Steel engraving

Steel engraving, also called Siderographie, is a graphical gravure printing method that has been mainly used for the production of banknotes, stamps and printing of illustrations ( and is used for banknotes today ). A significant advance over the engraving was the ability to make copies in almost unlimited number.

Technology

The drawing is engraved with the burin in a softened steel plate or even - as in the Etching - etched. The after harvesting hardened steel plate is transferred to a soft steel roller by rolling to again dominate with this then hardened roller, a new soft steel plate, which is then cured again. The method is also suitable for very fine, small representations, but does not reach the rich depth of engraving.

History

Steel engraving was developed in imitation of engraving. The American Jacob Perkins developed the method and set it for the first time in 1820 for the printing of bank notes. The Englishman Charles Warren and Charles Heath, Perkins business partner, used it for the first time for artistic illustrations. In Germany the technique of the painter Carl Ludwig Frommel Karlsruhe has been introduced. Later the steel engraving lost in importance again, as it was possible to case-harden copper plates.

Steel engraving took place during the 19th century, its main task of book illustration and reproduction technology and was only superseded by the photography and the Chemigrafie as automatic copying process.

In the 20th century it was used not only in the production of stamps and banknotes, but also for exclusive letterhead, business cards, bookplates and more. The steel engraving embossing is still made in a few Präger estates which are as rare as the bell founders become.

Known steel engraver

  • William Henry Bartlett, British illustrator
  • Carl Ludwig Frommel, the professor learned the art in London and opened his studio in Karlsruhe for steel engravers first of its kind in Germany
  • Johann Poppel, a student of Frommel, the steel engraving also learned in London
  • Albert Henry Payne, British- German Illustrator
  • Carl Mayer, copper and steel engraver in Nuremberg, with its own art institute
  • Czesław SLANIA, Briefmarkengraveur
  • Franz Xaver Stöber, Austrian steel engraver
Postage stamp Karl Ludwig Frommel Zincography
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