BIOGRAPHY: Enrique Vaquer

Enrique Vaquer worked for Bradbury, Wilkinson (BW) in England, from 1914 to 1921, engraving a number of stamps for them. He also engraved a portrait of King George V, probably late 1914 or 1915, which was initially used on a BW essay for a £1 banknote. However, according to a 2020 article in The London Philatelist, the Vaquer engraving was later cropped and proofs were pulled in a style usually meant for future stamp printing purposes, so it could well be that BW wanted to use this portrait for stamps as well at some stage, but that never materialised.

When Vaquer returned to Spain in 1921, he became an artist and academician of the Royal Academy of San Fernando In 1921, Vaquer also started working for the Spanish Mint, the FNMT. He was Maura’s successor there. Vaquer worked at the FNMT from 1921 until his death in 1931.

Vaquer introduced the so-called American engraving style to Spain, having been trained and employed by Bradbury Wilkinson in England. The differences in engraving style, compared to the traditional 'Spanish' style, was a distinct difference in line thickness  and a typical way of  line placement. While Vaquer's style was deemed acceptable for vignette engravings on banknotes, it meant that portrait engravings were usually goven to his colleagues.

Because of his training, Vaquer was also influential in the new machinery bought by the FNMT which would improve the quality of is recess-printing facilities no end. Vaquer trained his two successors: Camilo Delhom and José Lopez Sánchez Toda.

You will find Enrique Vaquer's database HERE.