Collecting By Engraver

He sure does:
All frames and lettering done by D S Ronaldson.
The vignette engravers were:
G F C Smillie: 1c, 4c, 50c
M W Baldwin: 2c, 5c, 10c, $1, $2
R Ponickau: 8c

This particular thread suffered a tremendous loss when Photobucket pulled the plug on free image hosting. It appears that our site administrators have now come up with a workaround, but it represents a lot of work for members to re-connect hundreds of broken links. What is your take on this?
https://goscf.com/f/58

I always post images directly to the site, here and on other forums -- for exactly this reason. My interest was in seeing whether other members who had put so much time and effort in a lengthy thread like this would put out the effort to rebuild it. I really hope they do. But the process of reposting is not simple -- it may be easier to just create a new topic and repost there.

I've always liked the pieces by French engraver Pierre Gandon such as this air mail.

Another Gandon airmail stamp

I presume this thread will indeed never be restored to its former glory, so maybe GregAlex' idea of shutting this one down and starting a new topic may not be such a bad one. After all, the info in this topic will still be available but the new one will be more enjoyable to look at.

However, if this sort of thing is likely to happen again the future, this whole exercise may become pointless. Or have measures been taken (can they?) to prevent such a thing from happening again?

I for one wouldn't mind investing in rebuilding a new topic with images and info, and I wouldn't mind starting it either, for then I believe I can always make changes to the original post, which we could make the index? One of the moderators is sure to confirm this.

But I would like to hear from other regular contributors whether they think this is the best way forward.

Another option is of course to just ignore the past and keep on adding to this topic.
:-)

I would tend to keep going and repair whatever is possible. Even without the image, some of the information is invaluable. I've been hosting my own images for some time since they "improved" photobucket a couple of years ago and lost a lot of the images.

It seems that the "gods of philately" don't like engraved stamps much as this is not the first discussion that has gone pear shaped.

On another front, what was once a magnificent resource, the Canadian philatelic database at the national library has been gutted, and that's how I feel after just spending half an hour trying to find things.

Their note says "some functionality has been removed from the database". That must qualify for the understatement of the year!

They have taken what was a brilliant searchable database, with production details and the history begind the stamp and replaced it with what seems to be a google images clone. You can still find an image if you know what keywords to use but the whole thing is just a random mish-mash of stamp images with no rational thought behind it.

Oh, Canada! What on earth were you thinking?

After much searching, I have found that the original database is still there but hidden in the archives so if, like me you had it bookmarked before, the bookmark will take you to the new site, as described above.

To find the Canadian database, you now have to go here:

http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discov...ilately.aspx then scroll down to the link to the Philatis database (archived) and click the link below that for visual search.

Board software will not allow a direct link but this will get you there.

Oh, dear! Even the above is little help. All that seems to be archived are the image pages. If you click on an individual stamp to get the details, you just get a dead link.

I have complained to them about the awful mess they have created but I doubt if it will do any good as it is possibly the work of some spotty faced teenage whiz kid who knows nothing of philately.

This stamp arrived on a Postcrossing card yesterday. I find it both ugly and impressive at the same time. It measures 5.5cm tall, and appears to be intaglio printed. I say "appears" because, once seeing the scan, it appears to have 2 different shades of brown ink, and while I can feel the ink on the paper, it isn't the usual form of printing. Thought I'd share anyway:

EDIT: DANGIT, just saw the tiny scrape!!

That stamp is most certainly printed in intaglio/recess, and hand-engraved by Guillaume Broux. It stems from a 2017 miniature sheet with African masks.

YIKES! As stamps, IMPRESSIVE. As artifacts... well, everyone has their own tastes... but those masks are one reason I have never been into native art!

;-)

Regarding the loss of so many images in this thread thanks to Photobucket, should we post a poll asking what should be done? Maybe have options like:
1) delete all posts with bad links, regardless of follow-up posts
2) start totally new thread, link to archived original thread
3) keep original thread, keep posting into it

Hello jjarmstrong47, I am one of the philately archivists at Library and Archives Canada. Your post was brought to my attention by another user of this forum and I thought that I could help by replying to you directly. First, I will give you the official message on the matter then a bit of additional help.

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First, we regret to inform you that this database was on outdated technology which we are no longer able to maintain or support and we currently do not have the resources to migrate it to a new platform. I understand that the functionality is not quite the same, however there are some guidelines available at the following link regarding searching our archival database for stamps and stamp products: http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discov...ilately.aspx

Library and Archives Canada is currently in the process of renewing its entire collection search interface and functionality. In keeping with the best practices of many of our sister organizations, we are investing our resources into new search tools that will allow users increased functionality in searching the entire collection, rather than standalone databases or thematic exhibitions for specific parts of the collection.

LAC will continue to work with Canada Post to guarantee its preservation and user-friendly access by Canadians.

You can search our Archives by using the following tips:

On the Search Help page, you will find a section on Archives Search and some general tips on using this tool. These tips, combined with the information below, will help you obtain specific and relevant results.

On the Enhanced Archives Search-Advanced page:
1. To conduct a search, you must always select the search terms "Any keyword".
2. If you are searching using a date, you should enter the date in the "Any keyword" field.
3. In the drop-down menu for the "Type of material" field, select the type that applies to your search, namely: "Stamps and stamp products"
4. In the drop-down menu for the "online" field, select "Yes" if you want enhanced descriptions of digital images.
5. Click "Submit".

It is important to note that several types of documents need to be considered when searching LAC philatelic documentation. These expressions can be used as keywords in the Archives Search.

Types of documents:
o Essay (essai)
o Die-Proof (Épreuve de poinçon)
o Plate-Proof (Épreuve de planche)
o Booklet (Carnet)
o First-Day Cover (Pli premier jour)
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Further, and perhaps a little more useful in the short term, when we archived the site it was intended for functionality to remain the same (albeit slower) using the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine software. This did not go entirely as planned, resulting in the dead links that are resolved from clicking on one of the images.

As a temporary solution, we have made an archived site that lists (over 22 pages) all the stamp issues from the old site in chronological order. These pages will load slowly, but they should work. Click here for the new site: http://wayback.archive-it.org/9155/...S&Sect1=STMP

Biographical information from the old site is available here: http://webarchive.bac-lac.gc.ca:808...21016223850/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/...15503_f.html

Please do not hesitate to contact us for reference, research or any usability questions about our resources.


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James Bone
Archivist, Archives Branch
Library and Archives Canada / Government of Canada
Tel: 613-698-9485