Stamps Never Issued
|
|
This is the first stamp
engraved by Czeslaw Slania for the Polish Printing Works, and features
the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. It was engraved at the
beginning of the 1950s. The exact time is unknown. It is a
splendid example of Slania's great talent for portraying that was later
developed to perfection.
The stamp was never issued, please
note the white empty field in the top left corner, that was reserved for
inserting face value.
The stamp is scanned from the book
by Count Lennart Bernadotte: "Czeslaw Slania and his
Works". |
The below images are all designs
for stamps never issued. Please note the white square on each
label, where the face value should have been printed.
-
Francis of Assisi.
-
Susan in the Bath.
-
St. Marinus.
The following article
by Mr. Jerzy Krysiak (Sweden) appeared in the Polish philatelic magazine
"FILATELISTYKA", October 1998. It was originally printed
in Polish, and is translated into English by Mr. Richard Wegrzyn,
Australia.
On a commission from the San
Marino Post Office Slania engraved three stamps based on paintings
by the Italian painter Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Guercino) of the
XVIIc. The engravings are of St. Marinus, St. Francis of
Assisi and 'Susan at her bath'. The stamps are 33.8x43.5 mm.,
perforated 12 1/4, as well as imperforate. The stamps were printed
by hand, less than 20 sets, in one colour but the the engraver
painted several of them by hand in various colours. These are
the ones illustrated in the book 'Czeslaw Slania, his lifework'
published by Count Leonard Bernadotte in 1989, Mainau,
Germany. It is difficult to say why the stamps were not
accepted, maybe according to Catholic tastes 'Susan at her bath' was
a bit too naked? Instead, the San Marino Post Office issued three
stamps using offset printing. Two of them were on similar
themes as before, St. Marinus (Mi 887), St. Francis of Assisi
(Mi 888), but the third stamp, 'Susan at her bath', was replaced by
a portrait from the same painter, 'Return of the Prodigal Son'(Mi
889). Slania had no hand in the design of these issued stamps.
|
|
Slania also took part in a
competition organised by the San Marino Post Office to design a
stamp based on the theme of the birth of Christ. Slania based
his engraving on the painting 'Visitation of the Magi' by Rubens, in
the Goteborg Museum of Art, Sweden. Perforation is 12 1/4, printed by
hand, in several single colours. Only a handful were
produced. Unfortunately the competition committee decreed that
the stamp did not conform to the theme specified and did not award a
first prize to anyone.
Slania won second prize and 100,000
lire (1967). The stamp was never officially issued and is the
only one of his un-issued San Marino stamps to bear a face value --
200 lire. |
Gothenburg Art Museum has kindly provided
me with a full colour photograph of the original painting on which the engraving
is based, with explicit written permission to show it on this site.
Copyright for this photograph is strictly reserved by the Art Museum.
Click here to see a large
image of the original painting. Attention: it is approximately 87000
kb large. The link will open in a new window.
Link:
Revised 16-jun-2007.Webmaster
Copyright © 2001-2007. All Rights Reserved |
|
