Artists of Steel

The Art of Australian Stamp Engraving

17 February - 2 June 2007
Curated by Richard Breckon

The Artists of Steel exhibition recognises the skills of Australia's stamp engravers. For many years, a handful of highly skilled men engraved the original steel dies of stamps. Working at the Note Printing Branch, Melbourne, where Australia's stamps and banknotes were produced, the engraver cut the lines of the stamp design into the surface of a softened steel die. This remarkable work was performed by hand and involved weeks of concentrated effort to engrave a single die. The exhibition features the engraving heritage left by the "artists of steel" through stamps.

From the 1930s to the 1970s, it was the era of the "artists of steel" – the craftsmen who hand engraved the original steel dies of stamps at the Note Printing Branch, Melbourne. These highly skilled men – Australia had no women stamp engravers – cut the stamp design into the surface of a softened steel die, some of the engraving being as shallow as 0.002 (one five hundredth) of a millimetre.

Australia's engraved stamps were produced by the intaglio process, which involved printing an image comprising lines and dots cut below the surface of the printing plate. The plate was inked and excess ink wiped off, leaving the remaining ink to fill the recessed grooves. When the plate was forced against the paper under considerable pressure, ink was sucked out of the grooves and deposited on the paper in perceptible lumps and ridges of varying heights.