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It is interesting to note that the first process used in stamp making was American. In fact with only slight modifications too unimportant to mention, the process continues to be used for making all American stamps. An interesting account of the inventor, Mr. Perkins of Perkins Bacon and Co, appeared in the London Daily Telegraph on 30 December 1904 when Perkins Bacon & Co moved to their present location from their Fleet Street quarters. Apparently, Mr. Perkins had, prior to his decision to go to England, tried unsuccessfully to interest the United States Treasury Department in adopting the use of his invention. It is bewildering that an invention rejected in the US came to its own in England. 

The Perkins invention consisted of a triple process of die, transfer roll and plate. It was an essential part of his process which permitted the making of many more copies than could be made from the original die. Hence it was much more than the just the system of engraving on soft steel that was then hardened for use in printing.


FLEET-STREET MEMORIES: Bank-Notes and Postage Stamps

The story begins with the arrival in London of Jacob Perkins, of Boston, U. S. A. in 1819 to compete for the contract to print bank notes for the Bank of London. Unfortunately he did not get the contract, but fortunately he founded "Perkins, Fairman and Heath" which has been famous in Fleet-street for eighty-five years. In order to widen the road, the premises were demolished. Their premises are a place of historical interest to the stamp trade; for this is where the first English penny postage stamps were printed. Also, from the same premises the company has printed and issued bank notes, cheques, bonds, and paper securities for millions. In the quiet neighborhood of the old back building, built after the Fire of London, and as part of what was once called the old "Hanging Sword" Inn, the genius of Perkins has worked to create stamps, banknotes, cheques and bonds to thwart even the shrewdest forger of the times. 

In the course of 85 years, the company name has changed a few times. In 1819 it opened as "Perkins, Fairman, and Heath". In 1852 it became "Perkins, Bacon and Co." This was the result of a marriage. The daughter of the original Mr. Perkins married Joshua Bacon, and their son was christened Perkins Bacon. The managing director, J. D. Heath, is the grandson of Sarjeant Heath who was one of the original partners.

Perhaps now that this institution is being forcibly removed to new premises in Southwark Bridge Buildings, S.E., it is appropriate to recall some of its achievements. Jacob Perkins's failure to secure the contract from the Bank of England contract was for very simple reasons. The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street preferred to rely on water-marks as the main precaution against forgery, and since printing is done merely from electro, the precaution is never to reissue a note, so that the cleanliness of paper-money is itself a protection. However, country banks could not afford to destroy each issue, and so readily employed Jacob Perkins, who, using hardened steel-plates, printed notes which could not be forged. Jacob Perkins had a method of softening steel, to facilitate engraving, and then of hardening it again. He was also the first person to introduce and use Asa Spencer's geometrical lathe, to which we now owe the white line machine work.

At first there was no fear of bank notes being forged through the photo-lithography process. Not for long though, for soon it became possible. In time forgers discovered that they could carry out their dark trade with photo-lithography, especially with well-worn and soiled notes. The forged notes became difficult to distinguish from the genuine notes, regardless of the finest engraving. The technique of color-photography advanced rapidly, giving the forger more tools to work with. Today, however, it is color which is used as a defense against forgery by the photo-lithography process or the color photography process. Messrs. Perkins, Bacon and Co, years ago, produced a process which defied forgers who tried to imitate with color photography and which even prevented the removal of the protecting colors through chemistry. The principles used are well illustrated in the three-color Cape Treasury notes and in modern cheques. However, Mr. Heath readily admits that cheques which are absolutely secure have not yet been produced.

Now we come to the part where the first British stamps made up a chapter in the history of "Perkins Bacon & Co". In 1840, the British Post Office invited the firm, then "Perkins, Bacon and Petch" to produce designs for adhesive stamps. This was in line with Rowland Hill's new postal regulations. Following this, the first stamps were issued to the public on 6 May of the same year. The method used to produce them was the forty-year old line engraving method which distinguished the productions. They were printed in black ink, and were not perforated. The invention and popular use of perforation is yet another story: Thought it appeared seven years later, it was popularly used only in 1854. 

The terms of the contract under which Messrs. Perkins, Bacon and Co. undertook the task in 1840, of stamps by which stamps were printed, gummed, and ready for use were rather interesting by today's standards. The payment was seven and a half pence per 1,000 and the paper was supplied by the Government. Later the price was reduced to six and a half pence and then to sixpence and then to five pence and finally, in 1856 to four and a half pence. This last-mentioned figure stood till the contract expired in 1880. After a time there arose a great scare about the nature of the material employed in making postage stamps adhesive. Charles Dickens, in 1852, exposed the secret in the pages of "Household Words." This publication declared that the dreadful ingredient was "potato starch." Not to be alarmed: The complaint of the public was that, regardless of whether the ingredients were poisonous or harmless, the stamps would not stick. Various experiments seem to have been made, and finally gum Arabic settled the issue. All this while the producers were relying on engraved steel plates, and it is worth recording that today they have in their possession one of these plates. So hardy were they that after printing over a million sheets of stamps, they would be as capable as ever of continuing to be used.

In 1880 Fleet Street ceased to produce the nation's postage stamps because the Government wanted to economize in this direction. It called for tenders for an article which relied, not upon line engraving, but upon surface printing or typography. If we compare the modern penny postage stamp with its predecessor, or with the line engraved postage stamps of the United States, we will clearly see which is more artistic. Though Messrs. Perkins, Bacon and Co. was no longer responsible for the British stamp they were well appreciated in foreign countries. In the summer of 1901, the Greek Government issued a set of fourteen new stamps, which the philatelic world promptly recognized as perhaps the most artistic examples of this kind of work ever issued. In design, color, and execution they were masterpieces. The flying Hermes from John of Bologna's famous bronze engraving was used in the entire set. There was a pretty widespread impression that the new set of stamps was intended to perpetuate the Olympian Games. Anyway, these stamps were appropriate to an astonishing degree. They were purely of British workmanship, and the outcome of the skill of the firm which in 1840 produced the first British postage stamp: Messrs. Perkins, Bacon and Co. Today, they supply stamps to a great many foreign Governments. Among some of their exquisite productions are these designed for the Republic of Liberia and for certain of the native Indian States. They have also furnished an issue for the British South Africa Company.

An interesting incident took place in this connection which is a remarkable tribute to the excellence of steel engraving and is worth recalling here. When the Prince of Wales was in Canada he met the Postmaster-General of the Dominion, and His Royal Highness suggested that the head of the Sovereign on Canadian stamps could perhaps be better reproduced than was then the case. Messrs Perkins, Bacon & Co were approached and they evolved the Royal head which we see today on Dominion stamps. What the company did was to make the die and send it over to Canada, for the reason that the Canadian contractors had the sole right oŁ actually printing the stamps. Nevertheless, it has been suggested that the background, as it now appears, is not quite perfect. It is worthy of note here that Canada comes level with her neighbor, the United States, in preferring line engraved stamps. What is true of postage stamps is also true of receipt and other stamps, and to trade labels. In regard to trade labels, steel engraving has been found to be the best process.