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Pillar Of The Community
Australia
687 Posts |
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First come the Seahorses issue, about which I have a bit of information straight from Wiki: Quote:
'Seahorses' is the name used to refer to the United Kingdom high value definitive postage stamps issued during the reign of King George V.
The stamps are notable for the quality of the engraving and the design which features a dramatic image of Britannia on her chariot behind three writhing horses on a stormy sea. They represent a collecting field in their own right for some philatelists due to the colour variations and different printers.
George V was a keen philatelist and took an interest in the design of the stamps by the Australian sculptor Bertram Mackennal, who included the King's head in profile, a design that he had first used for the Coronation medal. The lettering was designed by George Eve, with the dies engraved by J.A.C.Harrison and the stamps were intaglio (recess) printed. The stamps first issued in July/August 1913 in 2/6 (brown), 5/- (red), 10/- (blue) and £1 (green) values. The first printer was Waterlow Bros & Layton, then in December 1915 the contract was awarded to De La Rue & Co, the height of the stamps was increased by 1mm and the £1.00 value was dropped.
In December 1918 Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. Ltd took over the printing of the stamps. The contract returned to Waterlow & Sons in 1934 and the dies were re-engraved, with the horizontal engraved lines behind the King's head on the earlier issues replaced with cross-hatched lines.[1]
Overprints included Morocco Agencies and Irish Free State. The stamps were replaced in 1939 by the King George VI high value series My exemplars are not excellent, mint copies cost, well, a mint! [url=http://www.thegomc.com/PicHosting/share-52D4_4E3355FB.html"]  [/url] [url=http://www.thegomc.com/PicHosting/share-89EC_4E3355FB.html"]  [/url] a |
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Pillar Of The Community
Australia
687 Posts |
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The next one is an example of the King George VI high value definitives of 1936 onward. I am guessing that JAC Harrison might have engraved these as well (?) [url=http://www.thegomc.com/PicHosting/share-49B9_4E3355FB.html"]  [/url] A beautiful stamp. |
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Pillar Of The Community
Australia
687 Posts |
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That's it from me this morning, I need to get to the PO before it shuts...hopefully there will be some goodies there :)
alex |
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Valued Member
Spain
266 Posts |
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Perf, I would suggest just one thing: use the image tags for your photos: [img][/ img] (remove the space after [/ ) I think you're using the Hyperlink icon (global with a silver link). You would need to click the icon with a black sideways triangle pointing to a box with a mountain and yellow background.  Liking the Roo stamps. Note: although, now that I look at it, you seem to be retrieving the link from your host site. They normally have an option for "image" only. |
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| Edited by AndrewF31 - 07/30/2011 05:47 am |
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Pillar Of The Community
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lithograving - Nice research piece on the 1946 stamp competition.
Perf14 - Your examples of these fine British stamps look great to me; thanks for sharing them. Your 10/- KGVI stamp was designed by Sir George Rothe Bellew, KCB, KCVO, KStJ, FSA (1899-1993), a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms is London, and was engraved by Waterlow & Sons. J.A.C. Harrison was the chief portrait engraver at W&S at that time (1939), so it is likely that he engraved the king's profile for this stamp. As at the USA's BEP, it is my understanding that stamp engraving assignments at the London printing houses (i.e., W&S, Bradbury Wilkinson, Thomas De La Rue, Perkins Bacon, etc.) were often divvied up among two or more specialists (e.g., vignettes, lettering, framing) for each stamp. Alas, I have not yet found a comprehensive list of these assignments for any London printing house; all of my information is fragmentary. Thus I expect that for for most British Commonwealth stamps, USUALLY all that I myself will be able to confirm with a high degree of certainty is which London printing house produced them, and not the names of the individual engravers; perhaps another SCFer can do better by them. Nevertheless, I am eagerly looking forward to your future BC posts. - nethryk |
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| Edited by nethryk - 07/30/2011 08:56 am |
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Pillar Of The Community
Canada
5821 Posts |
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nethryk, you took the words right out of my mouth or at least my thoughts.
I always wondered why there is so little info about the engravers of these British printing firms. I always imagine these anonymous, solitary figures hunched over, eye loupe attached, burin in hand,
slaving away creating miniature masterpieces.
Yet we don't even know their names.
I don't recall ever seeing the engraver's name or even initials on any stamps produced by these firms.
