand en-graving, the stamps of this period were thus compounded. The purpose of this essay is to illustrate how these designs could have been created, some of the steps in the process, and the final die and plate proofs that resulted.
The source material for the photo story is actual Perkjn Bacon die proofs in my collection. To create the story, some of the pictures have been " made " by rearranging the photos or portions of them in a re-enactment of the develop¬ment of the design. Photographs were enlarged to double size to make study easier.
In June 1851 authorisation to begin work on a set of three stamps for New Brunswick and for Nova Scotia was received by Perkins Bacon. Work was completed, and the stamps were shipped in August 1851. The dies for these two countries were thus made together; and the Three Pence, Six Pence, and One Shilling stamps resulted.

To begin the development, a circular design from the engine turning was selected. Fig. 1.
A circular star design which would fill the centre of the first design was also chosen. Fig. 2.
These two designs were then combined by impressing roller die impressions of each in a new die block. Fig. 3.
A new roller having the shape of a 22 1/2 degree pie segment was then prepared. Fig. 4.
Another roller having an included angle of 45 degrees was also prepared. Fig. 5.
What was called geometric multiplication was then employed to create a new design. This consisted of" rolling in" eight of the 45 degree segments, one adjacent to the other, until a complete circle had been formed. Figs. 6 and 7. The birth of a die-Fig3.jpg
From this new design, after hardening of the die, a new roller was prepared, and whjle soft, it was trimmed down until only the square which was in the centre was left. Fig. 8.
The design in Fig. 8 is the basic back¬ground die for all of the New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland stamps of this type.
After impression in a new die block, hand engraving was used to alter the outer ring of the design. This now is called background Die A. Fig. 9.
Background Die B was created by removing the centre design and the four corner stars from a soft roller impression of Die A. This became the primary roller for the first New Brunswick and
Nova Scotia stamps . Fig. 10.
This is proven by the four dots and the single dot which appear in two points of the star above the shamrock, in all of the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia dies.
And now the hand work began. For New Brunswick, a shamrock, two roses and a thistle were hand engraved in the positions of the four stars which had been removed. A little study will con-vince anyone that each one of these was separately engraved, as there are many differences of detail and placement of like flowers. For Nova Scotia a may¬flower was substituted for one of the roses. It is my belief that the crowns were also separately engraved. Fig. 11. Hand engraving of the tablets and numeral on the four sides of the in¬dividual die blanks completed the pro¬cess and the dies were now ready for hardening. That each tablet was separately engraved can readily be determined from a study of the E of New, the TA of Postage, and the A of Scotia.

Fig. 12. The Threepence New Bruns¬wick Die.
Fig. I3. The One Shilling New Brunswick Die.
Fig. 14. The Sixpence Nova Scotia.
Fig. 14A. The Threepence Nova Scotia Die.
Fig. 15. The One Shilling Nova Scotia.
All of the six original dies show flaws in the corners, which were not cleared up on the die blank. These lines and dots were later removed from the roller used to make the stamp plate, before it was hardened. This was much easier to do on the roller as the black Spots would here be raised and could be tooled off. On the die it would have been necessary to fill in, which would be difficult.

In 1852 negotiations began for a One penny stamp for Nova Scotia. To create this design, a roller was made from background die A (Fig. 9) and a square piece cleared from the centre. Fig. 16.
A vignette of the Queen somewhat like the type used in 1855 for New Zealand was then devised. Fig. 17.
This vignette was placed in the centre of the background die prepared earlier. Fig. 18.
Hand engraving of the tablets and numerals completed the design of the One penny die. Fig. 19.
In 1857 Perkins Bacon was awarded an order to prepare certain stamps for Newfoundland. The One penny and Fivepence values were taken from the New Brunswick design. Detailed study of the die proofs of these stamps will prove that the basic background came from the Sixpence New Brunswick. The detail and location of the inscribed flowers prove this beyond a doubt. Fig. 20.
To prepare a background for the New¬foundland series, a new roller was made from the Sixpence New Brunswick die, and the tablets and crown removed. Fig. 21.
Then a blank space was cleared for the word POSTAGE, a new die blank pre¬pared from the hardened roller, and the Crown re-engraved in a new position. Fig. 22.
New tablets and values were now hand engraved and the uncleared One penny Newfoundland die resulted. Fig. 23.
Two new rollers were then made, one, the primary roller for the One Pence plate which (in addition to the border lines) the E of POSTAGE was cleared, and the other, to create the Fivepence die on which the E of POSTAGE was cleared, as well as the value tablet and the values. Fig. 24.
Adding new values and a new value tablet produced the finished Fivepence die. Fig. 25.
A plate proof of the One Penny is shown in Fig. 26.
A plate proof of the Fivepence is shown in Fig. 27.
This completes the development of the stamp dies which started from the star and circle. Another use of the design shown in Fig. 3 is developed now.
Sixteen of the 22 1/2 degree segments (Fig. 4) are added together by geometric multiplication to form a figure. I apologise for the minute inaccuracy of the detail, but this was prepared by pasting together some thirty-five mall cut pieces. The result, Fig. 28.
Another circle from the lathe was selected. Fig. 30.

A smaller circle was chosen to fit the centre of the first circle. This one was commonly used on Bank Notes. Fig. 31.
These two circles were combined into a common circle. Fig. 32.
A large circle was cleared from a roller of the whole design (Fig. 28) with the centre opening large enough to accept the common circle (Fig. 32). Fig. 29.
The three circles were now combined to produce a new pattern. This design could have many uses. Fig. 33.
One adaptation of this design is seen in the engraving prepared for the Aber¬deen Bank of Scotland, which some say was prepared around 1907. Fig. 34.
A combination of the two stars shown in Fig. 2 is seen in Fig. 35.
Another combination of four of the Fig. 2 stars is seen with an engraved, superimposed 5. Fig. 36.
Removing the design from the 'interior¬ of the 5 would result in a numeral device that could be used on Bank Notes. Fig. 37.
This is the end of the story. It should now be evident that with imagination and meticulous procedures, an in¬numerable number of designs could be prepared from several simple engravings made on the engine lathe. Basically three circles and a star (which also is a circle) with the addition of some hand engraving, were all that was needed to produce nine different stamp dies and a variety of other designs. Need more be said of the ingenuity and creativeness of the Classic period stamp designers?