DESIGN OF STAMPS

Taranaki Daily News, 17 March 1932, Page 3

DESIGN OF STAMPS

NEW SET CRITICISED. —— ! 1 ' FORMER PRINTER’S VIEWS. The new design for stamps L criticls- . ed by Mr. J. Burns, who tor over 20 years was Government printer. . mt. Burns stated that he was disappointed with the new set. “In appointing a board to selecu tue designs for the new stamp set, in my opinion, a mistake was made in not having a stamp printer included in the board personnel,” said Mr. Burns. 1. . recognise that members of the 'board are well qualified to perform their duties, but selection of the design is not the only essential in the production of a good stamp. Colour, shade, paper, ink and method of production are equally important. On these points the services of a qualified and experienced stamp printer would have been of value. > . , ... “The very first consideration to be. decided by the board in the selection of t stamp designs is by what process the stamps are to be produced, that is,, by recess (or intaglio) or by surface printing. The selection made, does not, in my opinion, compare with the old pictorial set, and I think the same opinion is widely held.” Mr. Burns said that the stamp printing branch o-f the Government Printing Office was a semi-secret department of ■ State, and that visitors were not allowed to go through it except under special circumstances. Some years ago denominations from Jd to Is and also 2s to 5s stamps were printed by the intaglio process, but because the surface printing was quicker and less expensive an infinitely better intaglio process was given up for these stamps, and from that point the good name of the Dominion in the philatelic world began to suffer.' It was impossible for an°artist to produce a fine design working on sandpaper and it was equally im-- ■ possible for a printer io put life and •expression into a. design with a blank face. j “Unfortunately, the printer is not con« suited in designs,” said Mr. Burns. “The intaglio process is infinitely superior to any other process for the production of stamps, yet we find in the accepted designs at least one-half not up to intaglio standard and not worthy of being printed by this process. As an advertising agency, most of them fa., lamentably. The best designs should be of those stamps which are most freely used, both in and beyond' the Dominion.”

Uniformity of colour in stamp printing was one of the safest means of de- ' feating forgery, said Mr. Burns. Welldesigned stamps had in the past been killed by the adoption of an unsuitable colour, and it was to.be regretted that the last say in the adoption of colour was delegated to officers of the Post and Telegraph Department, who, in ' his opinion, could* not be expertly qualified for the job. “I do not know whether the Government has approved of the set as a whole,” said Air. Burns, “but I hope not, and I suggest that further consideration should be £iven to rejected designs or, as an alternative, that fresh, designs should be called for. There has, too, been too much repetition of subject matter and something more original and more historical would be welcome.”