Tint Blocks

I am looking for this and any tint blocks with which it may be associated - Any ideas from the “BriarHive” would be appreciated.

image: Cap.JPG

Cap.JPG

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That’s a very interesting image. Apart from the basic line quality which would have called for an ordinary zinco in the
days of the letterpress trade, a very close look at the fine lines that make for the shading, reveals that a number of them in various places do not actually meet the solid areas nearby. So its not wood engraving, not even using a multi-tool. So more likely its an example of Ben Day tint laying,
quite possibly on the negative, rather than the original artwork itself. That was a process originated in the US so over to you. The far end of screen no 2 or 3 perhaps?

You don’t think it’s possible it was printed intaglio?

Bob

Thank you - It is from a diploma done in 1931. I will take a look at the shading lines on several others bracketing the year - perhaps they will reveal more - if so, you will see it here.

It could also be lithographed by hand from stone or other lithography plate surface (metal plates were sometimes used for manual lithography) — a diploma would not be printed in a large quantity. To me the texture of inking in the shading says the printer was not careful enough of the process.

Bob

I’m pretty sure its letterpress. The giveaway is the slightly darker bead of ink on the edges of some of the image areas where the ink squeezed out beyond the edges and then printed. This only happens in relief printing. It is most obvious in the middle of the top of the “T” and in the oranges(?) in the middle left.

The black ink printed darker on the right half than it did on the left half. Without seeing more of the area on the diploma which is around this initial letter, I can’t tell if it is a trapping issue, or what. Could you post a picture of the letter with about an inch of the diploma all the way around it…..that would help.

Is the buff color behind the letter a second color, or is that the color of the paper? Why is the area in the corners black? Is the letter surrounded by a large area of black ink? As I said, seeing a larger area of the diploma would help a lot.