Faroe Islands 1980 - Saintly Carvings

Who would have thought that the world's oldest church still in use today stands on a volcanic island way up in the North Atlantic. And this very church has a connection with the stamp engraving guru, Czeslaw Slania. That church is Saint Olav's, and its origins date to the 12th Century. The church is located in the village of Kirkjubøur on the island of Streymoy in the Faroe Islands.

So what is the connection between Czeslaw Slania and Saint Olav's. Well, pull up a pew and I shall tell you (the bad joke will become apparent in a minute). It all started back in medieval times when it was decided it would be nice to decorate the ends of the church pews of Saint Olav's with elaborate carvings. Pews are the long benches found in churches upon which parishioners sit. The ends, generally wooden, are often decorated. Below is an example.

Take this type of decoration and multiply it by a factor of 100 and you may start getting close to the beautifully carved pew ends that were housed in Saint Olav's. Below is one of the pews, all of which are now located in the National Museum of the Faroe Islands.

These pew ends are such fine pieces of art that the Faroe Islands Postal Authority decided to celebrate their beauty by featuring them on a set of stamps. Czeslaw Slania was picked to do the engravings. There were four stamps initially printed, and these were issued on 8 October 1980. Two subsequent sets of four were issued in 1984 and 2001. In this blog I will focus on the first set of four issued in 1980.

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The first pew end carving depicts Mary and the baby Jesus. Not surprisingly, Slania has managed to capture the intricate details of the wooden carving as only a master engraver can.

Studying a close-up of Mary and baby Jesus, we can see that Slania remained faithful to the original piece of art, even down to its irregularities.

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The second stamp in the series depicts the carved image of St. John the Baptist.

A close-up of St. John the Baptist. I love the halo.

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The third stamp in the series depicts St. Peter. This pew end has the addition of the face of Jesus above St. Peter.

Close-ups of St. Peter and Jesus.

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The final stamp in this series depicts the carving of St. Paul.

A close-up of St. Paul.

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The detail Slania has achieved on each and every one of these stamps is truly exquisite. My only criticism of the set is the choice of background colours of the first two stamps. I personally don't like the colours at all. But that is just my preference.

Until next time...

Stay Slania Crazy!

Sweden 2000 - Slania's 1000th Engraving

Slania Crazy has just surpassed 10,000 page views. I am absolutely thrilled! A big thank you to everyone out there who takes the time to read my ramblings. In order to celebrate this milestone I'd thought it would be fun to feature Czelsaw Slania's 1,000th engraving, which also happens to be the largest engraved stamp in the world.

The stamp was issued in Sweden on 17 March 2000 in Souvenir Sheet format. It is based on a painting by David Klöcker Ehrenstråhle, titled The Great Deeds of the Swedish Kings. I'll get back to the painting in a bit, but for now let us feast our eyes on the truly sumptuous work of Czeslaw Slania. The stamp is absolutely massive and the detail amazing.

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The subject of this stamp is a portion of a ceiling fresco made by David Klöcker Ehrenstråhle in 1695 in Drottningholm Palace, the home of the Swedish Royal Family. The palace fresco is actually a copy of an earlier work by David Klöcker Ehrenstråhle located on the ceiling of the Great Hall of the House of Knights, made between 1670 and 1675. The painting depicts the allegorical figure, Eterna (Eternity) holding the Crown of Immortality. Below is a rather blurry image of the painting detailing the section Slania chose to reproduce in his engraving.

At the top left of the painting is Eterna with the Crown of Immortality depicted as a crown of stars. As you can see, this falls outside of the section engraved by Slania.

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The part of the painting Slania chose is packed with detail and certainly worthy of a couple of close-ups. At the bottom of the stamp is a lion bounding through the heavens. Lions have been associated with Swedish heraldry for centuries. I must say, though, that this lion seems a tad frightened.

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Dominating the stamp is a beautiful angelic figure, perhaps guiding those below her towards the heavens. In the painting, it seems the angelic figure is guiding those with her up to Eternity, but since Eternity doesn't feature in the stamp, I figure the heavens is the suggestion.

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Since the detail work on this stamp is so stunning, I thought I'd include some different stages of the die plate.

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Just one final titbit of information before I call it quits. The building featured at the bottom of the Souvenir Sheet is Drottningholm Palace, the home of the fresco. Interestingly, Piotr Naszarkowski, who can be considered Slania's successor, engraved a stamp for Sweden in 1991 of that very building.

Until next time...

Stay Slania Crazy!

Sweden 1960 - Gustaf Fröding

Gustaf Fröding is arguably one of the best poets that Sweden has ever produced. He was born on 22 August 1860 in Alster outside Karlstad in Värmland. His poetry, which was occasionally written in his own dialect, had a quality which translates well into music. In fact, many Swedish bands have done just that. Recently the Swedish band, Mando Diao, wrote a song for their album, Infruset, with lyrics adapted from Gustaf's poetry. In his poetry, Gustaf was very candid about relating his addiction to alcohol and his problems with women. It was as a result of these problems that Gustaf was put on trial for obscenity. He was to spend a large portion of his later life in mental institutions, desperately trying to fight the demons of alcoholism and womanising. He wrote much of his work while institutionalised. In the end, Gustaf found a semblance of happiness in the care of his nurse, Signe Trotzig. Apparently, when he moved out of hospital she remained with him till the day he died, 18 February 1911.

Gustaf in 1896

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On 22 August 1960 Sweden issued a set of two stamps commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Gustaf Fröding. The chosen design was engraved by Czeslaw Slania. A single design was used for the issue with two different values.

The 30o red brown. This stamp was issued in both vertical coils and booklets of 20. The example below is from a vertical coil.

The 1.40k slate green. This stamp was issued in vertical coils.

I have to say what draws my eye on this stamp design is the beard. Those of you who are regular readers of my blogs know I am connoisseur of engraved beards. And this one is a beauty. Just look at that thing - gnarly and full of life! And it seems that Gustaf's beard had significantly thickened out since the photo shown above.

Until next time...

Stay Slania Crazy!

Sweden 1960 - Voluntary Shooting Organisation

In 1860 the idea of creating volunteer rifle forces in Sweden was born. Local volunteer-corp quickly formed, and these were so popular that by 1864 over 40,000 volunteers were involved. The idea behind this was to create a trained reserve of voluntary troops for homeland defence. But due to organisational issues the movement gradually fizzled out. However, by 1893 the system was reorganised. Rifle clubs for local defence were created in many towns throughout the country. By the end of 1901 there were 1334 rifle clubs with 91,337 members. Eighty-five percent of these members were liable for conscription service. The rifle clubs, it seems to me, kept the public well practised in the use of firearms. This whole idea isn't something I personally agree with, being strictly anti-gun. But that's just my view. And not really the point of the blog.

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On 30 June 1960 Sweden issued a set of two stamps commemorating the centenary of the Voluntary Shooting Organisation. One of these stamps - the 90o value - was engraved by Czeslaw Slania. It depicts a parade of riflemen. This stamp was issued in horizontal coils. It is a lovely design, and contains one of Slania's favourite subjects - a horse.

The other stamp in this set was engraved by A. Wallhorn, and it depicts riflemen at target practice.

While doing research for this blog I also come across a rather lovely cover that includes both stamps.

Until next time...

Stay Slania Crazy!