Collecting By Engraver

LUXEMBOURG - 1926

Grand Dutchess Charlotte

Printed by American Bank Note Co.

Vignette engraved by ROBERT SAVAGE (1868-1943)

Thanks again jorgesurcl for this. Once more you have information that is not in the catalogues. As this vignette is identical to the reissue in 1944, I am guessing that we can attribute that to Savage as well.

The 1926-35 definitives of Luxembourg, attributed to American Bank Note Co., closely resemble the dummy stamp from Bradbury, Wilkinson, said to be 1928. By then BW were the London branch of ABNC.

Can anyone confirm the engraver for the dummy stamp, please? It could also be Robert Savage, but this seems unlikely as there is a rather large pond between ABNC and BW!

GLENN

There is certainly a similarity of design though there are many differences in the frame, particularly the crown and the leaves on the left. It is obviously a different engraving as the hair and earrings are different but both engravings must surely have been made using the same photograph. Oh. for a time machine.

Thanks to the kindness of a reader who pursued my query, we now know that it was Bob Godbehear of Bradbury, Wilkinson who engraved the Charlotte of Luxembourg BW dummy stamp.

I am told that Bob was apprenticed in 1921 and would have been at the end of his apprenticeship in 1928 (when the dummy was allegedly done), "and a copy job of a nice stamp would be just the thing to give to a young engraver aspiring to do portraits".

And yes, jjarmstrong47, "oh for a time machine", as there are SO many questions requiring answers! GLENN

We know Godbehear was a fine engraver but it looks like he must have showed talent early. I like the expression on the face more than Savage's who had given her a slightly brooding look around the eyes and mouth. Godbehear has softened the expression and has her head slightly more upright. Now I'll have to find one of those.

CHILE - Sept.1912

Gen.Bernardo O'Higgins

Printed by American Bank Note Co.

Vignette engraved by CHARLES SCHLECHT (1843-1932)
Frame and Lettering engraved by GEORGE H. SEYMOUR

COSTA RICA - 1947

Fifth Postal Congress of the Americas and Spain
Portraits of former Presidents of Costa Rica.

Printed in Chile by Talleres de Especies Valoradas (Chilean Mint)

Vignettes, Frames & Lettering engraved by JOSE MORENO BENAVENTE (1905-1981)

CHILE - 1911 (Scott 111)
President José M. Balmaceda

Printed by American Bank Note Co.

Vignette engraved by CHARLES SCHLECHT (1843-1932)
Frame & Lettering engraved by WILLIAM HARTWICK MAPLE

I often disagree with Gibbons but this is the first time I can remember where I disagree with both Gibbons and Scott. This Uruguay stamp, which as far as I can tell is SG256 and Scott 165, is listed by both as being litho. Gibbons gives the printer as School of Arts and Crafts, Montevideo.

I'm sure this is recess printed. The ink is raised well above the paper and it just doesn't look like a litho stamp.This, of course, casts doubt on the printer as all the other recess printed stamps at the time were either done by Waterlow or by the American Bank Note Company.

Does anyone have any other catalogues that they could check, please? Perhaps there was another printing that I've missed.

I spent most of today adding some early Uruguay to my database. They are mostly small stamps, Machin size, and they really show how some of the early engravers could really produce works of art in a tiny space.

The down side of the day is that my catalogue simply lists the printer, either ABNCo or Waterlow and none of them have details on the engraver or designer.

Here are a few of them.


Solis Theatre SG 154 Scott 110

This tiny stamp is a tribute to what Waterlow could produce, both in engraving and in printing quality. When they are compared to the local standard of the time, they really stand out. (Ditto ABNCo issues)


Gaucho herding cattle SG 230 Scott 153

The cattle may look a little "cartoonish" but the engraver has even tried to get facial features on the Gaucho. These could never be seen with the naked eye and the only reason for doing this is that the engraver took an immense pride in his work.


Eros and cornucopia SG 231 Scott 157

The batch of stamps that I acquired were quite grubby and toned. I will try to clean them up but as some of the inks look suspect, I thought I'd better scan them first, just in case I end up with blank paper.


Young Girl SG 232 Scott 154

I'm not sure what this stamp represents but it is very attractive. You don't usually see angels with wings instead of arms. Usually they have both though this is more realistic. Where angels' wings attach to the skeleton is an ancient mystery which has yet to be solved.


Electricity SG 223 Scott 137

The message here is that if you go out in a thunder storm, you may end up as an angel. This stamp actually is an allegory of electricity.


Commercial Progress SG 303 Scott 193

This last one was my favourite for the day and represents commercial progress. Again, the amount of detail in the background and expression in the facial features is quite astounding on such a small stamp.

The database has just passed 4000 stamps but there are a lot of details missing. If you see anything on the database that I have missed or got wrong, please don't hesitate to let me know.
You can find it at www.engravedstamps.net

Yes there was.

Scott 88a greenish blue printed engraved

Michel 147b grünlichblau StTdr (steel recess engraving)

The difference between offset/litho and engraved is usually
very obvious.

Now I know I'm losing the plot. When I first started sorting them out I found that one but then later when I was entering it, I couldn't see it and thought I must have been mistaken. Well, I was but in the opposite direction.
Thanks Lithograving. Now I can see it in Gibbons as well.

I'm looking for some advice about how to keep track of what I've got. I began collecting by engraver a year or two ago, and I now have examples of the work of upwards of 50 engravers - the number is steadily growing. There's the French, Czechs, Americans, lots of Scandinavians and the Austrians and other europeans. Some I have lots of - Slania is the obvious example, as well as Gandon, Decaris, Sjooblom and Morck.

As we know, the engravers generally worked for more than one country, and dealers at fairs and on line arrange their wares by country, so it makes sense to record my stamps by country, noting the engraver's name for each. I need to be able to add new acquisitions as I go, so I reckon it has to be in electronic format on the PC. My laptop has died, and I'm not replacing it. Up to now I've relied on my memory but that's getting difficult.

I could make a simple spreadsheet myself, I think, with columns like country, year, SG number, description, engraver. Is this how you do it? Is there a simple program I could buy? I'd then need to print it out for when I go to a stamp fair - or is there any way of keeping the record on my android phone, for portability and convenience?

Your thoughts on how to record a diverse and growing collection would be very welcome.

The question you ask is one most of us have had to decide. When I started adding all my engraved stamps to a database, I thought I would save them by engraver. This was more complex than I imagined as many of them have no available information or are missing some.

I ended up with four levels.

Album 1. was by engraver

Album 2. Was Unknown engraver saved by designer

Album 3. Unknown Engraver. Unknown Designer. Saved by Printer.

Album 4. Unknown all of above. Saved by Country.

This worked well if I wanted to see all of one engraver's work together but after a while I found I was breaking up so many sets, I didn't really like it. A set with many different engravers is a good opportunity to compare their work.

Now, I have decided to go back to storing them by country in chronological order. If I want to look at all the work of one engraver, I use my database and look at the blown up scans.

My long term plan is to continue like this but as I get near completion on a country, I will write them up on album sheets with each stamp annotated with whatever information I have found.

I hope this is of some help.