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There's a lot of nuances to old ink.
For example, Confederate stamp cover dealer and forger John Fox was pretty good at his craft. He even engraved his own postmarks on metal. But even with all his knowledge as a stamp dealer, he didn't realize that 1860's postal ink was made from a mixture of lamp black (carbon soot) and linseed oil. Instead of mixing his own ink, he used some type of modern ink without oil, and as a result, the ink didn't spread evenly across the metal postmark, leaving a spotted, "mottled" look to the ink. That gave him away. Super small detail, right? See report here. It's on the last page. |
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Quote:
If there is a way to be crooked, someone will have the willingness to do it. Sad comment on the state of human nature.
__________________
Sign up & receive my autograph price list. E mail me,richsprt@aol.com, with your e mail. Sports,entertainment,history. - Here is a link to my online store. Many items for sale. 10% disc. for 54 members. E mail me first. www.bonanza.com/booths/richsports -- "I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure."- Clarence Darrow |
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No, but I do have a small collection of 19th century stamps and covers.
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There are some projects for stamps that are using spectroscopy to solve a few long standing questions. All of them so far have relied on outside funding - grants etc.
They've found some interesting things. Like a certain reddish brown ink that has been assumed to be rust particles in linseed oil somehow includes exactly no iron whatsoever. So much for what's been "known" for over a century! Old ink formulations were often trade secrets, especially the ones for printing. The specific info about ink formulations and other stuff would probably apply somehow to older autographs, but probably not baseball. Most authenticating of stamp stuff is done a lot like autograph authentication, examination by someone experienced with the exact specialty. I've seen one of the experts doing a bit during an antiques roadshow type thing they did at the 2006 international in DC. Stuff I was fairly sure of after a few hours of checking he confirmed in under a minute! At least I was right..... (One good news, the other not so good but no loss so an inexpensive lesson. ) Currently there isn't much science involved, but that's slowly changing as the science gets more affordable. I have a stamp out at the PF currently that will be the first of it's kind certified assuming they agree. A variety of one of the 1873 officials that was only discovered and identified fairly recently. |
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And apologies for veering so far off topic.
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#7
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Perhaps a Walnut ink of some sort? Not all was iron gall back then. For the average person it was too complicated to make, so many people would grind up bark, walnut husks, or insects, boil it, and then mix it with a binder. No iron sulfate was added.
Last edited by SetBuilder; 06-13-2018 at 09:03 AM. |
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http://chronicle.uspcs.org/pdf/Chronicle_252/21674.pdf That may not come through, as the articles after a certain date are members only. Printing inks would of course vary a lot from pen inks, as the properties need to be a lot different. Last edited by steve B; 06-13-2018 at 09:24 AM. Reason: Added info. |
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I was also at the 2006 World Stamp Expo in D.C. Drove down to the APS in Richmond last year. I used to collect quite a bit more. Now I usually buy Olympic related postal covers (1960 Italian set, 1968 US Trials set) to get signed by athletes.
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