Liechtenstein: Stamps & Covers

The 2019 Year of the Rat issue:

The latest of the Chinese New Year cut-out blocks from Liechtenstein, "2020 Year of the Ox". I think we can all agree that ox had mad cow disease...

Continuing the series of Chinese Lunar Year cut-out stamps, the 2021 Year of the Tiger issue:
 

A nice little FDC.
        

Liechtenstein, Sc356, 50rp multi-colored.  Europa Issue, 1960.

New cut-out stamp from Liechtenstein, showing a profile of the Vaduz castle:

After much thought and deliberation and being a Newbie to the hobby Lichtenstein ticks all the boxes as one of my Stamp Collecting interests. So any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

This post from fazeman gives me the opportunity to go into a little more detail about the designer of these Liechtenstein stamps: Professor Eugen Zotov. He played a not insignificant role in Liechtenstein's art history:

His "real" name was Ivan Grigoryevich Myasoyedov and he was born in Kharkiv in 1881 as the son of the painter Grigory Grigoryevich Myasoyedov. Kharkiv belonged to the Russian Empire at the time and is now part of Ukraine (and has been permanently under fire from the Russian army since Russia's attack on Ukraine).

Ivan Myasoyedov studied at the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Moscow from 1896-1901 and attended the painting class at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts from 1907 to 1912.

The Russian Revolution and the Civil War forced him and his family to flee, first to the Crimea, then via Sevastopol and Trieste to Germany. After brief stays in Munich and Augsburg, Ivan Miassoyedov arrived in Berlin with his wife and daughter in 1921 and spent a total of 13 years there.
Ivan Myasoyedov left Germany in 1936 and, after stays in Riga and Brussels, arrived in Liechtenstein in 1938 with a Czech passport as Eugen Zotow. Here he was one of the first freelance artists. In March 1953, he set off for Argentina, now once again under the name Myasoyedov. Only a few months after his arrival in his new homeland, Ivan Myasoyedov died in Buenos Aires on July 27, 1953.

Eugen Zotov designed several stamps of the Principality of Liechtenstein:

In 1939, this was the series commemorating the Liechtenstein people's homage to the new Prince of Liechtenstein Franz Joseph II (Michel ## 180 - 182). Zotov designed and engraved the stamps/plates.




In 1942, he designed (and engraved) the images (and plates) for a stamp series commemorating the 600th anniversary of the division of territory between the Counts of Montfort-Weidenberg and Sargans (Michel ## 202 -206). This division of territory had great historical significance in the region that later became the Principality of Liechtenstein.







Finally, in 1943, the stamp series presented by Fazeman was issued to mark the completion of the inland canal in Liechtenstein (Michel ## 218 -221), shown here again for the sake of completeness.



Zotov was involved in the "Madonna of Dux" issue in 1941 (Michel # 197) as the engraver of the printing plate, which is also noted on the selvage of the miniature sheet.










Finally, in 2021 there was a joint issue by Liechtenstein and Ukraine, also on Myasoyedov/Zotov (Michel ## 2018, 2019), here the Liechtenstein souvenir sheet.

In an earlier post, I mentioned that I was quite taken with the Liechtenstein stamps rednaxela posted - especially the 1942 series commemorating the separation of Liechtenstein from the House of Monfort.

I bought a set and it arrived in today's mail. I'm even more impressed seeing them in front of me. Especially this stamp ... 



Stamp:
Liechtenstein - Battle of Gutenberg
Issued: April 22, 1942
1Fr
Sc. 179

Not only it is well designed, the skill of the engraver is wonderful. Look at these two closeups.





He has managed to tell part of the story of the artillery train in this battle. You can see the effort and strain on their faces as they pull the gun carriage. I love the little details ... the soldier picking up loose cannon balls, for example. I know these images were in the original painting, but it takes a different skill set to convey the image so well in a few short strokes of a steel tool especially on such a small format.

Thanks again for sharing.

PS - These stamps have lots of very visible blue, red and orange threads on both sides. That's always fun too.

Hi Paul ... great questions. 

1 - My understanding is that granite paper is a fairly informal (versus scientific) classification of a paper that is usually grey-ish and thickish and has short (versus long) silk, cloth or paper threads embedded in it as an anti-counterfeiting measure. In which case, it looks like granite paper to me. I wouldn't call it 'grey' ... but it is a but dull. Definitely thick-ish though. And, I can't tell if the threads are silk but they are short. My Scott Catalogue is silent on the matter but my Michel says it's 'faserpapier', or 'granite paper' ... so I guess that settles it (smile).

2 - You're right. I don't know for sure. I just assumed it was steel engraving - that is, a burin was used to hand engrave (etch) the design into a softer steel die. My opinion only. A specialized reference could tell us more. When I was younger, one of my hobbies was blacksmithing. I have no skill, or knowledge, of the subtle art of engraving. I just took a hammer, heated things up and banged things together until I was happy with the result. Not subtle at all ... very crude (smile). 

They are definately engraved. We just don't know the method. 

Are you suggesting I change my profile picture to this?

First, a basic fact that is likely known to almost everyone: Engraving is a type of intaglio printing. One of its characteristics is that the ink is printed onto the paper from recessed grooves, creating a raised effect. In lithography, however, the ink is applied flat onto the paper due to the technological process involved.




Whether it is a steel engraving or a copper engraving, I cannot say. Copper engraving features somewhat broader and less defined lines compared to steel engraving (due to the different hardness of the metal used for the original printing plate).

I am aware of only two stamps that were produced with the same design using both steel and copper engraving: the Allied Occupation issues for Germany (joint issue) for the Leipzig Spring Fair of 1947 (Leipzig print as copper engraving and Berlin print as steel engraving, Michel 941 and 942, each with I and II variations). However, I do not (yet) have sufficiently illustrative examples of this...

many thanks rednaxela - agree with your comments that engraving is intaglio (recess) - and much print making from the C19 and C20 used this method, and stamps too apparently. As you say, lithography is a flat process which traditionally makes use of the effect whereby grease repels the inks etc., can certainly see the raised outlines of the design in your picture. Commenting, despite being a complete ignoramus as to the complexities of stamp production - I would have thought it unlikely that copper would have been used for the master die due to its softness that you mention, but who knows, maybe they had some way of hardening the die metal. In your picture the design shows much 'bleeding', which is indicative of copper - also we see coloured fibres - is this an example of granite paper do you know?

I agree with your judgement paul1 that the appearance of this stamp indicates a copper engraving rather than a steel engraving.

Perhaps there is an expert on this: Does the designation as a copper intaglio require that the master die and the “transfer plate” and then the final printing plate are all copper? Or is it sufficient if the master die is made of copper (and the subsequent stages of preparing/printing are made using steel that is first softened and then hardened again)? After all, the Liechtenstein stamps do not have such large print runs that copper printing plates would wear out too quickly.

And indeed, the fibers in the image are evidence that this stamp(s) was printed on granite paper.