The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-03-25
STORIES OF PAPER.
HOW WATER MARKS WERE MADE AND
WHY THEY CANE INTO USE.

OtCll anu iull4eiits iulullllduie are
wound up in the art Of paper making.
and Us mechanical processes have at
forded 20 the ingenious story teller many
a chance for thrilling tale
This is especially true Of the system
OF placing water marks. so called. in
various brands or makes Of paper.
/ Perhaps the most interesting true
story which has TO do with this branch
Of the industry is that Of the famous
Ireland Confessions
Ireland had fabricated some Shake
I speare manuscripts. which for long
time We're accepted as actual. They
made such an impression indeed that a
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 few hours
and so great was the eagerness for the
edition that single copies We're disposed
Of in auction rooms at enormous prices.
Some time after that Ireland himself
threw these gentlemen into much sor-
row by explaining just now 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 unacquaintol with the subject
of water marks.
II carefully selected, says he, two
half sheets not having any mark what
ever, on which l penned my first effu.
sion" A few pages further on he wrote:
Being thus urged forward 70 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 |
applied TO a 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 1 was amply stored
with that commodity. nor did / 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 on such sheets Of old paper as
had 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, | listened to
every remark that was made OIL the sub
ject, and / at length CLEANED the intelli-
gence that q jug was the prevalent wa
ter mark Of the reign of Elizabeth, in
consequence of which | inspected all
the sheets of old paper then in my pos
session, and having selected such as had
tho jug OH them produced the succeed
ing manuscripts upon these, being care
ful, however, to mingle with them
certain number of blank leaves that the
production on sudden of so many wa.
ter marks might not excite suspicion in
the breasts Of those persons who were
most conversant with the manuscripts "
traveller in Messina was once shown
letter written by the Virgin Mary
with her own hand. He remarked that
it must indeed be miracle, since the
paper showed by its water mark that it
was not made till some centuries after
the age of Mary.
1t Is the greatest mystery to most peo- |
pie how water marks are made And |
yet the matter is the simplest thing in |
the world. In the manufacture of paper |
the pulp, before it has begun to be |
dried and after it has been spread OH |
the moving platform, passes under
roller called the dandy" On this
dandy" is affixed the device which |
works the water mark
1t is Of bent wire and as the roller |
presses the paper it presses into il the |
mark.
In the same manner most elaborate
designs and even pictures and intricate
representations of whole battle scenes
have been done from an engraved plate
similar to an electrotype, used in the
same manner on the dandy" roller
OF course check paper and bank pa
per is the most important variety dis
tinguished by water marks. In rair of
60 note molds prepared by the old proc
ess there are curved borders, 10
figures, 1853 large waves and 24O letters,
which had all to be separately secured
by the finest wire to he cirved surface.
There were 056 wires and 81, 5S4
twists and the same repetition where
the stout wires were introduced to sup.
port the under surface
In ancient times the water marks
were used for the same purposes as the
old inn signs. The old inns had dolls
ana beehives, horses and various other
FIRMS as signs. For the s. me reason the
paper makers had some distinguishing
mark which made their product distinct
from that of other makers.
A very frmous mark of the sixteenth
century was the bandmark-a hand top