The semi-weekly messenger., 1906-06-19
waTERMARKS ON PAPER
How They Proved Invaluable i'm De
tectins Many Clever Forgeries.

F., Wate- marks have proved themselves
| Invaluable for safeguarding against the
forgery of banknotes will stamps cts.
! though the difficulty experienced by the
Bank Of England in evolving a mark
defying imitation was very great and
! was accomplished by the execution OF
forgeries innumerable.
Many a will has been set aside owing
| TO false dates in watermarks, FOR
thanks TO wateTmarks, We are under no
uncertainty respecting the date OF the
existence OF the paper. Ireland's cell
ebrated Shakespearian forgeries were,
however, perpetrated with skillful re-
cCgnition of the watermark difficulty.
Driven TO the production of manu-
scrips. he set TO worn purchasing old
volumes for their fly leaves, and hear
ing that the 'Sug" was the prevalent
watermark of the reign OF Queen Eli
zabeth, he selected such as had the
jug on, being careful TO mingle with
them a certain number of blank leaves,
in order that the production on a sud-
den of so many identical watermarks
might not arouse suspicion.
Two Of the earliest watermarks con-
sist of a circle surmounted by a cross
signifying the cross planted on earth,
and an open hand surmounted by a
star or cross, representing the pastor
ial benediction of priest. Post pa
per takes it's name from the post horn,
which mark was in use as early as 1870.
It sometimes appears On a shield aHd
iS S11r n f.
6. by ducal ordinary note paper.
The watermark of deny" paper has
ever been the foud-de-lys, the peculiar
cogniance of the House of Burgundy,
who were patrons OF the Bordeaux in
dustry. IN course OF time the manu-
facture:of paper became centred IN the
Low Countries and the excellence OF
the Dutch paper, its purity and dura-
bility have never been eXcelled. The
paper manufactured in the Dutch mills
haveea great variety of watermarks,
and many of them were the badges OF
the noble families who had founded
mills elsewhere. Thus the P. and T.,
sometimes separate and sometimes con-
joined, are the initials of Philip the
Good, Duke of Burgundy, 1419 to 1867,
and Ysanella, his wife.
The ox's head was another ancient
watermark on which CaxtOn and Faust
printed some Of their books, but CaX-
ton used a watermark in the form OF
the letter P fcx the "Game and Plays
of the Cheese" first printed in 1474.
The first edition of Shakespeare,
printed by Isaac Jaggard and Edward
Blount in 1923 will, however, be found
to be mostly On paper bearing cap
like a Jockeys as a watermark, and
the general use of the term cap to
various modern papers owes it to
marks of this kind.
The first English paper maker was
John Tate, who founded mill at
HertfOrd at the close of the fifteenth
century. Tate made fine thin paper,
having for watermark an eight point
er star within a double circle. White
coarse paper was made by Sir John
Speilman a German at Dartford, in 49,
so, and here the first English paper
mills on large scale were erected. Till
1890, however, when William III pass
ed an act to encourage the home man
ufacture of white paper, all the best
paper for writing and printing was
imported from Holland and France.
story goes that the most curious
of all water marks, FOOLS cap, which
is derived from the Italian "foglio-cap-
no." folio sized sheet, was ordered
by the Rump Parliament to be substi-
tuted for the royal arms in the paper
used for the journals of the House Of
Commons
AS matter of fact, no paper SO
marked found its way into England be-
fore 1859, and the story probably owes
it's origin to the topical illusions which
the Royalists contrived to perpetuate in
the case of papers introduced from
Holland during the Cromwellian re-
gime. For example, in 1919 a large
hat, to denote the broad brimmed beav-
er worn by the Puritans; in 1861, four
crowns. and in 1857, a regal crown
all symbols likely to be obnoxious to
the ruling powers-were exhibited on
many pages.-London Globe