Collecting By Engraver

Mazzini Canfarini certainly had talent especially visible when one views
the Garibaldi and also the Canova.

When lets say comparing his work with Edward R. Felver, I would say
it's quite easy to see one is a craftsman and the other a journeyman.
IMHO anyway.

Hans Ranzoni was already mentioned earlier but here are 3 examples
of his talent in engraving portraits.


Scott 709 1963



Scott 748 1965



Scott 749 1965

Those are amazing, Litho!

Well thanks Mr. Moderator.

Just want to tell you, you're doing a GREAT job and for so little pay

This stamp from 2007 shows that Austria still had (has?) a superb
engraver in Wofgang Seidel.

It was issued to commemorate Ignaz Joseph Pleye's 250th Birthday.
Pleye, a composer was a pupil of Joseph Haydn.

The only other thing that I noticed in the Wikipedia
article was the fact that He was the 24th of 38 children in the family. WOW.

Combination print: 1 colour engraving & multicolour photogravure.

Scott 2110

Wolfgang Seidel (1946- ) has indeed engraved some real beauties. Here are images of some examples of his work with various subjects besides portraits.

- nethryk

Great Spire, St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna, issued by Austria on April 22, 1977, Scott No. 1055.


Alpine Farm, designed after a woodcut by Austrian Benedictine monk, painter, and engraver Switbert Lobisser (1878-1943), issued by Austria on March 23, 1978, Scott No. 1077.


Linz-Freistadt-Budweis horse-drawn railway, 150th anniversary, issued by Austria on July 30, 1982, Scott No. 1217.


Merchantman Svanur bound for Copenhagen, issued by Iceland on March 26, 1987 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Ólafsvík as a trading post, Scott No. 637, Facit No. 700.

Arne Wallhorn (1921-1994) was a Swedish stamp engraver who apprenticed under Sven Ewert. He was active from the early 1950s to the mid-1980s. Here are images of some examples of Wallhorn's engraving skills with various types of subjects, all stamps issued by Sweden.

- nethryk

Electric power line, issued on January 20, 1959, Scott No. 538, Facit No. 500A.


Carl Gustaf Verner von Heidenstam (1859-1940), Swedish poet and novelist, and a laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1916), issued on July 6, 1959, Scott No. 541, Facit No. 503A. Perhaps the stamp's nature scene design elements relate to Heidenstam's 1904 poem Skogen susar (The Forest Whispers.)


Dancing cranes, issued on February 21, 1968, Scott No. 751, Facit No. 621.


Seal of Magnus III Ladulås, King of Sweden (1240-1290), issued on April 6, 1970, Scott No. 752, Facit No. 691.


Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Bengali poet, novelist, musician, painter and playwright, and the only Indian to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature (in 1913), issued on December 10, 1973, Scott No. 1030, Facit No. 852.


Gestalt I storm ("Figure in a Storm"), designed after a 1964 work by Swedish sculptor Bror Hjalmar Marklund (1907-1977), issued on April 29, 1974, Scott No. 1049, Facit No. 867.


Gunpowder Tower, Visby, island of Gotland, issued on June 13, 1975, Scott No. 1126, Facit No. 927.


Torgny Karl Segerstedt (1876-1945), Swedish scholar of comparative religion, later publicist and editor-in-chief of the Gothenburg Journal from 1917 to 1945, remembered for his uncompromising anti-Nazi stance. This commemorative stamp, depicting Segerstedt and a 1917 page from his newspaper, was issued on June 19, 1976, Scott No. 1172, Facit No. 968.

nethryk, I didn't know that Seidel had engraved a stamp for
Iceland. Nice, thanks for showing it.
Besides Austria he also engraved ones for Liechtenstein.

Here is one from an ongoing series of joint Austrian/Liechtenstein
art stamps of paintings in the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Below is the Austrian version which is apparently identical
to the Liechtenstein, both engraved by Seidel.
Not much engraving there except for the baby's hair.

AUSTRIA 2008

Scott 2144

lithograving - You're welcome. Little Austria has produced so many fine stamp engravers. One of my personal favorites is Professor Werner Pfeiler (1941- ). Here are images of several examples of Pfeiler's outstanding skill, all stamps designed by Adalbert Pilch (except as noted), and issued by Austria.

- nethryk

PS Mental health note: I believe that I have been spending WAY too much time alone with my scanner. Therefore, I am putting myself on a normal diet of no more than four stamp images per engraver, with exceptions allowed in special cases, of course.

Head of St. John, designed after a detail from "Agony in the Garden," a work in the parish church in Reid attributed to Bavarian-Austrian baroque sculptor Thomas Schwanthaler (1634-1702), and issued on August 31, 1970, Scott No. 879.


Village Feast, designed after a painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525-1569), Flemish renaissance artist known for his paintings and prints of landscapes and peasant scenes, and issued on May 6, 1971, Scott No. 895.


Trout fisherman, designed by Otto Stefferl, and issued on November 15, 1971, Scott No. 912.


Alfred Lothar Wegener (1880-1930), German scientist, geophysicist, and meteorologist, most notable for his theory of continental drift, proposed in 1912, issued on October 31, 1980, Scott No. 1169.

- nethryk said






Ditto here.

Here are the other two of the St Stephen's Cathedral issue.

Alfred Fisher and Rudolf Toth were the engravers.

AUSTRIA

Scott 1056



Scott 1057

Here is another one engraved by Wolfgang Seidel.
75 Years Austrian Automobile Association


Combination printing : engraved & photogravure

AUSTRIA

Scott 989





Each of this set of fountains had a different engraver yet
the show no apparent difference in quality.
Adalbert Pilch was the designer.

AUSTRIA

Scott 916 - 918

Alfred Nefe




Wolfgang Seidel




Werner Pfeiler

One more from Seidel. The Danube Maiden

AUSTRIA

Scott 1071

lithograving - Delightful images! Well, at least we can go bonkers together. I figure that at a rate of three to four engravers per week, it will only take a couple more years to work my way through my list.

Alfred Nefe (1923- ) studied engraving under, among others, Professor Hans Ranzoni. Nefe's career at the Austrian National Bank began in 1948, and ended with his retirement in 1978. Here are images of a few more examples of his work, all stamps designed by Austrian artist Otto Zeiller.

- nethryk

Ferris wheel, Prater, issued by Austria on April 19, 1966, Scott No. 759.


Riegersburg Castle, Styria, stands on a high basalt crag overlooking the village of the same name. First mentioned in 1138, the castle was expanded in the 16th and 17th centuries and became a frontier fortress guarding against the Turks. It was never conquered. Stamp issued by Austria on May 3, 1978, Scott No. 1079.


Two values from a set honoring Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish mathematician and astronomer, issued by Vatican City on June 13, 1973, Scott Nos. 538 & 540.

Thanks for all the info about Nefe. I knew absolutely nothing about
him except for his fine engravings.
You know it's odd that there is so very little information about
these Austrian engravers compared to Swedish, Danish or
French.

Also I was surprised to find he engraved Vatican issues also
printed by the Austrian State Printer.
I had thought that IPS (Istituto Poligrafico di Stato, Rome)
had that contract locked up.
Amazing what one can learn here.