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Post by michael on Oct 25, 2023 12:43:28 GMT
We have a thread for Harrison & Sons and De La Rue so it's about time we had one for Perkins Bacon & Co. Ltd. No American printers? A brief history: Jacob Perkins, born in 1766, was an inventor and engraver from Newburyport USA who ran a successful business in refrigeration and fire engines for which he had several patents. His second daughter, Sarah married Joshua Bacon in 1817 and by 1819 Jacob and Joshua were in business together with Joshua. Jacob developed an anti-forging process for the steel engraving of banknotes and in 1819 came to England with the intention of selling this process to the Bank of England. He failed to win this contract but had more success with other English Banks under various company names with partners Gideon Fairman and George Heath, a well known engraver. In 1821 Joshua Bacon followed him to England to run the printing and engraving business and in 1829 became a partner in the newly name company, Perkins & Bacon. In 1834, Henry Petch became a partner and it was under the new name Perkins, Bacon and Petch that they won the contract to supply the World's first postage stamp, the Penny Black. Jacob Perkins died in 1849 and Henry Petch in 1852 and it was in 1853 that the name was changed to the one most people will associate them with, Perkins, Bacon and Co. and in 1887 it became a Limited Company. Joshua continued to work for the Company and died in 1863, aged 73. In 1863 they lost most of their colonial contracts because of poor service, poor delivery and their indescretion in supplying stamps to Ormond Hill from waste stock. In 1880 they lost their British stamps contract to De La Rue, and their business declined. They had a revival in the 1900s but in 1906 they went into liquidation and again in 1935 for the final time. There is no known picture of Jacob Perkins but several of Joshua Bacon:
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rod222
Member 
Posts: 11,043 
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on Oct 25, 2023 12:59:44 GMT
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Post by michael on Oct 25, 2023 20:21:56 GMT
Thanks Rod for your replies, yes I have both books and have recommended "Postage Stamps in the Making" on several threads for being an excellent reference book. I see from a post you have a large literature library. I frequently visit the library at the Royal Philatelic Society London where you can spend ages just wondering around the shelfs looking at all the books. Another good one for detailing stamp printing methods is A. J. Sefi's, Engraved Stamp Production Process, which I detailed in a separate thread a while ago: thestampforum.boards.net/thread/9974/engraved-stamp-production-process-described |
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Post by michael on Nov 16, 2023 9:33:09 GMT
It all started here... This is from a plate that is thought to have been produced in the USA prior to Jacob Perkins arriving in England in 1919. Samples from this plate were used by Jacob Perkins and partners in their failed bid to secure a banknote contract with the Bank of England in 1922. As well as original samples, specimens of the plate were printed for inclusion in the 6th edition of Thomas Joplin's book, An Essay on the General Principles and Present Practices of Banking in England and Scotland published in 1827. It was glued to the front of a blank page between pages 122 and 123. The reverse of the blank page contained a printing from a banknote plate. This trial sheet on thin white wove paper in purple ink was re-printed by Perkins Bacon around 1935 from the orginal plate before the company was wound up. Other colours were rose-carmine, dark blue, dark green and orange. It is detailed as DP9 in the Stanley Gibbon's Specialised Queen Victory Catalogue. It was included as a coloured frontpiece to the book by Sir Edward Denny Bacon, "The Essays, Proofs, Colour Trials & Re-Prints of the Line-Engraved Postage Stamps of Great Britain". This was published by Chas. Nissen & Co. Limited in 1936. 
As well as providing the background for the Penny Black, at least 15 stamps includes part of the design, an ongoing project for me.
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,696
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Nov 16, 2023 11:03:03 GMT
This would make a nice newsletter article.
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Post by michael on Dec 5, 2023 9:32:52 GMT
An interesting article from 'Stamp Collecting', May 4th 1940.
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Post by daniel on Dec 10, 2023 16:41:51 GMT
That's an interesting article michael and presumably, that was the factory that was bombed the following year? We know that they printed the poster stamps for the 1940 Stamp Centenary Exhibition but How does this company fit into the timeline if they went out of business in 1935? Thanks, Daniel |
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Post by michael on Dec 10, 2023 17:47:48 GMT
That's an interesting article michael and presumably, that was the factory that was bombed the following year? We know that they printed the poster stamps for the 1940 Stamp Centenary Exhibition but How does this company fit into the timeline if they went out of business in 1935? Thanks, Daniel
Yes, Perkins, Bacon & Co. Ltd went out of business at the end of 1935. W. W. Sprauge (a printing company) tool over the printing works and the existing banknotes and stamp contracts and in 1939 they formed a new company called Perkins Bacon Limited. That's why the 1940 centenary poster stamps say Perkins Bacon Ltd. and not Perkins Bacon and Co. Ltd. Stamp contracts for some Indian States, Transjordan and Newfoundland continued to be printed until the fire on 10 May 1941 destroyed the factory. The Newfoundland stamps were subcontracted to Waterlow and Bradbury and Wilkinson continued the Transjordan contract. Stamps under the name of Perkins Bacon Ltd. were printed for Herm Island in 1954 and Sark and Alderney between 1962 and 1964 and several commonwealth countries (in litho) between 1968 and 1971. The last set appears to be the 1971 St. Helena definitives. |
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Post by daniel on Dec 25, 2023 19:49:18 GMT
Apart from the changes of partnerships, the company became Perkins, Bacon & Co. in 1852. In 1887, the company was sold by the then existing partners, Douglas Denon Heath, Charles Malden and Jacob Perkins Bacon and became Perkins Bacon & Company Limited. The directors of this new company were Admiral Sir Leonard Heath, James Dunbar Heath, Charles Malden and Jacob Perkins Bacon as the secretary.
In 1906, the company went into voluntary liquidation but re-emerged with the same name but with the following directors: James Dunbar Heath, Douglas Leonard Heath and Charles Rynd,
So, the history is complex. I feel that it is legitimate to include the new company formed in 1939: Perkins Bacon Limited. Especially since they were using original machinery and staff.
W. W. Sprague was an existing security printing company dating back to 1785.
Daniel
Source: The Perkins Bacon Story presented by Richard C A Payne to The Royal Philatelic Society London, Thursday 9th May1996.
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Post by daniel on May 24, 2024 1:56:49 GMT
An example of Perkins Bacon Limited stamps from 1969 for the British Virgin Islands.  |
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Post by michael on May 25, 2024 18:45:31 GMT
A recent acquisition. Never seen this before even in the archives at the RPSL.
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rod222
Member
Posts: 11,043
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on May 25, 2024 19:44:19 GMT
A recent acquisition. Never seen this before even in the archives at the RPSL. Very nice Michael, from very early stamp catalogues, these seemed to be referred to as "Tresses" Yet I can find no modern treatise on this Stationery discipline. I need to read through Huggins and Baker, see if they address these envelope flap designs. |
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vikingeck
Member
Posts: 3,546
What I collect: Samoa, Tobacco theme, Mail in Wartime, anything odd and unusual!
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Post by vikingeck on May 29, 2024 13:43:22 GMT
On a recent visit to view a ( rather ordinary junior) stamp collection , the owner produced a folio of early Scottish banknotes amongst which there were several printed by Perkins Bacon for the Aberdeen Town and County Banking Company . This £1 note from 18662. has the well known PB “Chalon Head “vignette of Victoria and one of Albert alongside an engraving of Balmoral Castle on the reverse   |
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