The
preparation of the printing plates of Sicily stamps was made by galvano-plastic
duplication starting from the original matrixes. The final plate was composed
by 100 stamps (10 rows of 10), even if some plate were obtained by putting
together 4 blocks of 25 pieces, connecting them with nails and screws.
The method used to prepare the plate was indeed in reality a bad choice: the
result missed a lot of the perfect engraving made by Juvara and defects of
duplications were not lacking by sure. Often parts of the drawing were not
fully engraved by leaving some "holes", even quite large.
To try to improve the looking of these prints and complete the drawings, interventions
were made directly on the printing matrixes with handmade corrections using
a graver tool. These corrections left anyway evident marks on the matrixes,
and therefore on the stamps, to the point that the result was even worse than
the original one.
The study and classification of these "corrections" has been
from the beginning one of the specialties more followed by the Sicily collectors.
To find pieces showing these "corrections' is not so easy. Some of them
are extremely rare, specially when on envelopes.
In some studies, may be somehow superficial, it is written that the corrections
were needed due to the wear of the plates.
Despite we cannot exclude that this was the case for some of them (that is
due to the usage and wear of the plate some of the elements have been modified
"during the way"), most of them (if not all) have been revisited
even before starting to print the first stamps and therefore directly on the
original plates. In fact we can find them already in the very first issues
of the stamps.
I show here below all the known corrections and their position inside the
plate; the correction is outlined with traits in black color. It is not simple
to identify often a correction, specially for the smallest ones. I suggest,
if possible, first to identify the position of the stamp in the plate (operation
called "plating"; see the related "Going deep")
and, if this is confirmed to be one out those with corrections, then to look
for it as second step.
I extracted the pictures from the "Catalogo Sassone Specializzato"
ed. 2002, with the exception of the position 87 of the 1 Grano 1st plate that
is extracted from the "Catalogo CEI" ed. 2001.
I show also in some real piece where the corrections are . If somebody has
some other piece to add I will insert their picture as soon as in my available.
Summary of the known corrections
|
Value
|
Plate
|
Corr.
nbr.
|
Positions
on the plate
|
|
1/2
Grano
|
Iª
|
7
|
19
- 31 - 68 - 69 - 79 - 91 - 99
|
|
1/2
Grano
|
IIª
|
-
|
-
|
|
1
Grano
|
Iª
- I° state
|
22
|
5
- 7 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 18 - 24 - 27
31- 32 - 34 - 48 - 51 - 53 - 55 57 - 59 - 67 - 78 - 87 - 89 - 98 |
|
1
Grano
|
Iª
- II° state
|
(18)
+ 4
|
As
above: positions 18 - 55
78 - 87 were corrected again |
|
1
Grano
|
IIª
|
7
|
19
- 52 - 59 - 69 - 82 - 84 - 89
|
|
1
Grano
|
IIIª
|
-
|
-
|
|
2
Grana
|
Iª
|
17
|
7
- 8 - 36 - 41 - 51 - 55 - 57 - 71 - 78
79 - 81 - 82 - 84 - 88 - 91 - 92 - 94 |
|
2
Grana
|
IIª
|
6
|
45
- 57 - 66 - 71 - 81 - 83
|
|
2
Grana
|
IIIª
|
-
|
-
|
|
5
Grana
|
Iª
|
5
|
5
- 9 - 10 - 19 - 46
|
|
5
Grana
|
IIª
|
1
|
90
|
|
10
Grana
|
-
|
12
|
1
- 4 - 5 - 8 - 9 -11 - 21
53 - 58 - 60 - 61 - 91 |
|
20
Grana
|
-
|
1
|
72
|
|
50
Grana
|
-
|
2
|
67
- 93
|
|
Total
|
84
|
1/2 Grana - 1st plate
 |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
19: crossing traits
beyond the head |
Pos.
31: vertical line at top
left and small horizontal traits |
Pos.
68: crossing traits
beyond the head |
 |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
69: crossing traits
above and beyond the head |
Pos.
79: line at lower left
and two small dots |
Pos.
91: partial
strengthening of some value lines |
 |
||
|
Pos.
99:
traits beyond the head, mostly horizontal
|
||
1 Grano - 1st plate - 1st state
 |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
5: crossing traits
under the throat |
Pos.
7: traits under
"O" of "POSTA" |
Pos.
14: traits over
the curl |
 |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
15a: spot
over the nose |
Pos.
15b: traits over the eye, nose and chin
|
Pos.
16: effigy remade
and without ear |
 |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
18: traits
under the throat |
Pos.
