Collecting By Engraver

jjarmstrong47 wrote:



I hadn't noticed that second set so I checked again but like you said, it almost unmistakably looks like Waterlow at the base. Besides, I just noticed, Waterlow was the only one to produce a 2c value! So the signature won't be Barreiro, one would think, even though it does look like it.

The Chinese have a very good website for all the stamps since 1949. The only flaw is that when a set is listed as having multiple engravers they do not say who did what. The Lenin stamp was designed by Liu Shuoren and the set of three was engraved by Kong Shaohui and Tang Linshen.

You can find the site here: http://www.xabusiness.com/ and can also purchase current stamps there.

"Waterlow was the only one to produce a 2c value!"

I hadn't noticed that. If the size difference was only the stamp and not the printed area, it is possible that they obtained a die from Waterlow. It would have needed to be altered for all the new values but it is possible that they also tested the die by producing proofs before they began working on the new one. The signature certainly loooks like A. Barriero.

I've asked the owner for a better scan of the signature.

jjarmstrong47, thanks for the link listing
PRC (Red China) stamps.
Now I finally know who engraved
the 1982 New Year issue, Year of the Dog

Designer: Zhou Linzhao

Engraver: Gao Pinzhang

Printing: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works,
1 colour engraved, multicolour photogravure

Scott 1764 from booklet



Scott 1764a

Now if anyone has a good source for pre-1949 stamps of China, I'd be delighted. I was planning to buy Gibbons but have been told there is not much engraver detail there. Is this correct?

jjarmstrong47 Thank you for the link http://www.xabusiness.com/

This has been very helpful in filling in information on Chinese
stamps.

The earliest stamp I have seen that was engraved by Maciej Kopecki is this one from 1974 featuring a sixteenth century woodcut of a hunter.


Poland 1974, Folklore SG 2338 Scott 2071

His career started at a time when engraved stamps were being produced less and less but Poland had a group of excellent engravers to mentor him.

Kopecki's output has not been large but over the years he has produced better and better work, such as this portrait of Queen Rycheza from 1988.



"Where is this leading?" you may ask. Well today's mail brought another Kopecki gem and I can't wait to share it.

By 2013, Kopecki had become PWPW's chief artist and when they decided to produce a miniature sheet to celebrate the 900th anniversary of the Chronicle of Gallus Anonymus, the first written version of Polish history, Kopecki engraved it himself. It was designed by Agnieszka Sancewicz.

The result was voted the best intaglio stamp for 2013 at the Conference of Government Postage Stamp Printers' Association (GPSPA) in Beijing. Here it is.



Close-up of the stamp portion:



If anyone can give me SG and Scott numbers for this, I'd be grateful.

That 2013 sheetlet is beautiful! Are the margins engraved as well? Sorry, can't help you with the cat numbers.

The GPSPA site (thanks for the tip!) is great as well.

Anyhoo, back to Karl Bickel. From 1932 to 1964, he would engrave most portrait stamps included in the annual Swiss 'Pro Juventute' charity series. These are his engravings issued from 1932 to 1935.

I may have to steal those images, Adrian. Every time I want to buy one of them, they want to sell me the set and the other four are photo.
I had to look really hard at the Kopecki sheet margins as they are so fine. At first I thought they were not engraved but on a really close inspection you can see the ink sitting up above the paper, so yes, I believe they are. The red writing is litho. Here are the two panels.



The detail is quite amazing as I was surprised when it arrived that it is only 70mm high and 90mm wide. When I saw it illustrated, I imagined it would be much bigger.

I wish you hadn't mentioned that the GPSPA had a web site.

http://www.gpspa.info/

If you click on an image it lets you choose the year (it only happens every second year) and shows the best stamps in each class. My wants list just grew...again! Spain won in 2012, 2010 and 2008 and they are stunning, as is Sjooblom's portrait of Hans Christian Anderson that won in 2006. I was tempted to "borrow" their images to show here but thought that would be a little rude without permission so I have added the link instead.

Here are Karl Bickel's Pro Juventute engravings for 1936 to 1938.

Here are Karl Bickel's Pro Juventute engravings for 1939 to 1941.

AKPhilately....Thanks for posting the engravings of Karl Bickel...another engraver for me to pursue and collect.

Glad you like them, graphis! Plenty more to come.


Here are Karl Bickel's Pro Juventute engravings for 1942 to 1944.