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!

I Interview...Som from India

A Facebook friend and follower of my blog, named Som, graciously volunteered some of his time for a Slania Crazy interview. Enjoy!

Slania Crazy: Thank you very much for participating in my "I Interview..." series.
Som: Many thanks for choosing me.

Q: When did you start collecting Slania stamps?

A: When I started back into stamp collecting in 2009 after taking a four year break, I began collecting Slania. But I guess to be more precise, I started collecting Slania in 2010.

Q: What drew you to start collecting Slania?

A: Well, I remember that I had just started collecting Faroe Island stamps, and at that point I must admit I was fairly ignorant about Slania. Slowly I grew more and more attracted to Faroe Islands stamps, especially the engraved ones. After browsing around and consulting senior collectors, I came to know more about Slania and I thought it would be nice to collect these special artistic stamps. They included so much detail.

Q: What is your favourite Slania stamp, and why is it your favourite?
A: This question is too difficult to answer.

Q: Where do you usually get your Slania stamps?
A: Exchanges from fellow collectors. Ebay. Also in 2014 I was in Sweden on a business trip and I had the opportunity to visit a stamp shop in Lund. He had an amazing collection of Slania material, specifically signed items. So I emptied my pockets there!

Q: What references do you like using?

A: Only one reference: http://www.slaniastamps-heindorffhus.com/index.html
I feel it's quite a handy reference.

Q: Do you remember what your first Slania stamp was?
A: I think it was the 1979 Faroese Ram

Q: Do you collect any other engravers?

A: Well, not exactly. But as part of my France/French Colonies collection I have some, and they are all catchy.

Q: What are your other stamp specialisms?

A: I collect train and railway themed stamps. I also collect some birds on stamps that I like. Country-wise, I collect Faroe Islands, Greenland, and France pre 1970.

Q: How do you store your Slania stamps?

A: I still need to organise them nicely. Currently I have them housed in Lighthouse albums.

Q: Do you have any collecting tips to share?

A: Okay, the main thing is patience. In time things will definitely show up. And we have to remain focused and concentrate on collecting his art works and postal stationary. Being Slania collectors we can't ignore anything of his.

I'd like to thank Som again for the interview. As always, if anyone else out there wishes to participate, please let me know in the comments.

Until next time...

Stay Slania Crazy!

Faroe Islands 1979 - Europa Postal History

On 7 May 1979 the Faroe Islands issued a set of 2 Europa stamps with the theme of Postal History. The stamps were engraved by Czeslaw Slania. In order for me to understand the theme of these stamps, I spent some time studying the Postal History of the Faroes. I found out some interesting bits of information.

The Faroe Islands are an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark. Up until 1975 Danish stamps were used in the Faroe Islands. These usually had no overprint or surcharge. At least this was the case until 1919. The aftermath of WWI forced Denmark to increase postage rates in the Faroes. They subsequently informed the postal authorities on the Faroe Islands of the rate increase to commence in January 1919.  To better understand the rest of this story, knowledge of the new postal rates is necessary...

• Inland Faroe Islands letters up to 15g was now 5 to 7 ore
• Postcards to Denmark up to 15g was now 4 to 7 ore

Due to unreliable shipping, the Faroes did not receive a supply of stamps bearing the 7 ore value on time. As a consequence, the Faroese Post Office had to use 'Provisional Stamps' since the 7 ore was an essential value for the new rates. For a time they used surplus lower value stamps as make-up values: 1, 3, 4, and 5 ore values. When the 2 ore values started to run low the Post Office in Tórshavn received permission to bisect their stocks of 4 ore stamps diagonally to act as 2 ore stamps. The 4 ore stamp type used was the Denmark 1917 dull blue.

This leads us to the first stamp in the 1979 set engraved by Czeslaw Slania. Slania here has faithfully reproduced a 2 ore 'Provisional' diagonal bisect from 1919.

But as inevitably happens, pretty soon supplies of the 4 ore stamps began to run low. The Faroe Islands Post Office was given further permission to overprint 5 ore stamps with 2 ore values. To achieve this the local Post Office created their own hand stamp out of - believe it or not - a chair leg! These overprints were subsequently called 'chair leg stamps' The truth really is stranger than fiction. The stamp type used for these 'chair leg' overprints was the Denmark 1913 5 ore green.

This then leads us to the second stamp in the 1979 set engraved by Czeslaw Slania. Slania has again created a lovely replica of the 1919 'Provisional' 2 ore overprint on the Denmark 1913 5 ore green.

Until next time...

Stay Slania Crazy!

Faroe Islands 1975 - Faroe Views

On 30 January 1975 the Faroe Islands was granted postal independence from Denmark. To mark this day Faroe Islands issued a large set of fourteen stamps. Eleven of these stamps were engraved by Czeslaw Slania. I studied the first seven stamps of this set in a previous blog - click HERE. In this blog I shall study Slania's final four stamps in this set. These four stamps comprise two different designs.

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The subject of the first design has given me a bit of a challenge. The Heindorffhus site (which is fantastic) states that the subject of this stamp was based on a painting by Eyvindur Mohr, and it depicts a view from the island of Vidoy. I then checked my Scott catalogue to see if there was any more info on the image. Well, the Scott catalogue tells a different story. It says that the stamp depicts a scene from Sandoy Island. Which was correct? In an attempt to discover the answer I studied some photos from both islands on the net. And I think I found a photo that provides an answer. 

First let's take a look at the stamp design in question. As mentioned above, this design was used for two values: the 200o (as pictured below) and the 70o. This design is an absolute stunner!

But which island does it depict? Well, I managed to find a photo in which I can pinpoint the same landmarks as in the stamp.

As you can see the coastline matches almost perfectly. So where is it? This image depicts the west coast of Sandoy Island. 

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The second design, according to the heindorffhus site, is apparently a view of Svinoy, taken from a photograph by Ásmundur Poulsen. This design was used for two values: the 250o and the 300o (as pictured below). Because I had to question the subject of the first design, I also wanted to check the information on this design to make sure it was right.

Again, I think this is possibly the wrong location. According to the Scott catalogue this is a view looking from the island of Streymoy towards the island of Vagar. And I found an image that confirms this.

This shot was apparently taken from Streymoy Island looking toward Vagar Island.

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At this point I have to say that this blog was in no way meant to discredit the wonderful Heindorffhus site. I was merely pointing out that we always need to be vigilant and do our own research. I love the Heindorffhus site and I use it all the time! And, who knows, my info could be incorrect!

One final thought before I say goodbye for today. While researching the Faroes, I have to say I fell in love with the place. The landscapes are truly breathtaking! If you have a bit of time type Faroe Islands into your browser and feast your eyes on some of the glorious landscape images out there. I'd love to visit this place one day!

Until next time...

Stay Slania Crazy!