Ditto for Canada, US, Australia. |
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Pillar Of The Community
Australia
687 Posts |
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YES, lithograving! It is a real shame that even now we cannot recognize the wonderful contribution of these talented artists as their names were never recorded on their fine works. nethryk you have given me more information than I had before your posting , so that's is a major plus in my book! Andrew - thanks for your help, but the site where I store my images does not have the choices you mention, however it is very quick and has other image storing facilities beaten dead...we might just have to live with a little bit of writing around my posts, sorry about that. It is a site dedicated to another great stamp forum ( http://thegomc.com/yabb/YaBB.pl) and I use it there as well as on other fora. cheers alex |
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Pillar Of The Community
Australia
687 Posts |
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And now for a few from the colonies... [url=http://www.thegomc.com/PicHosting/share-394D_4E345149.html"]  [/url] [url=http://www.thegomc.com/PicHosting/share-4FA0_4E345149.html"]  [/url] [url=http://www.thegomc.com/PicHosting/share-93D7_4E345149.html"]  [/url] [url=http://www.thegomc.com/PicHosting/share-9D5C_4E345149.html"]  [/url] [url=http://www.thegomc.com/PicHosting/share-83F1_4E345149.html"]  [/url] one more lot :) |
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Pillar Of The Community
Australia
687 Posts |
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Here they are: [url=http://www.thegomc.com/PicHosting/share-6F61_4E345342.html"]  [/url] [url=http://www.thegomc.com/PicHosting/share-92D4_4E345342.html"]  [/url] [url=http://www.thegomc.com/PicHosting/share-B2F8_4E345342.html"]  [/url] [url=http://www.thegomc.com/PicHosting/share-EF9A_4E345342.html"]  [/url] [url=http://www.thegomc.com/PicHosting/share-B652_4E345342.html"]  [/url] A beautiful young lady, that's for sure :) |
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Pillar Of The Community
2333 Posts |
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Pillar Of The Community
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Fortunately, there is some information available about British Commonwealth stamps, at least where it involves British master engravers such as Nigel Alan Dow (1929- ). Dow had a 50+ year career, principally at Bradbury Wilkinson, where he was made chief engraver in the 1960s. Here are images of four examples of Dow's superb work, all stamps printed by BW. Dow has been quoted as saying, "I've never really engraved a satisfactory portrait of the Queen." I beg to differ! - nethryk Monument of the Great Siege, 1565 (those pesky Turks at it again) in Valletta, designed after a sculpture by Maltese artist Antonio Sciortino (1879-1947), inaugurated in 1927. The monument consists of a granite base supporting three figures. The female on the left, holding a papal tiara in her right hand, symbolizes faith. The female on the right holds a mask of Minerva in her left hand, representing civilization. The male, standing in the middle, portrays valor and holds a sword and a shield. This bronze sculpture is located in Great Siege Square, opposite the law courts and by St John's Co-Cathedral. This stamp was issued for use in Malta on January 23, 1956, Scott No. 246, SG No. 266.  Ysabel canoe, designed by I.R. Stinson, and issued for use in the (British) Solomon Islands on March 1, 1956, Scott No. 89, SG No. 82.  Queen Elizabeth II, designed after a 1956 painting by Italian portrait and fresco painter Pietro Annigoni (1910–1988), and issued for use in Fiji on October 1, 1956, Scott No. 149, SG No. 282.  Hamlet contemplating Yorick's skull, and Queen Elizabeth II, designed by English painter and coin designer Christopher Ironside (1913-1992) and his brother, painter Robin Ironside (1912-1965), and issued by Great Britain on April 23, 1964, Scott No. 406, SG No. 650.  |
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| Edited by nethryk - 07/30/2011 3:01 pm |
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Pillar Of The Community
Australia
687 Posts |
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Next, one of my beautiful Ethiopians: [url=http://www.thegomc.com/PicHosting/share-11A5_4D634EF8.html"]  [/url] I have a few complete sets(MUH)...and here is a shameless plug, if you want to buy some PM me ...:) |
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Pillar Of The Community
Australia
687 Posts |
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That portrait of the Queen on the 1.5d. Fiji stamp is stunning, nethryk.And I agree with you Dow did an excellent job!
alex |
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Pillar Of The Community
Canada
5821 Posts |
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I've only been away from here a couple of hours and I see three
great posts. I haven't seen this much activity on this thread for awhile.
Thanks Perf14, Cursus & nethryk.
I had never seen the Barbadian 5/ before. Maybe George should be wearing
a life jacket.
Then again Kings weren't mere mortals like the rest of us &
since they were divine they should have been able to walk on water. |
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Pillar Of The Community
Australia
687 Posts |
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I like the completely nonsensical paddle wheel on the sea-chariot...I wonder what the designer had been smoking that day!
:) |
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Replies: 3,963 / Views: 1,914,574 |
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Posted 07/29/2011 9:05 pm
