Czeslaw Slania Master Engraver

I'm surprised that no one has of yet started a thread about
Czeslaw Slania (22 October 1921 – 17 March 2005)
Master engraver, Royal Court Engraver of Sweden, engraver of over 1000 stamps for 29 countries, also
engraved banknotes including a $5 bill for Canada, Slania was
not only the ultimate in engraving but also worked fast and was very prolific.

There is lots of info about him online but one of the best sites is this by Ann Mette Heindorff (1942-2009)

http://www.slaniastamps-heindorffhus.com/

When I first started collecting Sweden by way of subscription to Swedish Post in the early 1970s
I noticed that some stamps really stood out and they were the ones usually with
CZ.SLANIAsc. engraved on the lower right border.

It was stamps like this Women in Sports set that drew me to his work.
The engravings were so clean, uncluttered yet appeared almost like
photos of these women.

Scott 914 - 918 1972








Here is what Guillaume Broux the Belgian engraver told Adrian Keppel
(AKPhilately) in an interview which was included in the November 2017 issue of Gibbons Stamp Monthly:

When I visited him, he explained to me why lines run the way they do.
Why he used a full line in some places and a dotted line in others.
Where lines had to be cross-hatched and when the little squares within these hatched lines had to be filled in with dots.
How he used different lines for where skin was soft and skin was harder.
Every line in the drawing was the result of a conscious and reasoned decision.

There are so many of Slania's stamps that are such a joy
to look at like these I just posted recently on the Collecting by
Engraver thread (before I knew we would have this forum)
http://goscf.com/t/9106&whichpage=232

Here is a set from 1978 commemorating the travels
of the Swedish botanist Carl von Linne.
I think that Czeslaw Slania was in his prime in the late 1970s
even though he did amazing work before and after.

Scott 1242 - 1247 1978

I like the scene with the rolling hills.
A lot of intricate details, including the farm house in the background.

modernstamps, I agree it's also my favourite in that set.

Czeslaw Slania engraved this set below which promotes
Swedish Glassmaking.

Sweden 1972

Scott 923 - 927

Sweden 1972

Engraver:Czeslaw Slania

Scott 940 - 945

18th Century Swedish Art








The booklet 945a

Sweden 1973

Engraver:Czeslaw Slania

Scott 1005 - 1009

Swedish Explorers

Sweden 1973

Engraver:Czeslaw Slania

Scott 1010 - 1014

Centenary of the Nordic Museum, Stockholm

lithograving - Thank you very much for your posts.

Quote: It was stamps like this Women in Sports set that drew me to his work.
The engravings were so clean, uncluttered yet appeared almost like
photos of these women.

Slania often worked from photos which he knew how to interpret wonderfully. I cannot stop admiring his rendering of the water around the diver in Sc. #915, of the soil in Sc. #1010, Plower with Ox Team, or of the grain of the wood in Sc. #1127, Falun Mine pithead gear, 1852 in the European Architectural Heritage Year 1975 set. He used his technique of drawing a detailed model of the design in lines, dots and cross-hatching first and faithfully reproducing this detailed line-drawing of his on the die then - pure perfection.

Florian your comments are welcome and right on as usual.
Your mentioning Slania's depiction of water, soil and wood
makes a very good point.
In his engravings he makes common, ordinary, everyday things
look like you've never seen them before.

Here is the European Architectural Heritage Year 1975 stamp you
refered to above.

Sweden

Scott 1127

Lithograving..I never tire of looking at Slania's engravings.

This is one of my favourites!...the detail is amazing!

Faroe Islands-1979
Scott #42

Faroes Ram

Sweden 1976

Engraver:Czeslaw Slania

Scott 1154 coil stamp

Bobbin Lace Maker



The booklet pane is Scott 1156a
Stamps from the booklet are perforated on 3 sides and
listed as Scott 1156

Yes graphis that's one his best but he probably knocked that
off in less than a week whereas most engravers would have
worked on it for two maybe three weeks.

And that is why he was the Master Engraver.

From a booklet pane issued for Stockholmia '86
Celebrating the Postal Service's 350th anniversary. People at work conveying mail through four centuries.

Scott#1607-1609

Based on art of Svenolov Ehren

Mail farmhand, 17th century.


The Interior of a Post Office 18th century.


A mail carriage, 19th century.



Modern mail handling at the Post Terminal in Tomteboda, 20th century.

Issued in 1997
600th anniversary of the Kalmar Union, uniting Denmark, Norway and Sweden in one kingdom under the sovereignty of the Danish Queen Margrethe I (1397).

Designer:I.Axelsson

I really don't know what happened here...not a great looking stamp!
What's up with the image of the guy on the right?

I guess not every stamp Slania engraved is a gem.

graphis, that 600th anniversary of the Kalmar Union isn't
that bad when you consider in 1997 Czeslaw Slania was 76 years old
and was probably still engraving stamps for half a dozen countries.

I agree he did some pretty ordinary work also, just look
at some of earlier Danish stuff.

No self-respecting collector of Poland & Poland-related material doesn't have at least a smattering of Slania material. Somewhere along the way the philatelic industry realised his potential so we have a mass of "extras' to collect, one of which are blackprints of his postage stamps.

Australia 1994 Aviation feats Scott 1381-84






A blackprint was issued by Australia Post & available at post offices, the cost was $4-$5 if I recall correctly. I was able to get Slania's sigiature when he visited Melbourne in 2001