Great post, thank you.
It appears the printing is disappearing, within another 10 years or so I would expect the red printing to fade even more. (Note how the older the stamp the more faded they become in your images.)
I know of no way to prevent this from happening so I am unsure why folks might try to collect any stamp which is printed using thermal printing.
Postal systems which support 'print-on-the-fly' do not have a good solution. If you use printing technology in the kiosks which do not fade, then you have to use a ribbon. They avoid using ribbons in these machines because it is an added potential support issue in the field (constantly needing to monitor and replace the ribbons).
So instead they opt for using thermal printing which the manufacturers of these printers state the expected print life to be 7-10 years. This works fine for their intended postal use; but it certainly impacts trying to collect these.
Don
I agree Don, shops use thermal printers for their receipts, if you do not scan the receipt asap and it's for a major appliance, eventually there is nothing on the paper.
The Framas I have are in pristine condition, it's my laser printer, it's getting old and the imager isn't working properly, will need to buy another printer.
I calibrated the printer and I re-scanned one of the koala images as shown, tonight I'll replace the images with better ones.
Rob
Hi Rob,
Do you have a damaged one of these that you could donate to an experiment? If so, would you mind testing the color fastness? Cover one half of the stamp with a piece of paper and place it in a southern exposure window sill for a week or two.
Don
Don
I suggest that north facing might be more effective sun down here.
Regards
Frank
Hi Frank,
Good point, thank you. My chemo/dialysis brain sometimes prevents me from seeing the simple, logical things. Sometimes I am lucky to even find the computer keyboard!
Don
"Do you have a damaged one of these that you could donate to an experiment? If so, would you mind testing the color fastness? Cover one half of the stamp with a piece of paper and place it in a southern exposure window sill for a week or two. "
Hi Rob and everyone
I was given an envelope of Framas which contain most of the ones Rob has shown, but here are couple of designs that are available as well. I do have a full set of the last images.
The first two are commemorating events, One the Americas' Cup and the other Sydpex 88
The black lines are fur strands from one of the cats, I did not notice while scanning.
Regards
Horamakhet
FRAMAS
This is not a complete series of Australian Framas, as there is the kangaroo, echidna, possum, waratah, festive and inverted background designs.
In earlier days, Australia Post had machines in many Post Offices, which dispensed coil stamps. Specialists enjoyed collecting these stamps but they became obsolete as postal rates rose and it became necessary to find alternative machines, which could dispense higher values that could be altered with postal rate changes.
Several machines were considered and it was decided to do a trial on a machine made by the Frama Company of Switzerland.
The final issue, aptly named Farewell, had values of 50c/$1.00/$1.45. The last Framas in Australia were dispensed in mid-year 2003 but their collection and study goes on.
Australian collectors formed study groups, a short lived one in New South Wales, a longer lasting one in Queensland and one in South Australia, which is still active at present with around one hundred members, in Australia and overseas.
Issue Date: February 22, 1984 - Barred edges
Issue Date: August 25, 1986 - Platypus
Issue Date: September 1, 1989 - Frilled Lizard
Issue Date: September 3, 1990 - Koala
Issue Date: January 2, 1992 - Emu
Issue Date: March 19, 1999 - Tiwi (button set)
Issue Date: January 13, 2003 - Farewell
re: Frama issues 1984 - 2003
Great post, thank you.
It appears the printing is disappearing, within another 10 years or so I would expect the red printing to fade even more. (Note how the older the stamp the more faded they become in your images.)
I know of no way to prevent this from happening so I am unsure why folks might try to collect any stamp which is printed using thermal printing.
Postal systems which support 'print-on-the-fly' do not have a good solution. If you use printing technology in the kiosks which do not fade, then you have to use a ribbon. They avoid using ribbons in these machines because it is an added potential support issue in the field (constantly needing to monitor and replace the ribbons).
So instead they opt for using thermal printing which the manufacturers of these printers state the expected print life to be 7-10 years. This works fine for their intended postal use; but it certainly impacts trying to collect these.
Don
re: Frama issues 1984 - 2003
I agree Don, shops use thermal printers for their receipts, if you do not scan the receipt asap and it's for a major appliance, eventually there is nothing on the paper.
The Framas I have are in pristine condition, it's my laser printer, it's getting old and the imager isn't working properly, will need to buy another printer.
I calibrated the printer and I re-scanned one of the koala images as shown, tonight I'll replace the images with better ones.
Rob
re: Frama issues 1984 - 2003
Hi Rob,
Do you have a damaged one of these that you could donate to an experiment? If so, would you mind testing the color fastness? Cover one half of the stamp with a piece of paper and place it in a southern exposure window sill for a week or two.
Don
re: Frama issues 1984 - 2003
Don
I suggest that north facing might be more effective sun down here.
Regards
Frank
re: Frama issues 1984 - 2003
Hi Frank,
Good point, thank you. My chemo/dialysis brain sometimes prevents me from seeing the simple, logical things. Sometimes I am lucky to even find the computer keyboard!
Don
re: Frama issues 1984 - 2003
"Do you have a damaged one of these that you could donate to an experiment? If so, would you mind testing the color fastness? Cover one half of the stamp with a piece of paper and place it in a southern exposure window sill for a week or two. "
re: Frama issues 1984 - 2003
Hi Rob and everyone
I was given an envelope of Framas which contain most of the ones Rob has shown, but here are couple of designs that are available as well. I do have a full set of the last images.
The first two are commemorating events, One the Americas' Cup and the other Sydpex 88
The black lines are fur strands from one of the cats, I did not notice while scanning.
Regards
Horamakhet