Watermarks on Paper

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 24, 11 June 1903, Page 13

Watermarks on Paper

Watermarks are indentations made on paper, in various shapes, during the process of manufacture : the pulp being compressed by an engraved device called a dandy. The earliest known watermark is a globe surmounted by a cross found in an account book at the Hague, bearing the date 1301. Many early undated Italian manuscripts contain a plain cross as watermark. The fleur-de-lis, the Peter's cock, and the Paschal Lamb are all found" in the books of the fourteenth century. The marks of the dolphin (the symbol of Christ) and the anchor (expression of hope) are of later date.