BIOGRAPHY: Paul Wilcke


Paul Wilcke was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1864, where he was educated as well. In 1899, he became an engraver at the Swedish printer Jacob Bagge Bank-Note Printing Office in Stockholm, Sweden.

Wilcke’s first stamp for Sweden was issued in 1903. It depicted the GPO in Stockholm and was a single stamp issued to mark the opening of the new post office. It was not his first work, though. That ‘honour’ goes to an engraving far less substantial: the engraving of the value on the 8 öre Oscar II definitive. While Wilcke’s work closely resembled the other engraved values, done by Max Mirowsky, one can see when comparing the two that Wilcke’s lines are cleaner and tighter.

Those clean and tight lines may also be admired on Wilcke’s 1924 stamps with the portrait of King Gustav V. The three values formed part of a set marking the eighth congress of the Universal Postal Union. Wilcke engraved a portrait which was rich in colour and brilliance. His other engraving for the set depicted Stockholm’s Old City. Fifty years later, this stamp still proved so popular that it became the main theme for the international stamp show Stockholmia ’74.

Wilcke was less successful in trying to get the commission to engrave the first definitive stamp of King Gustav V’s reign. Three engravers, among which Wilcke, were asked to submit an engraving of a design by Hjortzberg, but in the end it was Ferdinand Schirnböck who was given the task to engrave the stamp. Wilcke did get the chance to engrave the lowest values with the Arms on, but those were printed by letterpress.

In 1926, Wilcke returned to Germany, where we lose sight of him.


You will find Paul Wilcke's database HERE.