Collecting By Engraver

I get annoyed with the British Commonwealth as the production details are so difficult (or impossible) to find. I tend to pass them over when buying but yeterday at one of the stamp clubs I found these on exchange sheets and couldn't resist them. They are from the 1953 set from Somaliland Protectorate and were printed by Bradbury Wilkinson. It is a good opportunity to see how different colours work with the same design. The currency at the time was 100 cents to 1 shilling.

Back in page 156, Strider was asking about the 1947 Confucius set from China. I have found what appears to be the official Republic of China website and they do go back to the earlier issues. Unfortunately, they only list the printer for that set as Shanghai Printing Press of the Dah Tung Book Co·.

It is a useful site though so you can find it here:

https://www.post.gov.tw/post/intern...fault_en.jsp

Another minor mystery!

Sweden issued a set of cat stamps in 1994. Two were engraved by Piotr Naszarkowski and two by Martin Morck which gives us a good opportunity to compare their styles. My Gibbons gives the designer as Eva Jern.

On the stamps, where the designer is listed there is another name as well as the E.J. My guess is that these were designed from photographs and the extra name is the photographer. Unfortunately, my Facit, which usually helps me here runs out in 1993. Can anyone confirm or refute this?

In the meantime, here are the stamps. They are engraved plus litho and I usually don't particularly like this, preferring just the engraved part. In this case, I think it adds, particularly the blue of the Siamese eyes.


Siamese Cat, by Morck


Persian Cat, by Naszarkowski


European Cat, by Morck


Abyssinian Cat, by Naszarkowski

jjarmstrong47 - Re the Sweden cat stamps posted above: You are correct. See my December 31, 2013 post with images of these booklet stamps in the "More Cats on Stamps" thread: https://goscf.com/t/562&whichpage=4...rchTerms=cat

- nethryk

Thanks Nethryk. It seemed the likely answer.

As I'm here, I also added these to the database yesterday.


Sweden 1993 Sea Birds: Red-breasted Merganser. Gibbons 1702 Scott 2028


Sweden 1993 Sea Birds: Velvet Scoter. Gibbons 1703 Scott 2029


Sweden 1993 Sea Birds: Tufted Duck. Gibbons 1704 Scott 2030


Sweden 1993 Sea Birds: Eider. Gibbons 1705 Scott 2031

All were designed by Ingalill Alexsson and engraved by Lars Sjooblom.

Hello again

I've just made a brief visit to the British Library and seen a selection of frames from the JAC Harrison collection. I was on the way back to the station after a training day in London, and didn't want to miss my train back to Great Missenden, so the visit was rather short. I wish I'd had time to make some notes. I got engrossed in the Tapling collection - really amazing that Tapling could collect pretty well all the issues from 1840 till 1891 when he died (at the age of 35!). Especially bearing in mind that he was also a Member of Parliament! Wonderful stuff - inc 27 (or was it 37) pages of Confederate States.

Anyway, by the time I discovered that there were some frames on display from the JAC Harrison collection, which I thought was only available by appointment, it was getting late. I had a quick look, then had to dash for the train at Marylebone. Does it mean that if there's a stamp design on display in the JACH collection, that JACH was the engraver? I'm sure there were some Portugal stamps I didn't know about. I knew he engraved the Camoes issue of 1924, but it looks like there were more - inc a rather grand lady. I don't have a SG Spain and Portugal cat - but there were a lot of recess printed, acc to a certain web-based catalogue which doesn't name the engraver. Think I have to go back and give myself more time. They had about 20 frames on display - I think there are lots more in the collection waiting their turn to appear.

By the way - amazing coincidence that just as I return with this post, my name had been mentioned a moment ago apropos of the Confucius issue of China. And that was nearly 40 pages ago!

Hello Strider. Welcome back!

They ran the entire collection of JAC Harrison proofs for about six months and it sounds like now they are showing it in sections as there are several hundred proofs in the original display.

http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpre...arrison.html

I asked them last year if they were considering publishing it and basically they said they didn't have the time or resources.

