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ENGRAVING OF THE WEEK

on March 23, 2020

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1966

France

Soldier on battlefield

Illustration for Verdun Commemoration folder

Engraved by Georges Bétemps

Bétemps Engraving of the week

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DATABASE: Pierre Gandon

STAMPS

1939
French Morocco, Definitives

1940
Togo, Definitives
Togo, Postage dues

1941
Dahomey, Definitives
France, National Seamen's relief fund
France, National relief fund

1942
France, Marshal Pétain
France, Empire fortnight
France, National relief fund
France, Tricolour legion
Monaco, Airmail
Monaco, National relief fund

1943
France, Lake Lérie
France, National Relief Fund

1944
France, Petain's birthday
France, National relief fund
France, Liberation
France, Mobile POs
Monaco, St Devote

1945
France, Marianne definitives
France, Sarah Bernhardt
French Morocco, Air

1946
France, Air
France, Peace conference
France, National relief fund
Monaco, Child welfare fund

1947
France, Air
France, Cannes
France, UPU congress
France, Conques abbey
French Equatorial Africa, Definitives
French Guiana, Definitives
French Morocco, Definitives
French West Africa, Definitives

1948
France, Air (2 issues)
France, Transfer of ashes
French Morocco, Solidarity fund
French Morocco, Lyautey exhibition
French…

CHAT: Another one bites the dust

Oh dear, and it all started so innocently with me just wondering why the Czech Republic would honour one of its greatest engravers with a stamp printed in lithography.

That's right. On 20 January of this year, the Czech Republic issued a stamp honouring their designer/engraver Bedrich Housa. Which is marvellous. But if you want to do justice to such a wonderful artist, you would think they would opt for a printing method which is traditionally seen as the most classy, beautiful and artistic; that's right: you would create a hand-engraved, recess-printed stamp.

But no, offset it was and offset it would be. Which left me fuming a little. Little did I know it would get worse. 'Coz when I mentioned this to my stamp buddy in the Czech Republic, he replied with news which, to say the least, is rather devastating: the Czech Republic has stopped producing engraved, recess-printed stamps from 1 January 2020!

I have hardly recovered from Scandinavia falling off the radar and now thi…

BOOK: The Engraving Art of Czeslaw Slania

It has since disbanded but the Czeslaw Slania Study Group was a major force in the field of Slania collecting for many years. Apart from their newsletters, they published works cataloguing everything by Slania. This continued until after the master's death in 2005, and the publication of today is their 2008 fifth revised edition of The Engraving Art of Czeslaw Slania, which may well be their latest edition of this work.

For those who would like to have a complete-as-possible list of Slania items this is really a good book to hunt down. Not only does it list all stamps engraved by Slania (naturally!), it goes on to list his banknotes, his non-postal labels - the boxer labels taking pride of place among them - and his private art.

But it goes on! Phone cards, stamp cards, postal cards, postmarks, bookplates, design sketches; basically anything and everything that is Slania related is to be found in here.

Printed in black and white, these 124 pages are a treasure of information, and …

BIOGRAPHY: Joseph Ives Pease

Joseph Ives Pease was born in Norfolk, VA, in the United States, on 9 August 1809. He initially showed talent as an inventor but in the early 1830s he went to New York City to study drawing at the National Academy of Design. For many years after, Pease engrave portraits for the National Portrait Gallery. In 1858, Pease came to work for the American Bank Note Company.

In 1865, Charles Jeens had submitted essays for the cod and seal definitives for Newfoundland, but eventually it was Joseph Pease who got to engrave the stamps.
The 1870 ‘busts’ definitives of the United States included a portrait of Franklin engraved by Pease. He had probably started work on a portrait in September 1869, but his first engraving was of a bust facing right. It was trialled with various frames but then Pease was asked to engrave another portrait, this time facing left. That portrait was eventually used on the 1c value.
Joseph Pease passed away on 2 July 1883.
You will find Joseph Ives Pease's database HERE.

BIOGRAPHY: Didier Guedron

Didier Guedron, born in 1950, was interested in drawing from an early age. After leaving his secondary education, he joined the engraving classes of the Ecole Estienne in Paris, where he was initially taught by René Cottet, and from 1968 by another stamp engraver, Pierre Forget. Guedron graduated in 1970 and went on to attend the School of Fine Arts in Paris, but he had to leave after a year, to join the French forces in Germany. There he met his wife.

In 1973, Guedron was contacted by his former master Forget, who told him that there was a vacancy at the French stamp printing works after their engraver Jean Miermont had just retired, and whether he would be interested. Guedron was accepted and the couple moved back to France.
Guedron’s philatelic output started off impressively, with no less than six stamps in five designs being issued in 1973, for various former French territories. First of those, the 150k value from the Laos World Meteorological Organisation set, depicting the Char…

BIOGRAPHY: Jindra Schmidt

Unlike many great engravers, who were encouraged into the craft by their artistic fathers, Jindra Schmidt had an aunt to thank for pointing him in the right direction.
Born on 24 July 1897 in Racice, Bohemia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Schmidt had a goldsmith for a father, but was orphaned at the tender age of three, and he and his elder brother were raised by his uncle.
When he professed an interest in becoming a painter, he was given no encouragement from his uncle, who thought that being an artist was a rather risky and uncertain career path. It was better to learn a proper trade.
Fate, however, lend a helping hand in the shape of an aunt from Vienna who, out of the blue, descended onto the scene, listened to the wee boy’s desires, and decided he should become an apprentice at her son-in-law’s shop, where the young Jindra could learn to be a wood engraver. That way, he would learn a trade and be able to be artistic at the same time.
And so, Schmidt came to work in the Ka…

ENGRAVING OF THE WEEK

1861
New South Wales

Definitive

Queen Victoria coin
Gold on green colour proof

Engraved by Frederick Heath

ENGRAVING OF THE DAY

2008
France
Definitives
Marianne
Engraved by Yves Beaujard

ENGRAVING OF THE DAY

1962
French Southern and Antarctic Territories
Definitives
Adélie penguins
Epreuve de luxe

Engraved by Pierre Béquet

BIOGRAPHY: Bruce Hay

Not much is known about the engraver Bruce Hay. Two Canadian stamps are attributed to him: the 1933 5c Royal William and the 1934 3c Cartier stamp. The Royal William stamp is interesting in that die proofs exist of his original engraving of the stamp, which featured a ship that turned out not to be the SS Royal William.

There is also a die essay of a design featuring a three-funnelled liner. Judging by the scroll frame, this is thought to have been an engraved essay for the 1918 Panama set, which was printed by the American bank Note Company.

You will find Bruce Hay's database HERE.

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