COPPER, STEEL, AND BANK-NOTE ENGRAVING. 597 

 COPPER, STEEL, AND BANK-NOTE ENGRAVING. 



By C. W. DICKINSON. 



TTOW few of the many people who are fortunate enough to 

 -A-J- have a dollar bill in their pocket think of it as a work of 

 art ! Two hundred years ago this piece of paper would have been 

 of almost incalculable value, and have awakened an interest 

 among the artists of that day which we can scarcely realize. 

 Look at the portrait on the left of the face of the note. Here we 

 have a beautiful specimen of pure line engraving much better 

 work than most of that done by some of the old masters and now 

 considered classic. Then there are on both face and back the 

 fine, delicate effects of light and shade produced by the ruling 

 machine and geometrical and cycloidal engraving lathes. Fur- 

 ther than this can be seen elegant designs in scroll work and 

 lettering. 



This may be a piece of " the root of all evil," and we know it 

 is often " filthy lucre," only worth one hundred cents to us, yet it 

 may be profitable to inquire as to how it is made. 



Steel and copper plate engraving does not, as is generally sup- 

 posed, owe its origin to the woodcut, but to the chasing on gold- 

 smith's work. Look at any article of jewelry ornamented with 

 incised designs, and there will be seen the true origin of line en- 

 graving ; and although this work was not done as was the steel 

 or copper plate engraving for the purpose of producing copies 

 by printing, still it was by this engraving on jewelry that the art 

 of printing from an incised line was, like a great many other 

 good inventions, accidentally discovered. 



The goldsmiths of Florence, in the middle of the fifteenth 

 century, were in the habit of ornamenting their works by means 

 of engraving, after which they filled up the hollows produced by 

 the graver with black enamel (made of silver, lead, and sulj^hur), 

 the result being that the design was rendered much more visible 

 by the contrast of the enamel and the metal. 



An engraved design filled up in this manner was called a 

 niello, and our modern door plates are really nielli also, for in 

 these, too, the engraved lines are filled with black. The word 

 niello comes from nigellum, and simply refers to the color of the 

 enamel. 



While a niello was in progress, the artist could not see the 

 effect of his work so well as if the enamel were already in the 

 lines ; and, on the other hand, he did not like to put the enamel in 

 the unfinished engraving, as, when once it was set, it could not 

 easily be got out again. He therefore took a sulphur cast of his 

 niello in progress on a matrix of fine clay, and filled up the 



