Collection: Monaco Grace Kelly 1957 Original Ink Artworks - Purple

What is a postage stamp printers original ink mean?
Stamp inks, especially for official postage stamps, have evolved over time with technological advancements and security
requirements.

Early postage stamp inks 

• Early postage stamps utilized basic dyes and pigments for colour.
• The first postage stamps, like the Penny Black, used black ink.
• Later, colours like the reddish-brown (Penny Red) and blue (Twopenny Blue) were introduced.
• These early inks could include natural dyes or mineral pigments, such as cinnabar (red), red ochre (red), minium (red), and Prussian blue.

In essence, while early stamps relied on basic dyes and pigments, modern postage stamp inks are more sophisticated, incorporating various organic compounds and luminescent materials for both aesthetic and functional purposes like automated mail processing.

The Monaco Grace Kelly 1957 Original Ink – Purple
The Purple Stamp Artwork by Tino is created using the original postage stamp issue from the 106 colours chosen by Princess Grace personally for the 1957 Grace Kelly celebration postage stamp issue. 

The 1957 Monaco Postage Stamp issue featuring Princess Grace Kelly commemorates her marriage to Prince Rainier III and the birth of their daughter, Princess Caroline. These stamps, designed by Czeslaw Slania, were issued in panes of fifty and printed using the intaglio process. The stamp, depicted a left-facing portrait of Princess Grace and

is special because it commemorates birth of their daughter, Princess Caroline following the royal wedding stamp issue of Princess Grace (formerly American actress Grace Kelly) and Prince Rainier III of Monaco. It was issued shortly after their wedding in April 1956, and the stamp features a portrait of Princess Grace, who had recently become Princess of Monaco. This issue is also notable for being a joint issue with the United States, which also released a stamp featuring Grace Kelly, though with a different denomination and inscription.

Other Artistic Representations:
Various artists have also depicted Grace Kelly in paintings, including Ilian Rachov, Nadya Mamonova, and Kirill Parshenkov. For example, Artfinder lists a painting by Sal Jones, titled "Edged in Pink Carmine," which references the rose named after Grace Kelly. Andy Warhol’s portrait of actress Grace Kelly is a testament to golden-age Hollywood glamour.

Monaco 1957 Grace Kelly Stamp Issue Background:
The 1957 Monaco Princess Grace stamp issue, is one of the most interesting Monaco stamp issues. It features the left-facing portrait of Princess Grace of Monaco, who was an American actress of films and television, known for her stately beauty and reserve. Kelly retired from acting at the age of 26 to marry Prince Rainier of Monaco, and began her duties as Princess of Monaco in April 1956. In 1957 to celebrate the birth of her first child, Caroline and the marriage of Prince Rainier and Princess Grace Kelly, a set of 9 postage stamps were issued showing the left-facing portrait of the Princess, which she personally selected for issue as postage, from a set of 106 colour proofs.

Interestingly a block of 4 1f Princess Grace stamps, in a fresh black colour, without perforations (imperforate) were offered by Cherrystone Auctions in June 2010. The lot, representing fresh black colour, in a very fine condition managed to fetch $1,400. The Monaco Postage Stamp Issue of Princess Grace was issued with perforations, while the Cherrystone lot of 2010 are without perforations, which is the design of the proofing’s Princess Grace chose the final issue stamps from. The final issue of the 1f postage stamp by Princess Grace was the 1f Blue-Violet with perforations. The 1f proof in a fresh black colour was never issued, making it a valuable collections item.

Following the issue of the 9 Princess Grace Monaco stamps, the sets of proof stamps of 106 colours were purchased by Robert Baughman, S.P.A. and held in his private collection until they became available at auction, when they were purchased by Tino the Stamp Artist from which Tino has produced an exclusive and limited edition of artworks in colours that have never been seen by the world before and are the exclusive copyright to the artist Tino worldwide, as they have never been released in the public domain.