Pressing On

by Bernard Maisner

Robert Steffens and his printing machines
When you sit down to engage your cherished and beautiful fountain pen in what it was destined to do—write—you have to have something to write on. It might be an ordinary blank sheet, but more than likely, if you truly cherish the writing experience and all the accouterments that go with it, you are writing on fine stationery. Perhaps it is engraved with your name or monogram. Or maybe you bought thick note cards with a beautiful image at the top. If it really is fine paper, the monogram or image is engraved—not merely printed.  There are many choices as to the kind of engraved stationery to purchase, and they come from varied stationery companies with varied aesthetics to match. But they all have one thing in common—dare I say one man in common: Mr. Robert Steffens.
Bob Steffens is a practical man. And although his business is in one way or another all about beauty, he says, “An item that I appreciate has to be functional.” He is not given over to glamour and glitz, brand names or impressing people. He was carrying a briefcase when I met him for this interview, and that briefcase, in my mind, is a perfect metaphor for his perspective. I guess the case was new and oiled and beautiful at some point, but now it is a thing of pure functionality: ripped, stained, scratched, stretched out, dry and scruffy—and irreplaceable, holding a wealth of important documents, thoughts, ideas and notes.  And that’s just what it is supposed to do—hold stuff, regardless of its appearance. It is this appreciation for efficient functionality that makes Steffens so unique as a businessman, scientist and inventor.
His company, Cronite, whose roots date to 1886, manufactures everything needed for flat stamping intaglio engraving, including artist’s etching inks. And under Steffens’s stewardship as president since 1978, the New Jersey-based company has grown to comprise six corporations that handle his domestic and foreign sales. “We make everything except the paper,” he says. Cronite is now the only manufacturer of powered equipment for producing engraved stationery. Automated presses are able to stamp 10,000 impressions per hour, while hand-fed presses require each piece of paper to be put in one at a time for each die plate image, printed one by one.
Engraving is more or less an Old-World technique and process, admits Steffens—definitely of the machine age, not the computer era. Thus, the industry in the United States is diminishing. He serviced 375 engraving companies in 1970; there are fewer now, with many of these businesses running with less than three engraving presses. Steffens travels extensively and has installed and repaired machines all over the world, including such places as Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, France, Italy, Spain and England, as well as the Far East, Middle East, Australia, South America and Africa.  And while the volume of intaglio engraving is declining worldwide, it still is revered as the finest printing method. It has a special feel and look that is unique and inimitable, and it has become more specialized.
These days, much of the intaglio engraving business is in security printing, producing such things as currency, passports, licenses, stocks and bonds, food stamps, certificates and security stickers, since it is impossible to get a similar effect using other methods of printing. Steffens was even invited to conference with Interpol in Lyon, France, to discuss counterfeiting—to track used intaglio equipment around the world. And he has single-handedly turned in three counterfeiting groups to the Secret Service. “Someone calls up and wants green ink and a plate this particular size…,” he trails off, then reveals further that there are even secret inks and printing techniques that offer additional insurance against counterfeiters. Cronite counts the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing as one of its clients.