Wilhelm Gottfried Nuesch was
a Swiss engraver who brought European nous and style to the stamps of South
America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Little is known about the early life of Nuesch (1863-1926), beyond that he was born in Switzerland on 27 April 1863 and studied at the Academy of Arts in Biel, in the canton of Bern. The trail goes cold until 1889, when he was hired by the Litografia e Imprenta La Unión firm in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
After Schirnböck left in
1892, Nuesch was promoted to master engraver, and would go on to engrave some
outstanding stamp issues for the company.
There is, however, some doubt as to what was his first work. Until recently, it was thought Nuesch engraved Argentina's 1892 set marking the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus. But a recent book on Schirnböck includes a letter from the General Secretary of the Argentine Post linking him to the issue rather than Nuesch.
The Belgrano proofs for single values were printed on card, but multi-value proofs exist as well and these were on thinner paper. Single proofs on thinner paper would stem from these.
For the following definitive series of 1899, depicting an allegory of Liberty leaning on a shield as the sun rises over the ocean, Nuesch may have been inspired by his home country's 'Seated Helvetia' design of 1862. Proofs exist of a 45c with a blank sky. There were also proofs of this stamp as an official stamp, but these were eventually never issued.
The issue enjoyed mixed
reviews. The Argentine public did not take to the allegorical figure, which
they felt had no real connection to the country. However, it did land the
printers joint first prize for new stamp design at the 1899 international
philatelic exhibition in Manchester.
Interestingly, Nuesch's European muse resurfaced in 1901 in an issue of official stamps. This time the allegory of Liberty was a profile portrait, and the artist seems to have looked to France for inspiration, as his design could be construed as an early portrayal of Marianne, with her Phrygian cap. The first proofs of the 1901 official stamps show that the original background consisted of horizontal lines only. The eventual stamps would have horizontal and vertical lines as background.
Known within the CSBB as
'Guillermo Godofredo', Nuesch had cemented his reputation as a master engraver,
and much of his future work would be announced with great fanfare.
The single 5c stamp ranks among his finest. The amount of detail incorporated in the image of the busy port scene, with its waterfront buildings and ships, makes it a classic of its kind.
In the 1899 definitive design, for example, it can be found in the folds of Liberty's dress, close to her foot.
On the other hand, in the 1910 issue marking the Centenary of the Deposition of the Spanish Viceroy, which comprised 16 different designs, decades of study by philatelists has so far located an 'N' only in the 0.5c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 5p values:
0.5c: right lower corner of the vignette, above the o of mayo
2c: in the circular motif of
the cabinet
10c: above the R and U of
Beruti
50c: above 25
5p: top right of the window
on the right.
Unattributed, Nuesch also
engraved banknotes, stocks and shares. More information is known about his work
on national, provincial and local revenue stamps. Among those are the 1898 to
1901 inland revenue tobacco stamps, the 1900 to 1906 sanitary and medicinal
products stamps, stamps for the Municipal Chemical Office in Buenos Aires of
1894-1898, Burial stamps of 1898-1900, 1898-1901 stamps for the Guides of the
Directorate of Supply, etcetera.
Nuesch did not only engrave for Argentina. For Bolivia he engraved the portrait of General Sucre which was used for the 1899 definitives. It looks like there is a hidden N just below the man’s lapel.
For Paraguay Nuesch engraved
a number of definitive sets. He started with the 1900/1901 sets for both
postage and official mail. This was followed in 1905/1906 with the engravings
of the Lion and National Palace definitives. A third and final large set
engraved by Nuesch appeared in 1913, consisting of postage, official and
postage due stamps. For Paraguay, Nuesch also engraved the 1911 issue to mark
the centenary of independence. This engraving, too, has a secret N, hidden in
the folds of Liberty’s dress.
For Uruguay, he engraved the 1909 Opening of Montevideo Port issue, the 1910 Argentine Revolution set and the 1911 Postal Congress issue.
Nuesch remained with the CSBB until 1916, but the circumstances of his departure are unclear. It is known that he participated in a strike in that year, so whether he subsequently retired or was fired is not known.
In the last 10 years of his life, before passing away on 11 March 1926 in Buenos Aires, he did a succession of jobs which seem completely unrelated to his primary talent, including working as the public relations officer for a brewery and as a photographer for a company producing picture postcards
Wilhelm Gottfried Muesch's database can be found HERE.