Unfortunately, I live in Australia or I would have volunteered for the job. You can take that to mean that I am quite jealous of your ability to visit.

My understanding is that all the proofs are of stamps that were engraved by JAC and he kept a copy for himself of everything that he did. The collection was given to the library by his son, after his death some years ago but it seems that it has taken a while to sort and put it on display, which is quite understandable as I'm sure they realise the importance of what they have been given.

Will they allow photographs of the frames? I'm sure if they did and they could be posted here there would be quite a few surprises for all of us. Harrison did quite a few for Portugal, notably the Camoes set.



I'm sure though that there will be many that are not in the catalogues.

Just in case you haven't heard of this, Matt Hayes, in Australia, has started a philatelic group called "World of Engravers". You can visit their Facebook page at the link below, then send a note to Matt to get his free newsletter.

https://www.facebook.com/worldofengravers/

Regards,

GLENN

It's the little things that worry you when you produce a database. Computers are so unforgiving, in fact, I remember being told at uni how the world's most expensive grammatical error was due to someone leaving a dash out of a command given to a computer.

The computer in question was controlling a satellite and the wrong message caused to it self-destruct.

Of course, the tutor could have been making it up but it did make us aware of the need for accuracy when dealing with computers.

For me, this now translates to a need to spell names correctly and I still make mistakes sometimes.

One name that has bugged me for a while was Henry Lucien Cheffer, the French engraver. That was how I originally saw his name but several French sites that I visited spell his name "Henri" in the French style.

I've been considering changing all the entries in the database to the French spelling as it seemed logical that a French engraver would use the French spelling.

Then this morning, I came across this stamp.



So now I know.

I've been a fan of Albert Decaris for a long time. His "not quite caricature" portraits bounce with life.

I don't have the budget to indulge in his engravings which sell for hundreds of dollars but I am able to collect his stamps. Decaris had a vigour about his engraving (and his art in general) that is not apparent in his contemporaries. His lines are deep and strong as if he knows exactly what he wants to do and wastes no time doing it.

I've just added two sets to the database that were designed by Decaris but only two of the stamps were engraved by him. So even though the other engravers were engraving a Decaris artwork, they have (to me) a softer, dare I say, more cautious look about them.

I hadn't noticed until I blew these up what superb detail is contained in the backgrounds. Those French engravers sure were classy.


Jacques Amyot, Bishop of Auxerre. SG 1597 Scott B367. Engraved by Decaris.


Etienne Mehul, Composer. SG 1598 Scott B371 Engraved by Mazelin


Pierre de Marivaux, dramatist. SG 1599 Scott B368 Engraved by Decaris.


Nicholas-Louis Vauquelin, chemist. SG 1600 Scott 372. Engraved by Hertenberger


Jacques Daviel, oculist. SG 1601 Scott B369


Alfred de Vigny, poet. SG 1602 Scott B373

Of course, I could be just imagining things here. What do you think?

Certainly, these stamps are awesome and are very beautifully engraved by Decaris. Another addition to be in my engravers list.

Well if you are looking for engravers who had an eye for detail, take a look at this one I scanned today, engraved by Eugene Lacaque in 1972. How he managed to get so much into so small a space is beyond my imagination.

The stamp is a copy of a larger lithograph from 1840 and shows the Saint-Brieuc Cathedral.


France 1972 Philatelic Societies Congress, Saint-Brieuc. SG 1968 Scott 1344

Cambodia - 1960
Works of the Five Year Plan

Printed by Atelier de Fabrication des Timbres-Poste, Paris

Literacy Campaign
Engraved by René Cottet (1902-1992)



Rice paddies
Engraved by Georges Bétemps (1921-1992)

Very beautiful, jorgesurcl. This thread is one of my favs.

Thanks jorgesurcl. Once again you have found information that is not in my Gibbons catalogue. They seem to have little detail on Cambodia. Do you know who designed them? My guess would be that they were by a local artist as they incorporate Cambodian script.