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on May 30, 2020

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Let's have a last hurrah for our posties during this pandemic!

Engraved by Professor Rudolf Toth

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DATABASE: Martin Mörck

STAMPS 1977 Sweden, Definitive Sweden, Public transport 1978 Sweden, Definitive Sweden, Europa Sweden, Northern arrow Sweden, Christmas 1979 Sweden, Bandy Sweden, Year of the child Sweden, Sundsvall strike Sweden, Costumes and jewellery 1981 Sweden, Norse mythology Sweden, Year of disabled persons Sweden, Sailing boats Sweden, Guest of reality Sweden, Business mail 1982 Sweden, Museum of cultural history Sweden, Buoyage system Sweden, Nobel prize winners 1983 Sweden, Postal co-operation Sweden, Europa Sweden, Hjalmar Bergman Sweden, Return of Riksdag Sweden, Nobel prize winners 1984 Sweden, Mountain world Sweden, Fredrika Bremer association Sweden, Viking satellite Sweden, Nobel prize winners 1985 Sweden, Touring club Sweden, Trade signs Sweden, Board games Sweden, Birth centenaries Sweden, Nobel prize winners 1986 Sweden, Water birds Sweden, Peace year Sweden, Nobel prize winners 1987 Aland Islands, 1m bridge definitive Icel

The Two Masters

I have felt for some time, in fact ever since the Czech Republic abandoned the idea of high quality engraved stamps, that my interest in stamp engravings and engravers has sort of run its course. The vast majority of new issues may have some hand-engraving at the core, but the actual stamps are really just computer generated, and only by collecting die proofs can one still hold a piece of craftmanship in one's hands. So I've decided to call it a day and end this blog on this special day. And it is a special day, because today we celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of that great master Czeslaw Slania. So what better way to see this adventure off than with a stamp honouring a Master Engraver, engraved by that other Master Engraver, Martin Mörck! I want to thank you all for the many years you've spent with me, all your kind comments, and the joy we all felt while walking together through this world of art. Take care Adrian

Pierre Gandon: An artist outwith fashion (part 1)

The phone rang just as his statuette of the Virgin Lady took a direct hit from a German bullet. It was the head of the French Post. “Quick, Pierre, General de Gaulle is coming to Paris tomorrow morning and he needs to choose the new French definitive design. There are four of you in the frame: Cheffer, Mazelin, Piel and you. Better get a design ready. Make haste, make haste!” And so, in August 1944, while French and German soldiers were fighting all around him, Pierre Gandon sat down in his ravaged studio at Place de Furstenberg in Paris, and worked all night on his Marianne. He modelled her after his wife Jacqueline. This stamp, once chosen by De Gaulle, would revive his career as a stamp engraver. And his career badly needed reinvigorating, because Gandon had been blacklisted for three months, for having engraved the French Tricolour Legion stamps back in 1942, and one of a number of non-postal labels associated with this issue. Those issues had become a symbol for the hated Vichy re

DATABASE: Czeslaw Slania

STAMPS 1951 Poland, Paris commune Poland, Mining Poland, People's republic 1952 Poland, General Swierczewski Poland, Air Poland, Nikolai Gogol Poland, Proletariat party Poland, Avicenna Poland, Victor Hugo Poland, Sienkiewicz Poland, Car workers fund 1953 Poland, Renaissance 1954 Poland, Air Poland, Second republic Poland, Return of Pomerania Poland, Kosciuszko's insurrection Poland, Protected animals 1955 Poland, Chopin piano competition Poland, Warsaw monuments 1956 Poland, Warsaw monuments Poland, Olympics 1960 Sweden, Anders Zorn Sweden, Refugee year Sweden, Shooting organisation Sweden, Fröding Sweden, Europa Sweden, Branting 1961 Sweden, Definitives Sweden, Alströmer Sweden, Library regulation 1962 Denmark, Dansk Fredning (two issues) Denmark, Under-developed countries Denmark, Selandia Denmark, Value on 1k20, 1k25 and 1k50 Small Arms definitive (2) Sweden, Local mail delivery service Sweden, Monuments 1963

