Talk:BPG Watermarks

Content to verify, then add to the page

Contact Denise Stockman before adding the information below to the page. I deleted the info that was already on the main page to only keep the new content on the talk page. --Sandrine Blais (talk) 20:00, 19 December 2025 (UTC)

• Still need to check which references are already on the page or not --Sandrine Blais (talk) 20:00, 19 December 2025 (UTC)

Things to add

• List of things to add from 2020
  • Description of the use of multispectral imaging for capturing a watermark
  • Image of watermarks captured with Dylux, beta radiography or multispectral imaging
  • Does anyone use phosphorescence watermark imaging?
  • Does anyone use computed radiography?
• Under each watermark, there were sub-sections labelled "years active" and "common symbols". I deleted the sections when they were empty. --Sandrine Blais (talk) 20:25, 19 December 2025 (UTC)

Background

Watermarks are created by additional wires sewn into the wire paper mould which displace the fibers during formation to create an area of less density. Light travels with less obstruction through this area and will appear as an image, letters, and/or numbers in transmitted light.

Detail of watermark in transmitted light, New York Public Library

In the digital age, the word is used to describe a marker embedded in audio, video or image files to denote copyright. The majority of results for online searches of the term will lead to this kind of watermark.

The first watermarks appeared on Fabriano paper by about 1293 (the date varies in different sources) and quickly spread throughout Europe. They were most common from the 15th through the 19th centuries. It is not always known what every watermark symbolizes. While they are generally trademarks of the papermaker, some indicate the paper size. Papermakers sometimes used different watermarks for different markets. While watermarks can sometimes be used to determine the date and location where a paper was made, they can be unreliable because papermakers imitated watermarks that were popular; old moulds were reused by other papermakers; and loose wires may have been reattached in slightly different locations.

The first documented use of the English word "watermark" for these designs in paper was in 1790 in a British patent granted to John Phipps to create watermarked lines in paper. In German, they are called wasserzeichen or papierzeichen. The French use the term filigrane. The Dutch call them papiermerken. The Italians and Spanish use the word "filigrana" but sometimes Spanish speakers use the more elaborate term "filigranas o marcas invisibles."

Watermarks can be found in both handmade and machine-made papers. In the 19th and 20th centuries, more elaborate watermarks were made for security of banknotes and for artistic purposes. This page is generally focussed on traditional watermarks in handmade western papers.

Some papers from the 16th - 19th century will have a second watermark called a countermark; often on the opposite side of the paper. The countermark is usually smaller and simpler, featuring a date, letters, or a small symbol. When the paper being examined is a portion of the original sheet, it may be hard to tell whether you are looking at a watermark or a countermark.

Common Watermarks

• Arms of Amsterdam
• Arms of France and Navarre / Arms of Burgundy

The Arms of France watermark usually depicts three fleur de lis inside a shield under a crown. The Arms of Burgundy watermark is similar, but the shield is divided into four sections that may contain initials, stripes, fleur de lis and/or lions. History and examples of Arm of Burgundy here and here.

• Fleur-de-lis
• Foolscap

This symbol came to denote a folio size of paper. The name is derived from the Italian "foglio-capo." [insert note: Clayton Beadle. The Development of Watermarking in Hand-Made and Machine-Made Papers. Journal of the Society of Arts, Volume 54

Society of Arts (Great Britain), 1906: The University of California.]

• ProPatria

This symbol was created to commemorate the liberation of the Netherlands from Spanish control in 1851. Ogierman 2017 There are two main variants of the ProPatria watermark:

• A lion with a sword, scepter and/or a handful of arrows
• Britannia: A lion with the "Maid of Dort," usually inside a fence, sometime incorporating the initials "GR." Most were made in the Netherlands for the British market. It is also common in paper used in British colonies.

MTI Pro Patria Maid of Dort

• Strasbourg Lily

Methods of Imaging Watermarks

Tracing

The simplest way to record a watermark is to place the paper in transmitted light and trace the watermark onto a piece of transparent paper or plastic placed on top. There are some problems inherent in this method that make it the least reliable in recording the watermark data without introducing error. The paper may shift slightly during the tracing. It is difficult to consistently hold the writing utensil directly over the lines being traced without leaning to one side or another. There may be damage, folds, imperfections, or media on the paper that get mistaken for part of the watermark.

However, if this is the only method available, weigh the papers down to prevent shifting. Lower the light table so that you can look straight down on it. Work slowly and carefully. Include all chain lines in the vicinity of the watermark and a sampling of the laid lines, perhaps in a different color. If possible, include the mark and countermark (if applicable) on the same tracing so that their exact distance and relationship is clear.

Contact Print

This method, also sometimes known as the "Ilkey method" was more common in the age of darkrooms. High speed film is placed under the watermark, exposed to light, and developed.

Transmitted Light

Place the watermarked paper on a transmitted light source that is as even as possible. Position the camera in a level plane directly over the paper. Try different exposures to find the one that captures the watermark as clearly as possible. Unlike other conservation documentation, it is not necessary to capture the true color of the paper with this image. See Digital Manipulation of Watermark Images (below) for tips on enhancing the photograph further.

Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI)

This is a system of capturing a series of images where the camera and the object are in the exact location, but the light source is in a different position for each image. Software is used to compile these images into one synthesized RTI image that captures surface three-dimensionality and can be manipulated within the software to reveal a watermark. More information here.

References

References to be added

http://www.bernstein.oeaw.ac.at/twiki/pub/Main/ProjectExhibitions/bernstein_2009_book_en.pdf
http://cool.conservation-us.org/coolaic/sg/bpg/annual/v01/bp01-18.html

The article above has a nice bibliography that is worth looking at for more references. --Denise Stockman (talk) 13:31, 17 October 2018 (CDT)

W. A. Churchill, Watermarks in paper in Holland, England, France, etc, in the XVII and XVIII centuries and their Interconnection (Amsterdam, 1935)

Edward Heawood, Watermarks, mainly of the 17th and 18th centuries (Hilversum, 1950)

David Schooner, 'Techniques of Reproducing Watermarks: A Practical Introduction', in Essays in Paper Analysis, ed. by Stephen Spector (London, 1987), pp. 154-67

Carol Ann Small, ‘Phosphorescence Watermark Imaging', in Puzzles in Paper, ed. by Daniel Mosser, Michael Saffle and Ernest W. Sullivan II (London, 2000), pp. 169-81.

Links

• The British Association of Paper Historians
• The International Association of Paper Historians
• Paper Online
• Handmade Paper on the Web
• IPH Standard for Describing Paper
• Gravell Watermark Archive[this link is unreliable]