Woo hoo! My latest auction lot arrived: an original American Bank Note die for the Indian River Steamboat Company. The vignette is clearly modeled on the Indian Head penny, which would have been pocket change when the company was formed in 1886. The steamboat company was really just a short river extension connecting with the Jacksonville, Tampa & Key West Railroad Co. in Jupiter, Florida. It operated until 1895 when the Florida East Coast RR reached Palm Beach making the route obsolete. I've been trying to buy a printable ABNC plate for years (at a reasonable price) and I finally was successful! I've got a friend with a spider press who said he's willing to print this for me. I can hardly wait! I'll post a couple shots I took and one scan that came out so-so. The actual image is reversed on the plate, but I flipped it in Photoshop so you can see what it looks like. It even came with the original storage sleeve. This plate sat in the ABNCo vault for more than a century and now it's sitting on my desk. There's no smiley icon that's big enough.
Addendum: the little dots are not pitting, they are just oxidation, I guess. I don't think they'll affect the printing surface.
Beautiful! You even got the storage sleeve for the plate! The oxidation could be removed with a metal polish if you should be wanting to have it removed. I would be careful with that based on collector interest in original status. The type of polishes one usually uses on printing plates are mildly abrasive but would remove the spots without harming the printing surface. I suspect this is a steel plate which has already seen significant use. Being that it's steel, (or if it were copper or zinc plate) in time any metal will develop some sort of patina. Some may protect the plate and others could harm the plate if left unchecked. Unless you detect these are the result of corrosion that's pitting the plate surface, I personally wouldn't do anything at this time. Perhaps you could have an appraisal by a conservator make a suggestion about how to properly handle the spots and store the plate but it looks real good to me. I can't wait to see the prints you pull from this. Do you know what color the original was printed in? It would be neat to see a range of prints in the typical colors they used to print these plates in. Congrats on this excellent score!
Wow, that's a wonderful item! As far as printing & colors, I could see a series of 4-6 prints, in different "trial colors" looking very nice framed up together. Dave
Very-Very cool plate Greg!!! Where can I get one! I love it, thanks for sharing with the group. Darryl
Thanks everyone! I sent the scans to my friend with the press and he said he could print from it, no problem. But it will take some time to ship and print when he has time. In fact, I'd really like to see the process so I may wait until I'm able to go back east myself. Chris, do you think the sleeve itself could cause any damage or corrosion? I'm guessing not if it's been in it for a hundred years and still looks like this.
Actually, yes, the paper itself can attract and hold moisture and in the natural change of humidity, the paper itself does hold some minor degree of moisture from whats in the air. However the paper seems to have protected the plate over the years and likely it's just a minor polishing and cleaning that the plate needs. I'd bet your printer friend will know how to address cleaning the plate prior to printing and you will get back a cleaned plate afterward. You might ask him how to store the plate in future. Keeping it wrapped in paper is safe. It is usually best to use a neutral pH (acid free) all cotton rag paper. Also worth noting that steel and copper intaglio plates are sometimes coated with a heavy wax based tar known as a 'ground'. This ground is used in various etching processes to resist and block out areas of plates from acid when immersed in a mordant (acid bath for etching plates) but it doubles as a way to coat the plate for storage. The ground itself is typically removed with a solvent like mineral spirits and plates can be wiped free of minor surface contaminants with a soft cotton rag and a little denatured alcohol or acetone for a final cleaning before inking a plate for use. Again, your friend will know how to proceed here. If you are interested in intaglio printing processes which these days are mostly done, in artists studios by hand, watch some of the Experts Village YouTube videos on printing processes. They don't show much engraving or the type of printing of security engraving plates and related presses, but it gives a good hands on overview of what the printers art and trade is like.
Well, it only took me a two-and-a-half years but I finally got my buddy with a spider press to run some color proofs off this die. They look fantastic, imho! I think I prefer the red-brown ink, as it approximates the actual tone of an Indian Head penny, but you decide. The circular Indian maiden vignette is fairly close to the actual size of the coin, about as large as a nickel. This makes me want to pick up more printing plates! I did buy another, but unfortunately it turned out to have a slight warp and couldn't be used. I guess I'll have to figure out how to make plates from my transfer rolls... http://www.cointalk.com/t100942/
Wow, those are great! It's fantastic your friend was able to get these good prints. Most of us wouldn't have had the connections. Dave
Gorgeous! Thanks for sharing. +1 about the red-brown version. Purple has an interesting appeal as well.
:smile Thanks. I've just been busy at life with much less chance to come to the forum lately. I still enjoy collecting, learning about numismatics and reading threads I've subscribed to here.
