The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1895-04-05
HOW WATER MARKS WERE MADE AND
WHY THEY CAME INTO USE.

VI tue luuuStfy IS GnaG Oh Une famous
'Ireland's Confessions -
Ireland had fabricated some Shake
8poare manuscripts, which for a long
time We're accepted as actual. They
made such all impression indeed that
number of men, famous at that time for
their erudition and for their literary
standing, voluntarily prepared testi-
monial attesting absolute belief in the
authenticity of the manuscripts. To this
document these men affixed their sigma
lures and sent the paper broadcast.
The whole of the original edition of
the fakes was disposed Of in a few hours,
and SO great was the eagerness for the
edition that single copies were disposed
Of i'll auction rooms at enormous prices.
Some time after that Ireland himself
threw these gentlemen into much sor-
row by explaining just how he had had
fun with them.
Ireland's story was that the sheet Of
paper which he used was the outside of
several others on which some accounts
had been kept during the reign of
Charles /. AT that time Ireland was
wholly unacquainted with the subject
of water marks
81 carefully selected" says he, ''two
half sheets not having any mark what
ever, on which I penned my first etfu-
sion. A few pages further on he wrote:
Being thus urged forward to the pro-
duction of more manuscripts, it became
necessary that should possess a suffi
cient quantity of old paper to enable me
to proceed, in consequence of which l
applied to bookseller, who, for the
sum of 5 shillings, suffered me to take
from all the folio and quarto volumes
in his shop the fly leaves which they
contained
!"By this means l was amply stored
with that commodity, nor did I fear
any mention of the circumstances by
the bookseller AS was fully aware,
from the variety Of water marks which
are in existence at the present day, that
they must have constantly been altered
since the period of Elizabeth, and being
for some time wholly unacquainted with
the water marks of that age, very care
fully produced my first specimens of the
writing Oh such sheets of old paper as
naQ no mark Whatever.
"Having heard it frequently stated
that the appearance of such marks on
the papers would have greatly tended to
establish their validity l listened to
every remark that was made on the sub.
| iect, and I at length cleaned the intelli.
gence that a jug was the prevalent wa
fer mark of the reign Of Elizabeth, in
| 1F T incrootn1 oil
the sheets of old paper then in my pos,
session, and having selected such as had
the jug on them produced the succeed
ing manuscripts upon these, being care
full, however, to mingle with them &
certain number Of blank leaves that the
production on a sudden of so many wa
ter marks might not excite suspicion ii
the breasts Of those persons who were
most conversant with the manuscripts. ,
A traveller in Messina was once shown
letter written by the Virgin Mary
with her own hand. He remarked tina
it must indeed be a miracle, since th'
paper showed by its water mark that i
was not made till some centuries afte1
the age of Mary.
1t is the greatest mystery to most peo
pie how water marks are made. Ant
yet the matter is the simplest thing il
the world. In the manufacture Of pape
the pulp, before it has begun to b
dried and after it has been spread. Of
the moving platform, passes under
roller called the dandy" On thi
'dandy" is affixed the device whicl
works the water mark
1t is of bent wire, and as the role
presses the paper it presses into it tn
mark.
In the same manner most elaborat
designs and even pictures and intricat
have been done from an engraved plat
similar to an electrotype, used in tn
same manner on the dandy roller.
Of course check paper and bank pc
per is the most important variety dls
tinguished by water marks. In a pair {
Go note molds prepared by the old proc
ess there are s curved borders, l
figures, 168 large waves and 240 letter:
which had all to be separately secure
by the finest wire to the curved surface
There were 1,O5G wires and 67, 5S
twists and the same repetition whel
the stout wires We're introduced to SUI
port the under surface.
In ancient times the water mari
were used for the same purposes as tt
old inn signs. The old inns had dol
and beehivcs, horses and various oth'
forms as signs. For the same reason IL
! paper makers had some distinguishil
mark which made their product distin
from that of other makers.
A very fcmous mark of the slNteen1
century was the handmark-a hand to-
Z ped with star. The Jug or pot mai