Collecting By Engraver

AnthonyUK - Nice ones. I especially like the Lion and the Mouse.

Bedrich Housa (1926- ) studied at the Graphic Art Academy and worked at the Czech Graphic Union. During his distinguished career Housa engraved hundreds of stamps for Czechoslovakia. Here are images of several additional examples of Housa's engraving skill.

- nethryk

Metallurgical plant, issued on February 20, 1956, Scott No. 735.


Electric locomotive, 1954, issued on November 9, 1956, Scott No. 775.


Airliner and route map, airmail stamp, engraved and photogravure, issued on October 15, 1957, Scott No. C45.


Television transmitter, issued on October 19, 1957, Scott No. 825.


Giant excavator, issued on February 25, 1958, Scott No. 846. One of my boyhood favorites!


White-tailed eagle feeding eaglet, engraved and photogravure, issued on July 17, 1989, Scott No. 2747.

Joint effort of Martin Mörck and Lars Sjööblom in 2010: Castles and Palaces from Sweden.

Self-adhesive stamps designed by Eva Wilsson and engraved by those 2 modern masters of the art.

Full 5 stamp booklet, followed by individual closeups.




Needless to say this is one of my favourite sets from 2010. Engravings and castles are 2 of my favourite things

The Europa 2010 theme was Children's Books, and many postal administrations issued truely wonderful stamps, full of color and childhood symbology. A terrific theme that gave us a number of wonderful stamps in my opinion, even if not all were engraved.
Sweden's issue was a 2-stamp set engraved by the Polish engraver Piotr Naszarkowski.



The stamp on the left illustrated Lena Anderson's book Maja's Alphabet. Lena is Sweden's most famous children's books author and she passed away a few years ago. She has been the subject of numerous issues.
The second stamp is concerning Elsa Beskow's book Children of the Forest.

The stamp proofs were done by Gustav Mårtensson.

Piotr has a website: http://web.comhem.se/p.naszarkowski/

And there (and Wikipedia) we discover he has been in Stockholm, Sweden since 1989. He graduated from Warsaw's Academy of Fine Arts in 1980 and started working as a postage stamps engraver in 1983, issuing his first stamp in 1985 for Poland. He has engraved over 140 stamps for Poland, Sweden, USA, Vatican and Japan.
His 99th and 100th engravings were the Greta Garbo joint issues of Sweden and USA in September 2005.

While cleaning my room and bookshelf, I re-discovered a book I bought 2/3 years ago: The Dore Illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy by Gustave Dore (Paperback - Jun 1, 1976)

http://www.texttribe.com/gallery/Gu...e_Comedy.htm

Gustave Doré's engravings are not stamps but the great engraver that he was is worth the mention.
And perhaps some of you may have some converted to stamp versions of his famous engravings of the Divine Comedy by Dante.

The Swedish castles set is awfully nice for a modern set.

Nothing needs to be said regarding the Dante engravings.

Litho: just getting caught up re this topic and noted your great scan of Slania's "Linnaea borealis", which is a well-known boreal forest plant in the Northern Hemisphere. In Canada this diminutive beauty is commonly referred to as "twin-flower", which is aptly displayed in the stamp design. On a personal note a friend named his daughter Linnaea after this plant. She is now a classical violinist of some note.

Oshikiri Katsuzo worked principally as a banknote engraver for the Japanese Printing Bureau, but he also engraved some attractive postage stamps for Japan. Here are images of five stamps demonstrating Oshikiri-san's abilities.

- nethryk

Himeji Castle, a definitive stamp first issued on September 20, 1956, Scott No. 623. Now that's a castle!


Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko, wedding portrait (frame photogravure), issued on April 10, 1959, Scott No. 670.


President James Buchanan greeting Japanese diplomats, issued on May 17, 1960 to mark the centenary of US-Japan relations, Scott No. 694.


Ama-no-hashidate (Bridge of Heaven), issued on July 15, 1960, Scott No. 689.


Female gymnast, issued on October 23, 1960 to publicize Japan's gymnastics team winning the gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympic Games in Rome, Scott No. 706.

40 pages and still going strong with amazing scans of stunning works of art, well done fellows!

Perf14 - Yes, we're really rolling now. But Australia is still underrepresented...

Carl T. Arlt (1889-1958) was an American graphic designer and master engraver who engraved the vignettes on dozens of stamps issued by the USA from 1934 to 1950. Here are images of six examples of his work.

