So you’ve acquired a nice selection of plate proofs and a few die proofs to enhance your collection. Now how about an original steel die as the cherry on the cake?
Over one thousand of the American Bank Note Company original, engraved printing dies have recently come to market, offering an unusual opportunity to own the unique die from which your chosen stamp originated.
And many of these dies are from Latin America.
Most of the dies date from the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century and contain many engraved images that will be familiar to Latin America collectors.
Frames, vignettes, intermediate and experimental dies are all represented, along with the finished engravings for both post and revenue stamps.
The original archive was purchased in 2005 and it appears there have been some subsequent small sales since but this holding represents the bulk of the collection.
Additionally, there are dies from a few of the other countries where ABNC made sales, together with a number of US fiscals and cinderellas.
Interestingly, there are also a number of Seebeck issues amongst the collection of dies, with the printing work being undertaken by the Hamilton Bank Note Company.
Every one of the twenty republics is included in the sale; there wasn’t a single country in Latin America that ABNC had not got onto its order books in some form or other.
The collection is being marketed by numismatic dealers David Lawrence and you can view or make purchases through their website at www.davidlawrence.com. There is also an auction planned later this month for a few of the dies but most are being sold at $1500 a piece.
Quite how best to display (mount?!) your new treasure? That, I’m not too sure.
A few more images below to whet the appetite…
How did the Hamilton dies become ABNC dies? It is a tale of mergers and acquisitions. The Security Banknote Co, was founded in 1884, and acquired the Hamilton Bank Note engraved plates in 1951 (Hamiliton was liquidated in 1948). In 1957 the Security Banknote Co and Columbian Banknote Co consolidated to form the Security-Columbian Banknote Co. They changed the name to United States Banknote Corp (USBN) in 1965. This Company acquired ABNC in 1990. Thus the ABNC dies and Hamilton dies were brought together.
The answer is the Hamilton dies did NOT become ABNC dies. Rather the Hamilton dies and the ABNC dies became USBN dies.
What a great opportunity to have one of these to be the centerpiece of a collection. These are the stamps styles that really got me started. The topography and maps on stamps.