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What does it mean 'line engraved' when referring to GB Queen Victoria stamps?

Regards Glyn

Hi Glynn.

To quote the SG GB Concise catalogue - Queen Victoria section:

"Line engraving: In this context "line-engraving" is synonymous with recess-printing, in which the engraver cuts recesses in a plate and printing (the coloured areas) is from these recesses. "Line-engraving" is the traditional philatelic description for these stamps [Queen Victoria]; other equivalent terms found are "engraving in taille-douche" (French) or "in intaglio" (Italian)."

Hope that helps

Dave.

Good description DaveR, although in French it's 'taille douce'. 'Taille douche' would be an odd reference to something related to a shower.

Thank you, DaveR, so like casting a die?
g.

It's also probably fair to point out that "line engraving" is pretty much a term used only by philatelists, and moreover one used largely in relation to these early GB issues.

The general philatelic jargon term in English is "recess", although as far as I know the normal term used by printers for this method is "intaglio" whether they're Italian or not.

Oops

For GB QV doesn't that term refer to the 1860s to 1880s issue pretty much only?

Yes -- well, all the 1840 to 1880 low value stamps printed by Perkins Bacon. You do occasionally see the term applied to the stamps they printed for places overseas, but usually it's a bit of GB jargon. And I can't recall anyone using it for the later intaglio GB issues from the Seahorses onwards.

It's also shorthand for the early issues of 1d blacks and reds, the 2d blues, and the ½d "Bantams."

They are differentiated from the "embossed" issues and the "surface printed" issues that, in some cases, were in concurrent use.

Hope that helps.

I'm only thinking off the top of my head, but it may refer more to the 'engine turned background' engraving patterns that was used to produce the dies and plates. It was more than a one stage 'engrave the plate' process in getting the recess plate ready to print.

After a while they stopped using the 'engine turned' patterned backgrounds and went with just the handiwork of the master engraver.

Didn't Perkins and Bacon basically have the market cornered with the machine patterns at that time? Remember the old 'Spirograph' kits you made all the designs with as a kid?

So 'Line Engraved' is not the printing process itself.

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Oops teach me to type posts at 5am local. Chip's post activated my brain.

Sorry my understanding was "surface printed" was the usual industry Moniker for the 1860s to 1890s mono-colour era, except for the 1d red plate basically.

i.e. the QV 1887 Jubilee onwards are NOT generally known as "surface printed" despite them being so.

Anything earlier except for the embossed trio were generally known as 'line engraved?"

_________________
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Chip

Edited to add a PS:
This site has pages for the "line engraved," "embossed," and "surface printed" (actually a few pages for the surface printed, as they run through the 1900 Jubilee issue and the end of Queen Victoria's reign, but this gets you started - complete list).
C.

Basically, the way we say it rahnd 'ere:

"Line engraved" = intaglio ½d, 1d, 1½d, 2d, as printed 1840 to 1880

"Embossed" = individually handstruck with embossing 6d, 10, and 1s, as printed 1847 to 1854

"Surface printed" = everything else QV, as printed from 1855 onwards

The last term tends to be used mostly for the assorted values up to 1880 which were issued as and when needed and didn't fall into coherent "sets"; it's not so common to hear it used for the later stamps other than high values, but it is used sometimes when talking about the reign as a whole.

More commonly the stamps from 1880 onwards are referred to by issue -- "1880 issue" (or if you want to be fancy, "Consolidated Contract issue"), "Penny Lilac", "Lilac and Green issue", "Jubilees" (despite the fact that it was basically simple coincidence that they were issued in the Golden Jubilee year).