24: traits in front
of the lips |
Pos.
27: crossed traits
over the head and on the letters "OS" of "POSTA" |
 |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
31: lines under
the chin and dots in the beard |
Pos.
32: two horizontal
traits beyond the head |
Pos.
34: curl very
much corrected |
 |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
48: two vertical
traits over the nose |
Pos.
51: trait over
the nose |
Pos.
53: two short
vertical traits over the nose |
 |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
55: traits under
the throat and two horizontal ones in front of the neck |
Pos.
57: two vertical
traits over tjhe nose |
Pos.
59: trait on the
bust basement |
 |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
67: second "O"
of "BOLLO" retouched at the bottom |
Pos.
78: trait on the curl
and one on the nose |
Pos.
87: hair, beard
and throat corrected; ear is missing |
 |
 |
|
|
Pos.
89: horizontal
traits over the curl and "O" of "POSTA" thickened internally |
Pos.
98: correction over
the curl and the nose |
1
Grano - 1st plate - 2nd state
 |
 |
|
Pos.
18: effigy remade.
Background in front of effigy completely remade. Dots on the bust |
Pos.
55: traits under
the throat and in front of the eye |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
78: traits in front of the
profile, ear and on the curl; small dots in the ear, under the nose and on the eyebrow |
Pos.
87: as previous
plate with in addition a trait under the eye |
1
Grano - 2nd plate
 |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
19: traits in front of
the forehead; missing ear |
Pos.
52: spot in the
left top corner |
Pos.
59: vertical traits
over the A" of "POSTA" |
 |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
69: crossing traits
over the "G" |
Pos.
82: few horizontal
traits over the head |
Pos.
84: trait that
reshapes the top of the head |
 |
||
|
Pos.
89: few traits under "DE" of "DELLA"
|
||
2 Grana - 1st plate
 |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
7: horizontal lines
in the top right corner |
Pos.
8: : horizontal lines
in the top left corner |
Pos.
36: bottom left
corner remade |
 |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
41: vertical trait
at bottom left |
Pos.
51: 3 traits
in the curl |
Pos.
55: traits in the curl,
dots in the forehead and color dot on the head |
 |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
57: internal part of
"G" strengthened |
Pos.
71: 3 traits in
the curl |
Pos.
78: 3 traits in the
curl and dots in the forehead |
 |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
79: "2" partially
remade and horizontal trait under it |
Pos.
81: 4 traits
in the curl |
Pos.
82: 5 traits |
 |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
84: 2 small traits
in the curl |
Pos.
88: 3 traits
in the curl |
Pos.
91: bottom left
corner remade |
 |
 |
|
|
Pos.
92: traits in the curl
and two small traits in the forehead |
Pos.
94: 2 small traits
in the curl |
2
Grana - 2nd plate
 |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
45: right bottom
corner remade |
Pos.
57: part of the "G"
corrected at borders |
Pos.
66: color dot before "DI"
and between "S" and "I" |
 |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
71: bottom left
corner partially remade |
Pos.
81: upper left corner
remade and "A" of "SICILIA" partially corrected at borders |
Pos.
83: upper left
corner remade |
5
Grana - 1st plate
 |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
5: left upper corner
partially remade |
Pos.
9: few traits in
the upper right corner |
Pos.
10: upper left corner
partially remade |
 |
 |
|
|
Pos.
19: a vertical trait
in the upper right corner |
Pos.
46: upper right
corner partially remade |
5
Grana - 2nd plate
Pos. 90: two horizontal
traits over the "G"
10
Grana
 |
 |
|
Pos.
1: horizontal
traits over "POSTA" |
Pos.
4: few horizontal traits
in the left upper corner (one of them is long) |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
5: 3 horizontal traits
over "POSTA" (one is long) |
Pos.
8: upper frame redrawn
|
 |
 |
|
Pos.
9: upper part of the upper right
corner remade
|
Pos.
11: two traits (one
thick) in the upper right corner |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
21: upper right corner
corrected in the borders |
Pos.
53: left part of the
upper frame engraved again |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
58: two tilted traits on
the back of the head |
Pos.
60: vertical trait in
the right bottom corner |
 |
 |
|
Pos.
61: vertical trait over
"B" of "BOLLO |
Pos.
91: internal bottom
left corner remade over "GR" |
20
Grana
Pos. 72: traits
over the number "20"
50
Grana
 |
 |
|
Pos.
67: two traits inside
the "B" of "BOLLO" |
Pos.
72: traits under "50"
|
|
|
