Collecting By Engraver

One of my favorite collections is my Mozambique including Moz. Co., Nyassa, Tete, Lourenço Márques, and Inhambane.
There are some nice engraved stamps but I have no idea who the engravers were.
My last contact in Lisbon who collected Portuguese Colonies is gone to the big stamp-club in the sky.
Here is one of the Company's from 1935: the Zambezi Railroad Bridge.
Incidentally, does anyone have any Mozambique-proper stamps he/she would like to trade?

Stampgal, I checked for Mackintosh's works and yes I agree
with you there is some similarity between his & Klimt's paintings

Mackintosh's In Fairyland 1897 is reminiscent of lets say
Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I -1907.
Main difference is in what either are worth.
Klimt's was sold in 2006 for $89.7 million. I don't think
Mackintosh's stuff is worth anywhere near that.

Tony Vella - Nice stamp! Please post more images from your collection, and if possible, in a larger format so we can see all the fine detail. The stamp engraving crew at Waterlow & Sons of London when your Mozambique Company stamp was printed in 1935 included: George R. Fairweather (1875- ?), chief vignette engraver and overall head of stamp and bank note engraving; J.A.C. Harrison (1872-1955), chief portrait engraver; Harold J. Bard (? - 1973); Richard Loxley, who engraved postage stamps from 1925-1938; Ernest Edward Dickenson (? - ca. 1958); and Edward Dawson, who left Waterlow to join another London printing house, Bradbury Wilkinson, that same year. - nethryk

A lot of good info there nethryk Re:Waterlow & Sons.

What is your source for all this stuff?

lithograving - Thanks. In his 2005 book, The International Engraver's Line, Gene Hessler provides lots of useful information about Waterlow & Sons and its superb engravers. - nethryk

Back in sunny Italia, graphic artist and engraver Professor Eros Donnini (1928- ) is known as il Principe del bulino - the "Prince of the Burin." Since 1959, Donnini has engraved and/or designed some 140 stamps for Italy; here are images of eight examples of his work.

- nethryk

Battle of San Fermo, issued on June 27, 1959, Scott No. 780. Donnini's first engraved Italy stamp.


Garibaldi's volunteers departing Quarto (Expedition of the Thousand), issued on May 5, 1960, Scott No. 798.


Gioacchino Antonio Rossini, composer, issued on October 25, 1968, Scott No. 986.


Mail train, issued on December 6, 1970, Scott No. 1031. Note how well Donnini depicts the dynamic power of the speeding electric locomotive.


Giuseppe Mazzini, politician, nicknamed the "Soul of Italy," issued as the high value in a set of three on March 10, 1972, Scott No. 1061.


Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Manzoni, poet and novelist, designed after a portrait by Italian Romantic painter Francisco Hayez (1791-1882), issued on May 22, 1973, Scott No. 1105.


Nativity Scene, designed after a sculpture by Federico Brandani (1522-1575), issued on November 22, 1980, Scott No. 1445.


Adoration of the Magi, designed after a sculpture by Giovanni da Campione (1320-1375), issued on November 21, 1981, Scott No. 1496.

Austrian definitive set from 1919/1921 showing the Parliament
building in Vienna.

Designer : J.F. Renner
Engraver : Professor Ferdinand Schirnböck (1859-1930) who
engraved stamps for Austria, Bosnia&Herzegovina, Vatican
from 1906 until 1930

Edit: See page 106 for new info from Jorge



All except the 50Kr were printed on Granite Paper.

Scott 219 - 226





Scott 226




Scott 248

A few more engraved by Arne Kühlmann.


Scott 687



Scott 722



Scott 726



Scott 727



Scott 731



Scott 785

Printing 1 colour steel engraving, multicolour offset/litho

And here a few Danish ones engraved by Czeslaw Slania at
the same time period.
Are they really that much better or more appealing than Kühlmann's?

Scott 680-681






Scott 682 - 686

Comparing engravers, Part 1.

In my opinion, comparisons between master engravers' works are often problematic because so much depends on the subject matter and the design of the stamps. Occasionally, as with the two Hôtel de Paris stamps engraved by Jean De Bast and Pierre Gandon that I recently posted here, the stamps are similar enough to readily facilitate comparisons. And sometimes, as with the two "bell" stamps posted below, the subjects are so similar that it may be feasible to discern and evaluate differences in engravers' style and technique.

- nethryk

Bell of Rovereto, engraved by Mario Colombati, and issued by Italy on November 3, 1958, Scott No. 757.


Ship's bell, Havnar Church, engraved by Czeslaw Slania, and issued by Faroes on November 26, 1989, Scott No. 188, Facit No. 183.

Comparing engravers, Part 2.

However, there are other stamps that defy such comparisons because of their artistic designs. Here is an (admittedly extreme) example in which the subject matter in all three stamps is a prize-winning child's drawing, and for sure there is plenty of lithogravure thrown into the mix, too. Hmm. I wonder just whose engraving work is best among these stamps?!

- nethryk

International Youth Year Sheet, issued by Sweden on October 12, 1985, Scott No. 1553, Facit Nos. 1366-68.


Participation, engraved by Arne Wallhorn, Scott No. 1553a.


Development, engraved by Czeslaw Slania, Scott No. 1553b.


Peace, engraved by Majvor Franzén-Matthews, Scott No. 1553c.

That last post of mine reminded me that traditionally stamp engraving has been dominated by men, and usually cranky old ones at that. So I think it is high time now to turn the spotlight on some of the world's great women engravers.

Majvor Franzén-Matthews had studied design and was working in advertising when she first met Czeslaw Slania, who encouraged her to become a postage stamp engraver. She joined the Swedish Post Office Administration in 1966; here are images of some of the fine stamps that she has engraved for Sweden.

- nethryk

Albert Laurentius Johannes Engström, Swedish artist and author, and owl, designed after a self-portrait, issued on May 12, 1969, Scott No. 818, Facit No. 656. Reportedly one of the stamps that Ms. Franzén-Matthews is most fond of.


Salmon fishing in the Mörrumsån river, a booklet stamp issued on May 8, 1972, Scott No. 931, Facit No. 772.


Hermelins Fall in Great Falls, issued on April 2, 1974, Scott No. 1039, Facit No. 865.


Cave of the Winds, after the sculpture by Swedish artist Eric Grate (1896-1983), issued on January 27, 1976, Scott No. 1152, Facit No. 953.


Wheat seeds, issued on May 3, 1976, Scott No. 1161, Facit No. 958.


Bean sprouts and complete seedling, issued on May 3, 1976, Scott No. 1162, Facit No. 959.


Ship's wheel and Roman cross from the Swedish Seamen's Church, honoring Torgny Karl Segerstedt (1876-1945), scholar of comparative religion, issued on June 19, 1976, Scott No. 1171, Facit No. 967

Litho and Nethryk
You both contribute allot with your engraved stamps beautiful scans, descriptions and infos. I like it very much. Thank you.