- nethryk

Old Faithful geyser, issued on July 30, 1934, Scott No. 744. (Lettering: William B. Wells)


Boulder Dam, issued on September 30, 1935, Scott No. 774. (Lettering: Edward M. Hall)


Statue of Roger Williams (1603-1683), theologian and founder of Providence Plantation, issued on May 4, 1936, Scott No. 777. (Lettering: W.B. Wells and Donald R. McLeod)


Stephen Daye Press, issued on September 25, 1939, Scott No. 857. (Lettering: G.L. Huber) Stephen Daye, Sr. (c. 1594 – 1668) was the first British North American printer.


Liberty holding torch, designed by American sculptor Paul Howard Manship (1885-1966), issued on February 12, 1943, Scott No. 908. (Lettering: James T. Vail)


Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902), abolitionist; Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947), women's suffrage leader; Lucretia Coffin Mott (1793-1880), abolitionist and social reformer; issued on July 19, 1948, Scott No. 959. (Lettering: J.S. Edmondson)

Liking those Japanese engravings nethryk.

Keeping with the modern engravings, Sweden Posten issues on August 25th (tomorrow) 3 new sets of which 2 feature Engravings.

The first one is about Horses and Equestrianism, and is a joint effort by Lars Sjöoblom and Piotr Naszarkowski.
The Posten newsletter speaks a little about Sjööblom: he has engraved almost 20 stamps depicting horses, with his first back in 1987 (the blue tiger stamp pictured below).

Picasa shrinks the photo so here's the original link to see in far larger detail: http://hugin.info/134112/R/1539901/470671.jpg

It also describes how modern technology has facilitated the pre-engraving process:


Blue tiger stamp: Lars' first horse stamp back in 1987.


And the 2nd set is about Seed Capsules, and includes 2 engravings by Lars:

Cones (Pine Cones)


Poppy Seed

AndrewF31 - Glad you liked my Oshikiri stamps sampler. Japan has a magnificent engraving tradition; unfortunately for us philatelists, most of that tradition has been lavished on banknote engraving rather than postage stamp engraving. This tradition goes all the way back to Italian master engraver Edoardo Chiossone (1833-1998), who was employed by the newly modernized Japan Printing Bureau as chief engraver from 1874 until his retirement in 1891. In future posts I shall share images of some fine work by other Japanese stamp engravers that I have in my collection. - nethryk

During his stamp engraving career, from 1928 to 1953, Gabriel-Antoine Barlangue (1874-1956) produced 38 stamps for France and over 150 stamps for French colonies, former colonies and other countries. Here are images of some examples of his work, all stamps designed and engraved by Barlangue, except as noted.

- nethryk

Jean Mermoz (1901-1936), French aviator, issued by France on April 22, 1937, Scott No. 326, Y&T No. 338.


Pierre Loti (pseudonym of Julien Viaud; 1850-1923), French novelist and naval officer, semi-postal stamp issued by France on June 18, 1937, Scott No. B63, Y&T No. 353.


Allegorical figures of Science battling Cancer, semi-postal stamp issued by France on February 20, 1941, Scott No. B110, Y&T No. 496.


View of Angers, bridge over the Maine river, and château, issued by France on May 17, 1941, Scott No. 421, Y&T No. 500.


Tikar women, issued in 1946 for use in Cameroun, Scott No. 307.


Bird figure, airmail stamp designed by M. Besson after an antique mosaic, issued for use in Tunisia in 1950, Scott No. C15.


Arthur Rimbaud, French poet, designed by French artist and Grand Prix de Rome winner Paul-Pierre Lemagny (1905-1977), and issued by France on October 27, 1951, Scott No. 668, Y&T No. 910..

nethryk posted _ Australia is under-represented. Well, I'll try to remedy that. I might work backward and post a couple of Slania for Australia, since they are scanned already:

















Australian engravers next.

Oh, I have the set from Sweden also from that joint issue. Really good set.

The first two stamps were engraved by TS Harrison, I read somewhere that he was the printer (RA Harrison)'s son. The 1d red KGV was issued in 1913, the Kookaburra was issued as a brown 6d in 1914 and as a blue 3d in 1929 for the 4th Australian Philatelic exhibition in Melbourne. Both were designed by RA Harrison with some help from H Altman.