Cornelis Arend Mechelse (1898-1969) started working as an
engraver for Enschedé in 1923. He became Vice Head of the Department for
Monetary Material in 1928, and Head in 1944.
When the Allied Forces were liberating Belgium in September 1944, the
Dutch started hoping that they too would soon be liberated. The idea of a
Liberation stamp was secretly mooted. Mechelse worked on a design and an
engraving, camouflaging it by making it seem it was an Anti tubercoulosis stamp.
The wording would later be changed to mark the liberation. Further changes to
the die include the changing of format from landscape to portrait stamp. The
basic design theme, the Dutch Lion slaying the Serpent, remained the same
throughout this whole process, though.
Mechelse’s work would mainly concern banknote work, as a
designer. But after his engraved Liberation stamp, he engraved two
more values, of the annual Cultural and Social Relief Fund issues, issued in 1948 and
1951.
In early 1951, Mechelse was asked to assist Jean Paul Vroom in
making an acceptable die for new Dutch airmail stamps. Jan Bons, the designer
of those airmail stamps, had recommended his good friend Vroom, with whom he
usually worked. Whilst both printer and postal authorities had misgivings from
the start, they did decide to give Vroom a chance, seeing that there was no
tight deadline to be met. Vroom worked on various dies throughout 1950, and
even received some assistance from Enschedé's in house engraver Cornelis Mechelse, but it was to no
avail. In April 1951 it was decided to have the stamps engraved by another of
Enschedé's engravers, Willem van Dijk.