Surface Coating
Later experiments involved surface coatings. Between 1901 and 1907 Austria applied varnish bars, thin diagonal strips of varnish, to the paper before printing the design. Russia did the same between 1909 and 1915, applying the varnish in a pattern of lozenges. In both cases the (not very convincing) theory was the same; the ink of the printed design would not soak into the varnish, so that in the washing process the design would tend to flake off, forming a telltale pattern on the washed stamp. Ferchenbauer provides a slightly different explanation, based on the partial solubility of the varnish.
Read more about this topic: Postage Stamp Reuse
Famous quotes containing the words surface and/or coating:
“Bees
Shaking the heavy dews from bloom and frond.
Boys
Bursting the surface of the ebony pond.”
—Wilfred Owen (1893–1918)
“The world is eaten up by boredom.... You can’t see it all at once. It is like dust. You go about and never notice, you breathe it in, you eat and drink it. It is sifted so fine, it doesn’t even grit on your teeth. But stand still for an instant and there it is, coating your face and hands. To shake off this drizzle of ashes you must be for ever on the go. And so people are always “on the go.””
—Georges Bernanos (1888–1948)