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Bull's Head and Mermaid - The Bernstein Project - Österreichische ...

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Ill. 3: AT 5000-315_302 AT 5000-680_36 AT 5000-680_4<br />

was not exactly the same as where it had previously been<br />

sewn or soldered. It also happened that single elements of<br />

a wire figure fell off the mould <strong>and</strong> were not re-attached,<br />

or that a wire figure was repaired only provisionally <strong>and</strong> so<br />

continued to become more <strong>and</strong> more deformed. A variant<br />

could also be formed by a wire figure, which had become<br />

loose, being removed from the mould completely <strong>and</strong> then<br />

re-attached, possibly inverted, at another spot. As a result,<br />

one finds sheets of paper in which their watermarks differ<br />

to varying degrees, although they were made with the<br />

same paper mould.<br />

At first glance it is often not possible to say whether two<br />

watermarks are identical, variants or marks from different<br />

paper moulds. Drawings are usually too inexact to determine<br />

whether the differences between two figures are a result<br />

of the figure having changed or the drawing being inaccurate.<br />

Since not only the drawing itself, but also the<br />

placement of the mark on the screen must be taken into<br />

consideration, variants can only be established by means of<br />

photography. Photo software makes it possible to lay<br />

scanned photos with different degrees of transparency on<br />

top of one another, which allows even subtle differences to<br />

be visible.<br />

To classify undated paper chronologically, it is clear that<br />

such variants are useful since they originate from the same<br />

paper mould. Relevant for dating paper based on their watermarks<br />

is the length of time such a mould was used, not<br />

the condition of the wire figure attached to the mould.<br />

What is decisive is that variants are recognized as such, <strong>and</strong><br />

are not treated as if they were differing marks, as they<br />

would then be lost for a dating process.<br />

Ill. 3 depicts the watermark “Moor’s head with crown<br />

(<strong>and</strong> additional motif circle)” in three variants, although it is<br />

not possible to determine an unambiguous logical order for<br />

the watermark’s development. <strong>The</strong> wire figure was attached<br />

to the paper mould very well. One finds only a slight defor-<br />

38<br />

mation in AT5000–680_4 at the lower part of the head, to<br />

the right of the circle. Probably the adjacent circle was<br />

added later, only after the screen had been in use for some<br />

time, or it was a replacement for a circle that was lost. This<br />

is indicated by the fact that its wire is less carefully bent<br />

than that of the Moor’s head, as well as the fact that it is<br />

rather coarsely mounted, as can be seen by the clearly visible<br />

sewing wire. Whether the two variants of the circle are<br />

one <strong>and</strong> the same circle, or whether a new circle was attached<br />

later also cannot be said with certainty. Only the differences<br />

can be noted with certainty: the circle of<br />

AT5000–680_4 is farther left, in the shape of a ring, <strong>and</strong><br />

attached at three points; that of AT5000–680_36, in contrast,<br />

clearly shows four sewing points, is more oval, <strong>and</strong><br />

the wire is broken at its upper right.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Bull’s head in Ill. 4 shows how many variants of one<br />

watermark could arise. Several parts of the wire figure<br />

moved over the time the mould was in use: the eyes, for<br />

example, were shifted to the right. One also sees striking<br />

changes in the horns. <strong>The</strong>y gradually shift to the right <strong>and</strong><br />

differ greatly in width. <strong>The</strong> cross, which forms the upper<br />

part of the watermark, must have broken loose several<br />

times <strong>and</strong> was repeatedly re-attached in a makeshift manner,<br />

only to become loose again <strong>and</strong> be sewn to yet another<br />

new position. <strong>The</strong> outline of the head <strong>and</strong> ears, in contrast,<br />

was attached so well to the laid <strong>and</strong> chain lines that<br />

its position did not change.<br />

Literature: Haidinger, Datieren mittelalterlicher H<strong>and</strong>schriften<br />

mittels ihrer Wasserzeichen; Gerardy, Datieren mit<br />

Hilfe von Wasserzeichen; Gerardy, Das Papier der Seckelmeisterrechnungen,<br />

72ff.; Piccard, Die Wasserzeichenkartei<br />

im Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart Bd.2/1–3: Die Ochsenkopfwasserzeichen,<br />

Stuttgart 1966, Bd. 2/1, 3ff.<br />

M.S. (C.P.-K.)

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