Bulgarian Stamps In Recess

Most early Bulgarian stamp in recess were done elsewhere in Europe.

The 1911-1915 series printed in Rome, but probably prepared - engraved? - by Bradbury Wilkinson,New Malden.

According to the Michel catalogue in 1915 only new colours were introduced!





So not just a colour or shade change!

Designer (see the initials) - Georgi Evstatiev (15 April 1875 Stara Zagora - 5 November 1923 Sofia]

So not just a colour or shade change!

Designer (see the initials) - Georgi Evstatiev (15 April 1875 Stara Zagora - 5 November 1923 Sofia]

Designer - Anton Stefanov Mitov [1 April 1862, Stara Zagora - 20 August 1930, Sofia]

Thanks for the interesting posts Galeoptix with nice clear scans.

According to SG they were engraved by Bradbury Wilkinson and printed by the Government Printing Works in Rome.

SG notes that the re-engraved stamps vary considerably in size and design details from the originals and that the initials were removed in the re-engraved 5st, 10st and 25st stamps.

It's fascinating when I see detailed scans online of stamps that I thought I know well but really haven't looked at carefully before.

Not just a change of colour!

A completely different engraving!!

Designer - Georgi Evstatiev (15 April 1875 Stara Zagora - 5 November 1923 Sofia]

Not just a different shade!

A completely different engraving!!

Designer - Georgi Evstatiev (15 April 1875 Stara Zagora - 5 November 1923 Sofia]

Not just a change of colour!

A completely different engraving!!

Designer - Georgi Evstatiev (15 April 1875 Stara Zagora - 5 November 1923 Sofia]

Why the new engravings in 1915???

All values: 1, 5, 10, 15, 25,30st AND 1 Lewa - are completely different stamps!! No varieties!

Not just the engraving, but also the lineperforation AND the type of paper..

There was a world war raging in 1915!

Was Bradbury NOT in the position of delivering new plates???

Were the 1915 printing really printed in Rome??? Or may be in Bucuresti???

A lot of questions after some 100 years since their being issued!

Has nobody asked them before???

Why did Michel make the crucial mistake of enlisting the second engravings of the 1 Lewa in the 1911 series?

The change of colour/shade is comparable to that of the 1st!

There was no 1915 printing [ ? ] but also the initials are quite different! Not G.E. nor A.M. but E.V????

E. Vaquer??? According to Adrian E. Vaquer was engraving Bulgarian stamps for Bradbury Wilkinson....

Mmh, all rather intriguing indeed! At least SG did mention that the plates were re-engraved. The change of printer with all the subsequent changes, may have been political, what with Italy signing secret treaties with the allies in 1915 and Bulgaria siding with the central powers in the same year. Italy (and BW) were therefore maybe not as willing to print stamps for a central power? I know it's pure speculation, but it would then also explain why printers Petiti could not make use of existing plates, and maybe even why new printings by a new printer were necessary in the first place.

As for Vaquer, yes, he did work on several BW stamps for Bulgaria but in the 1920s. With all the other initials on those stamps being designers, it seems a bit odd to have Vaquer's initials there as engraver, but then again, if he was the designer as well, then it would make sense. I have so far never come across the names of any of these engravers for this set and am still waiting for a signed proof or whatever to take this forward!

I agree this is probably the result of the entry of Bulgaria into the war in 1915.

Bulgaria declared war on Serbia on 14th October 1915 and this was followed quickly by a number of declarations of war on Bulgaria by countries allied with Serbia in the war against the Ottoman Empire.

Britain declared war on Bulgaria on 15th October. France did likewise on 16th October, followed by Russia and Italy on 19th October.

The re-engraved stamps were issued on 7th November.

Some further digging dismissed my E. Vaquer hypothesis!

Jaroslav V#283;šín

https://www.mtitc.government.bg/arc...=144&id=1871

https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/#1071...;#1080;#1085; or

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaroslav_V#283;šín

Galeoptix - Rein, for http://goscf.com/t/62086#537627 , see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaros...C5%A1%C3%ADn . Jaroslav Vìšín signed his designs with a ligature of the Cyrillic letters "Ya" and "Ve" (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrillic_script ).


While Anton Mitov signed his designs with a combination of the letters "A" and "M", Georgi Evstatiev did so with a combination of the letter "Ge" in Cyrillic script and the letter "G" in Latin script.

Zdravím,

Florián

"but it would then also explain why printers Petiti could not make use of existing plates, and maybe even why new printings by a new printer were necessary in the first place."

Adrian,

where did you get the name of the printer????

Where was this printing house located???

The Bulgarian government side does indeed mention Petiti....

groetjes, Rein

Florian,

Jaroslav V#283;šín
23 May 1860 Vraný , Czechia
9 May 1915 Sofia

was NOT mentioned as one of the designers according to the Michel catalogue.

A few day ago I was drawn to this series by observing some repeating initials! Just that.

Immmediately after that I was struck by the differences in those initials and then came up with this thread!

pozdrawiam, Rein

Rein, the name Petiti is mentioned in the SG catalogue.
Info from stampprinters.info:
E. Petiti Printery, Rome.
First stamp(s) traced by compiler: 1906 for Italy.