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Conserving the Spider Press

By: Stephanie Shank


April 22, 2019
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Tender loving care for a significant artifact

It’s not all currency. The Museum holds 1000’s of items related to the business of making money—literally. The addition of a 19th-century printing press to the vaults presented some unusual challenges to the collections team.

A venerable printing firm donates its history

In 2012, the Ottawa-based security printing firm BA International closed. Formerly the British American Bank Note Company, BA had been printing bank notes, passports, bonds and other secure documents since before Confederation. With this closure came an opportunity for the Museum’s National Currency Collection (NCC) to acquire objects that showcase the production processes used by BA and other security printers. Luckily, one of the pieces offered to us was a large production tool known as a spider press.

A 500-year-old tradition

Used extensively in the 19th century, this type of hand-operated press printed secure financial documents using the intaglio method. Intaglio literally means carving, and initially, an image would indeed be carved (engraved) into a soft steel plate. This plate would be coated in ink and wiped with a cloth to remove the ink from the non-engraved surfaces. It was then placed on the press underneath a clean sheet of paper. The press operator would turn the machine’s hand wheel, rolling the plate-and-paper combo between two large, heavy cylinders. The pressure of the cylinders would push the paper into the ink-filled areas, leaving a raised print on the paper. The multiple spokes of the hand wheel, reminiscent of the legs of a spider, gave rise to the name “spider press.”

rusted 19th century print press in work space

The press is stored on a pallet and moved with a hydraulic jack. It takes four strong people to shift it even a few centimetres.

The Devil is in the humidity

When our BA spider press arrived in 2013, we discovered it had been exposed to a greater amount of moisture than expected. The result? A coating of bright orange corrosion had blossomed over all the exposed steel surfaces. As well, years of use had left crusts of dust, dirt and grime embedded in the crevices of the machinery.

As it was not intended to go on display immediately, we decided to treat the spider press before it went into storage at the Museum. The goal was to reverse as much of the damage as possible and hopefully prevent further active corrosion from appearing.

Gentle treatment for a heavy machine

After several spot tests, we decided that the corrosion should be removed with extra fine steel wool followed by gently wiping the surface with soft cloths and alcohol. The embedded dirt and grime was then removed with cotton swabs lightly dampened with mineral spirits. Finally, a thin layer of machine oil was applied to all the metal surfaces to act as a protective coating.

19th century print press showing rusty cylinders

The original surface can be seen in the upper cylinder while the corrosion is being removed during treatment.

19th century print press showing oiled cylinders

A fresh coating of machine oil was applied to protect the surface. This also has the added benefit of allowing the machine to function smoothly.

Putting the spider press to bed

Once the press was moved back into storage, it was sealed in a tent of polyethylene sheeting along with packs of moisture-absorbing silica gel. This created a drier micro-climate around the press. The condition of the spider press will be monitored as it remains in storage, making sure this valuable artifact will be around for generations more.

19th century print press, treated, in work space

With the treatment fully complete, the rolling bed was re-installed between the upper and lower cylinders and the press photographed for the database.

Stay tuned for a further blog on the conservation of some of a large collection of intaglio printing plates obtained along with this press.

We want to hear from you! Do you have an idea for a blog post you’d like to see?
Content type(s): Blog posts
July 7, 2014

Museum Reconstruction - Part 3

By: Graham Iddon


Bank of canada - Night
Though naturally we are aware that the former Museum space is being gutted, the reality of seeing it empty is still pretty strange for most of us here. In the last blog of this series we showed you the empty cafeteria space that will become the new Museum, as well as some images of the old Museum as it was at the time: stuffed with odds and ends of exhibit cases, the occasional display still on the walls.
Content type(s): Blog posts
June 23, 2014

CENTimental Journey

By: Graham Iddon


With all the blogging we’ve been doing for Voices from the Engraver, you’d think we had nothing else on our exhibition plate. We do, actually, and it’s called CENTimental Journey. This temporary exhibition, hosted at the Canadian Museum of History, walks you through more than 150 years of the Canadian 1 cent piece.
Content type(s): Blog posts
June 16, 2014

Museum Reconstruction - Part 2

By: Graham Iddon


We are coming up on a year since we closed the doors on the physical museum. During that year, we’ve worked very hard to make sure everybody knows that we are still a functioning museum and one that will be opening its doors again in a few years on a beautiful new space, with an expanded mission and mandate.
Content type(s): Blog posts
June 6, 2014

Becoming a Collector III

By: Graham Iddon


For you as the steward of your collection, your aim is to preserve the items as best as you can by protecting them from further deterioration. The pros call this preservation.
Content type(s): Blog posts
May 26, 2014

The Adventure of Exhibit Planning IV

By: Graham Iddon


This exhibition is about engravers, production processes and the beauty of postage stamps and bank notes. In the previous episode of this series we talked about the process surrounding securing the bank notes for this exhibition and how it had to take into account both the needs of the exhibition team and the concerns of the collections department.
Content type(s): Blog posts
May 20, 2014

Becoming a Collector II

By: Graham Iddon


So now you’ve decided that collecting currency is far more fascinating than collecting 14th Century Flemish altar paintings and have begun to accumulate some items. Good for you, those paintings are a bother to dust and currency is far easier to take care of.
Content type(s): Blog posts
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