BIOGRAPHY: Czeslaw Slania

“Engraving is a matter of light and shadows” If there is one name synonymous with the art of stamp engraving, it must be that of Czeslaw Slania (1921-2005). During his career, spanning over fifty years, his more than 1,000 engraved stamps have attracted at least as many superlatives. Born near Katowice, Poland, on 22 October 1921, it was clear from an early age that Slania had a special talent for drawing and apparently he was fond of miniatures. Although it has to be said that he had some trouble finding a proper outlet for it. Slania started out young by selling his drawings to fellow pupils at school so they could get good marks. He later got found out for having perfectly forged the headmaster’s signature. As early as then, it was generally thought Slania would become an important artist. But that was not before he could once again execute his forging techniques, in the Second World War, by copying identity cards and other documents for the Polish underground forces. After

BIOGRAPHY: Ferdinand Schirnbock

Ferdinand Schirnböck is synonymous with the engraved stamps of Austria. In an era dominated by letterpress printing, he visualised the final years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in intaglio, and went on to produce many of the early issues of its successor republic. But Schirnböck’s output encompassed 14 other countries too, and indeed his career started on the other side of the world. Born in Hollabrunn, north of Vienna, on 27 August 1859, Schirnböck trained at the Vienna Academy’s school for engravers, after having been a couple of years at the Vienna Professional School, where F. Laufberger was his teacher. When he graduated at the age of 27, his first full-time job took him all the way to Argentina, where he joined the South American Bank Note Company in Buenos Aires. In his five years there, from 1887-92, he engraved most of the stamps issued by Argentina, notably an array of definitives portraying historic figures. Schirnböck started by engraving all values of

BIOGRAPHY: Martin Mörck

Martin Mörck (born 1955) was raised in a family of artists and from a young age was emerged in the world of artists such as Dürer. Moreover, Martin’s father was a graphic artist and a stamp collector and as such the first to plant the seeds of love of both graphic art and philately in his son. It clearly worked for Mörck sees stamps as unique pieces of art, appreciating the artistic value of each and every one. What he loves about his work as an engraver is that ideas in your head end up on paper via your hands. He has a reputation as being insatiable and regularly spends a minimum of 60 hours a week on his engravings. Mörck was never officially trained to become an engraver. He got his first engraving tools when he was 15, and soon got the hang of it, but felt he needed a bit more guidance. So, at 16, he went to a general art course which opened up the possibility of becoming the apprentice of an engraver, which happened to be the stamp engraver Arne Wallhorn . This led to Mörc

BIOGRAPHY: Karl Bickel

Karl Bickel was born on 13 February 1886, in Zürich-Hirslanden, Switzerland. He lost his father when he was only four and was then raised mainly by his mother, even though she did remarry after a while. Karl enjoyed a free upbringing and spent his time dreaming of various careers, ranging from entering a monastery to something to do with machines, and everything in between. It was quite a coincidence that he entered the lithography business. After having applied for various apprenticeships in 1900, Paul Bleuler’s well-known graphic art company was the first to react, offering him a position to learn the art of lithography. Karl Bickel stayed for four years during which time he occupied himself mainly with designing and drawing picture postcards. After his apprenticeship, Bickel was employed by the graphic art company Hüttner where he soon made it to technical head. Again, Bickel created picture postcards, but also fashion and other catalogues.

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It's funny how you sometimes think you've studied a stamp quite exhaustively, only to find out there's so much more to learn about it! That's what happened to me the other day when I read a blog post on the Dutch Postzegelblog, by Cees Janssen. The post is about the 1947 Austrian stamp to mark the centenary of the Austrian Telegraph, a stamp engraved by Herbert Toni Schimek . Now it is quite a remarkable engraving, especially when you look at the globe. The illustration is built up with an array of ever larger circles; and by varying the thickness of those circles, the actual illustration is created. This was a tribute to the French engraver Claude Mellan (1598-1688), who was instrumental in developing the technique of copper engraving, which would later become the technique used for stamp engraving. Mellan's most famous work was The Head of Christ, which was an engraving built up with just the one single line, going round and round in circles. So like I said, unt

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 Frenc

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