ABNCo and BEP Engravers  

 

Hello

I need information about dates of birth and death of some early engravers who worked on the American Banknote Co. and BEP, and engraved many stamps of my country between 1867 and 1911
Any biographical information will be also very useful.

The engravers:

George H. Seymour
Charles Skinner
William J.Brown
Edwin Gunn
H.P. Dawson
Louis Delnoce
Charles Burt

Thank you very very much

I'm able to help with one of those names...here's a brief biography of Charles Burt:

Here's some brief information on Charles Skinner who was involved with the 5c Columbian stamp issue:

Here's some information on Edwin Gunn, courtesy of the Canadian Postal Archives:

A little more about Charles Skinner. The reference from wt1 refers to his retirement from Continental, Continental became part of the American Bank Note Co.

He was involved in the engraving of all values of the 1893 Columbians.

His most iconic engraving was the Statue of Liberty engraved for American Bank Note Co in 1888 (this was the model used for the 1922 15cent U.S. stamp)



He also engraved some of the newspaper stamps. Below is a signed die proof.

Thank you very much for the information.

I like enrich my collection with information about the artist who created the stamps, and of course, on technical aspects such as papers, printing methods, sheets layout, plate numbers, etc.

I am a great admirer of these master artistic work and we were lucky enough to have notable engravers in many stamps of late 19th century and early 20th.

Others who engraved chilean stamps in those years were :

Charles Schlecht
Douglas S. Ronaldson
Elie Timothee Loizeaux
Robert Savage

This portrait of Columbus was engraved by Charles Skinner :

I really like that die proof and the Christopher Columbus vignette.

In the quote from the Canadian Postal Archives given here by wt1, they cite a reference work you might want to take note of, and track down a copy if you can. It is a work by Gene Hessler entitled The Engraver's Line. This book is all about documenting the lives and work of the men who produced the stamps and paper money that the various U.S. banknote companies prepared in the nineteenth and 20th centuries.

To give you a sample of what this book can do, here is the bio portion of the entry on E.T. Loizeaux: It begins with a portrait of him that was engraved by a co-worker, John Hay.



Next to this is a brief biographical sketch:



It is a bit unusual for Hessler to reproduce a written work by one of his subjects, but he does that here:



And then he lists of some of the projects Loizeaux worked on for banknote, securities (bonds and stock certificates) and stamps. That runs for another page and a half in this case.

Given what you are saying about your interest in the men behind the stamps, an interest I happen to share, I think you will find Hessler's book a welcome addition to your library.

essayk, thank you very much for the information!

The image of Columbus that I showed before was used in an Uruguayan banknote printed by ABNCo, and issued in 1887. The same one was also used in a banknote of Puerto Rico issued in 1909.

I said that it was engraved by Elie Timothée Loizeaux. That was erroneous : the engraver was Charles Skinner (I already did the correction in the corresponding post).



So...in this banknote the portrait of Columbus was engraved by Charles Skinner and the portrait of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy was engraved by Charles K. Burt.

Two that you don't mention are responsible for starting the Chinese Bureau of engraving and Printing, Lorenzo J Hatch (BEP) and William Grant (ABN co). Their designs include the Curtis Jenny over the Great wall and the beautiful Temple of Heaven.



Very good read on them here.

http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/reso...eproofs.html

Charles Skinner was born 14 Mar 1841 in Lambeth, London, England. His father, Charles Edward Skinner was an artist in London and his mother died when he was 4. Charles immigrated to New York City in May 1856, alone, at age 15. About 1863, he married Emma Pauling, who's parents were English immigrants to N.Y.C. They had 2 sons. His nephew, Frederick C. Pauling (1871-1939) was an engraver for the Franklin Bank Note Co, ABNCo and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington D.C. Charles Skinner retired around 1915 and died at age 91 in New Rochelle, New York. I am researching his family history for his great granddaughter.

Hello and welcome to the forum Bache! Thanks for contributing!

Hello Bache, and Welcome.

As you may be able to tell from above I have considerable interest in the lives of the men behind the stamps, and delight in getting good authoritative info. Skinner is of particular interest since I have a number of die essays and proofs signed by him. I have been planning to do a bio article on him myself.

If it is not an imposition, would you mind sharing the source(s) of the info on Charles Skinner you shared here? You have more family detail than I have turned up. If you are willing you could post it/them here or send me a private message via the SCF link for personal email at the link on my avatar name. Obviously, if this all comes from unpublished family records and correspondence, then we will just have to wait for you, or your contact person, to publish your work. But it would be a help. Thanks.

An article entitled LOS GRABADORES DE SELLOS Y BILLETES CHILENOS DE LA AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY by Jorge Torelli may be of interest.

Download it from
http://www.mascoleccionismo.com/pub.../AFE-017.pdf

Hope this helps, albeit six years late! GLENN