Search found 288 matches

by Iainp
Wed Nov 17, 2021 10:56 am
Forum: Equipment Discussions
Topic: "Mystery" antique coloured filters perhaps for microscopy?
Replies: 9
Views: 1556

Re: "Mystery" antique coloured filters perhaps for microscopy?

Got a box with filters pretty much like yours, marked Wratten M filters, Kodak etc, Kingsway, London. From the closure of a photographic division within an english horticultural centre. No markings on the filters, but with some written details in the box. The centre was setup in the early 1900's. H...
by Iainp
Wed Nov 10, 2021 2:20 pm
Forum: Equipment Discussions
Topic: "Mystery" antique coloured filters perhaps for microscopy?
Replies: 9
Views: 1556

Re: "Mystery" antique coloured filters perhaps for microscopy?

Thanks all. I'm sending the filters off for spectral analysis this week, and will post results here!
Iain
by Iainp
Tue Nov 09, 2021 2:31 pm
Forum: Equipment Discussions
Topic: "Mystery" antique coloured filters perhaps for microscopy?
Replies: 9
Views: 1556

Re: "Mystery" antique coloured filters perhaps for microscopy?

Thank you for the detailed ideas there Pete! I had another response on the photography forum which ties in nicely with what you say, and the person has kindly offered to measure the spectra: "the spectrometer looks at each wavelength in turn to at least 5nm resolution (60 data points across the visu...
by Iainp
Tue Nov 09, 2021 4:46 am
Forum: Equipment Discussions
Topic: "Mystery" antique coloured filters perhaps for microscopy?
Replies: 9
Views: 1556

"Mystery" antique coloured filters perhaps for microscopy?

Hi all. I bought a box of glass filters at an antique fair yesterday in Warwickshire, UK. The seller thought there were perhaps something to do with an optician, but I was fairly sure they were used for photographic purposes. He thought they were late 1800s (late Victorian Era) or early 1900s (Edwar...
by Iainp
Fri Mar 19, 2021 3:28 am
Forum: Photography Through the Microscope
Topic: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century
Replies: 38
Views: 9118

Re: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century

The escutcheons on the stamps from Queen Victoria's reign don't show as much fine detail as the earlier ones, but this one dated 3rd July 1862 has come out quite well. It's a 2 shilling 6 pence, #11 (Barber) . Die L. 2s6pwb.JPG Flower1.jpg Flower1c.jpg The rotated flower refuses, to my eye, to appea...
by Iainp
Wed Mar 17, 2021 11:20 am
Forum: Photography Through the Microscope
Topic: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century
Replies: 38
Views: 9118

Re: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century

Here's another vermilion stamp, used on writs; this time a 5 shillings die D (Barber #9) used from 18th August 1804 and last seen in use 2nd February 1830. The King George III cypher stamp on the back is a Plate 2, 1st recut, which further narrows down the date range to 1805-1815. 1804w.JPG At the r...
by Iainp
Mon Mar 08, 2021 3:34 pm
Forum: Photography Through the Microscope
Topic: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century
Replies: 38
Views: 9118

Re: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century

Thanks Bob. Yes, as I was saying recently to an old classmate from 40 years ago, our teachers made History into the most boring subjects imaginable. Now, decades later, I realise it's one of the most fascinating.
Iain
by Iainp
Fri Mar 05, 2021 2:06 pm
Forum: Photography Through the Microscope
Topic: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century
Replies: 38
Views: 9118

Re: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century

The majority of the early embossed duty stamps are on blue paper but vermilion coloured paper was used for the stamps on court documents. This is a Die C #1 (Barber) example. These were used on writs from 22nd July 1762 to 27th March 1789. There are 4 values of VI pence around the edge of the stamp,...
by Iainp
Fri Mar 05, 2021 8:01 am
Forum: Photography Through the Microscope
Topic: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century
Replies: 38
Views: 9118

Re: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century

Today's escutcheon is really not very pretty at all, and it quite poor condition, but it's on a document dated 1727, so that's hardly surprising. Until 1757, each time the Duty was increased, the law required that it was shown on a different embossed stamp. The three 6d stamps here, then, represent ...
by Iainp
Thu Feb 25, 2021 10:53 am
Forum: Photography Through the Microscope
Topic: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century
Replies: 38
Views: 9118

Re: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century

I bought this 1808 Canterbury prerogative court document just because it seemed the escutcheon was special, and so it turns out to be, in fact it's my best find to date. The document is quite special too, as it has the Archbishop of Canterbury's seal on it, and also because it has the rare high valu...
by Iainp
Tue Feb 23, 2021 7:15 am
Forum: Photography Through the Microscope
Topic: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century
Replies: 38
Views: 9118

Re: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century

Here's the remaining stamp in the set of 3 x £5 stamps in the previous message. ( https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=271322#p271322 ) The stamp is in even worse condition than the other 2, in fact it's so bad I haven't been able to completely ID it yet, though it certainly dates ...
by Iainp
Fri Feb 19, 2021 3:37 pm
Forum: Photography Through the Microscope
Topic: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century
Replies: 38
Views: 9118

Re: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century

Here's another reason to take a look at the escutcheons on revenue stamps: sometimes it's the only part of the stamp to have survived for two or three hundred years in good shape! This rubbed, bent and scuffed £5 stamp dates from the late 1700s and it's in quite a sorry state, with very little of th...
by Iainp
Wed Feb 17, 2021 5:07 am
Forum: Photography Through the Microscope
Topic: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century
Replies: 38
Views: 9118

Re: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century

I've been so pleased to capture these escutcheons in (probably) previously unseen detail that I haven't paid much attention to the technical aspects of the capture, resulting in often not very sharp images and other issues like vignetting. It's time to address that, so from now on I'll take the time...
by Iainp
Wed Feb 17, 2021 3:34 am
Forum: Photography Through the Microscope
Topic: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century
Replies: 38
Views: 9118

Re: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century

That is without a doubt the strangest labeling system I have ever seen. I do not see any consistent order in the numbers. It looks like shillings and pence are randomly interspersed. Do you have any idea why this is? --Rik My collector friend has replied. It seems that the apparently random amounts...
by Iainp
Wed Feb 17, 2021 3:10 am
Forum: Photography Through the Microscope
Topic: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century
Replies: 38
Views: 9118

Re: Embossed escutcheons on revenue stamps from the 18th and 19th Century

Interesting comments. For those with time to read a 7 page research paper on the subject, this one from the July 2010 Journal of Vision 10(8):6 is very good. For that don't here's the summary: it's complicated! The Abstract: 'Having a prior assumption about where light originates can disambiguate pe...