GDR - small collection of phase prints **
07
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11
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36
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50
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Selected by Benedikt Reichl
Over 40 years of collection expertise and 15 years of stamp trading experience.
Estimate € 150 - € 200
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From the DDR, a small collection of phase prints titled 'kleine Sammlung Phasendrucke', in MNH (mint never hinged) condition.
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Description from the seller
Small collection of phase prints ** Michelwert over €2700.00
Immediate purchase for €102
What are phase prints:
Anyone who enjoys picking up a brush themselves – whether as an artist or as a DIYer – knows the inescapable truth: after the actual work comes the big cleanup – and it can cost as much nerves as the work itself. It may be a small consolation that others aren’t doing any better. Every industry that handles colors faces the same problem. In the printing industry, color rollers and printing formes must be continuously cleaned to free the color droplets again and guarantee constant color uptake capacity and print quality. The cleaning here, however, is not done with rags and soap, but with dry ice, ultrasonic waves or lasers.
In stamp printing these cleaning processes not only give us crisp, high-quality postage stamps. They also create philatelic special features that wonderfully document the manufacturing process of a stamp. After cleaning, the cleanliness of the printing formes is first tested before the actual printing job begins. This is how test impressions, proof prints, or phase prints come about.
In multicolor printing the image is gradually assembled with the help of several printing formes. So for one stamp several control passes are necessary – after all, each color should come from a perfectly cleaned printing forme. At the same time, the fit of the various printing formes should be checked. Each phase of the print is tested individually. The result are the so-called phase prints.
Using the stamp issue of the GDR, for example (not in the lot) “20 Years Society for Sport and Technology” from 1972, the process can be visualized. The stamp image MiNr. 1777 consists of four colors: gray, turquoise, olive yellow and violet ultramarine.
In the first step of print control only the gray color is applied to unperforated paper. It is still impossible to guess what motif it might be. The second phase yields gray and turquoise-blue, creating an image that could depict a rotor. In the third phase olive yellow is added. Now we already clearly see that it’s about shipping – and that the alignment matches, the image parts fit together perfectly. The fourth and final phase shows the finished image and is – apart from the perforation – identical to the final stamp.
Interestingly, these phase prints of MiNr. 1777 are first disclosed in MICHEL-Deutschland-Spezial 2023. To illustrate the valuation principle, we reveal their price here exception: a price range of €20 to €80 is given. The low price applies to the first printing phase, i.e., the “stamp” in pure gray. The value then increases evenly up to the phase with four colors, i.e. the two-color costs €40, the three-color €60, and the four-color €80. Not bad when you consider that ordinary stamps are in the cent range.
Phase prints, by the way, never had full postal validity – not even the four-color ones. They don’t need to. They’re beautiful anyway.
Source Michel
see photos
Small collection of phase prints ** Michelwert over €2700.00
Immediate purchase for €102
What are phase prints:
Anyone who enjoys picking up a brush themselves – whether as an artist or as a DIYer – knows the inescapable truth: after the actual work comes the big cleanup – and it can cost as much nerves as the work itself. It may be a small consolation that others aren’t doing any better. Every industry that handles colors faces the same problem. In the printing industry, color rollers and printing formes must be continuously cleaned to free the color droplets again and guarantee constant color uptake capacity and print quality. The cleaning here, however, is not done with rags and soap, but with dry ice, ultrasonic waves or lasers.
In stamp printing these cleaning processes not only give us crisp, high-quality postage stamps. They also create philatelic special features that wonderfully document the manufacturing process of a stamp. After cleaning, the cleanliness of the printing formes is first tested before the actual printing job begins. This is how test impressions, proof prints, or phase prints come about.
In multicolor printing the image is gradually assembled with the help of several printing formes. So for one stamp several control passes are necessary – after all, each color should come from a perfectly cleaned printing forme. At the same time, the fit of the various printing formes should be checked. Each phase of the print is tested individually. The result are the so-called phase prints.
Using the stamp issue of the GDR, for example (not in the lot) “20 Years Society for Sport and Technology” from 1972, the process can be visualized. The stamp image MiNr. 1777 consists of four colors: gray, turquoise, olive yellow and violet ultramarine.
In the first step of print control only the gray color is applied to unperforated paper. It is still impossible to guess what motif it might be. The second phase yields gray and turquoise-blue, creating an image that could depict a rotor. In the third phase olive yellow is added. Now we already clearly see that it’s about shipping – and that the alignment matches, the image parts fit together perfectly. The fourth and final phase shows the finished image and is – apart from the perforation – identical to the final stamp.
Interestingly, these phase prints of MiNr. 1777 are first disclosed in MICHEL-Deutschland-Spezial 2023. To illustrate the valuation principle, we reveal their price here exception: a price range of €20 to €80 is given. The low price applies to the first printing phase, i.e., the “stamp” in pure gray. The value then increases evenly up to the phase with four colors, i.e. the two-color costs €40, the three-color €60, and the four-color €80. Not bad when you consider that ordinary stamps are in the cent range.
Phase prints, by the way, never had full postal validity – not even the four-color ones. They don’t need to. They’re beautiful anyway.
Source Michel
see photos
Details
Era
1900-2000
Geographic origin
GDR
Condition
MNH (Mint never hinged)
Title
small collection of phase prints **
