Bradbury Wilkinson Plate Colour Chart, c.1985 - Security Printing Samples

BRADBURY, WILKINSON & CO. LTD. Plate Colour Chart.
New Malden, Surrey, circa mid-1980s.

A scarce and particularly interesting example of a Bradbury Wilkinson plate colour chart, containing 24 finely engraved colour specimens, preserved in its original navy-blue leather presentation binding.

Each plate reproduces the same highly detailed engraved design, headed BRADBURY WILKINSON & CO. LTD., but printed in a different named colour. The composition combines elaborate guilloche ornament with a river landscape dominated by a windmill, providing an effective demonstration of the precision and richness achievable through intaglio printing. Among the colours represented are Orange, Scarlet, Bright Green, Grey and Bright Blue.

The landscape is based upon Jacob Isaacksz. van Ruisdael's celebrated The Windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede, painted around 1670 and now in the Rijksmuseum. The same composition was used by Bradbury Wilkinson for its plate colour standards, examples of which have appeared periodically at auction and are now highly sought after as pieces of security-printing history.

Bradbury Wilkinson was one of Britain's major security printers, with a long history of producing banknotes, postage stamps, bonds, share certificates and other secure documents. The company had been based at New Malden since the early twentieth century and continued its work there into the 1980s. It was acquired by De La Rue in 1986, bringing Bradbury Wilkinson's independent history to an end.

This particular copy has an especially interesting provenance. It comes from the private collection of a salesman who worked for Bradbury Wilkinson during this period and subsequently joined De La Rue. It therefore survives not merely as an example of the company's printed output, but as a piece of material directly connected with the commercial side of the security-printing industry at the moment Bradbury Wilkinson passed into De La Rue ownership.

Bound in plain navy-blue grained leather, with unlettered boards and spine and pale endpapers. The engraved specimens are exceptionally crisp and retain strong, vivid colour.

A highly unusual piece of twentieth-century printing ephemera, combining the technical achievement of banknote engraving with direct provenance from one of Britain's most important security-printing companies.

Provenance: From the private collection of a former Bradbury Wilkinson salesman who subsequently worked for De La Rue.