The Heir to Czesław Słania’s Legacy

The above stamp will forever be remembered as Czesław Słania’s 1000th engraved stamp (not the least reason being that that epigraph is inscribed on the souvenir sheet). Most stamp collectors are familiar with the late Czesław Słania, the Polish engraver who emigrated to Sweden and made that country’s engraved stamps synonymous with artistic excellence. Poland stamps https://stampuoso.com/listing/poland have an avid following among philatelists, and, until 2009, a collector’s society devoted to his work, The Czeslaw Slania Study Group, now defunct.

During a prolific career spanning over 50 years, Słania engraved more than 1000 stamps, including the one shown above which the Guinness Book of World Records recognizes as the largest engraved stamp ever issued. His engravings can be seen on the stamps of more than 30 different countries. Alas, in 2005, after a period of illness, we lost one of the great figures of philatelic history.

One might be forgiven, then, if one thought that, with the passing of Słania, so ended an era. The fact is, though, that Słania’s legacy lives on, in the person of another artist whose career parallels that of the master’s.

In 1951, Czesław Słania engraved his first postage stamp. A year later, in the same city, Warsaw, Poland, saw the birth of the person who was destined to cross paths with, and carry the torch of the master, Piotr Naszarkowski.

His engraving career started in 1982, at Poland’s state engraving bureau. On June 25, 1985, his first engraved stamp for Poland was issued, Scott #2688, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Polish navy.

Piotr Naszarkowski’s first engraved stamp.

Naszarkowski engraved only a few stamps for Poland; his web page, which includes a gallery of all his stamps, shows only 6 stamps for his home country. Among these are 3 from Poland’s Royalty series, which are exquisite little masterpieces, one of which is shown below.

One of three stamps Piotr Naszarkowski engraved in Poland’s Royalty series.

During the turmoil that marked the death throes of the Soviet Empire, Naszarkowski emigrated to Sweden, where he soon found himself under the tutelage of none other than Czesław Słania, who was heading Sweden Post’s stamp division. The two artists collaborated on several stamp issues, including the 1992 Derek Walcott issue, where Słania engraved the portrait stamp, and Naszarkowski engraved the stamp recreating a page of the Nobel Laureate’s text.

By 2004, the ailing Słania could no longer finish the stamp designs he had begun. Naszarkowski was called on to complete the work on the Elvis Presley entry in Sweden’s issue commemorating 50 years of rock-and-roll music, and the stamp bears the inscriptions of both co-creators.

Also, in 2004, Słania had started work on the stamp which would become the 2006 duck stamp for the United States. When he was unable to continue, Naszarkowski was, again, called in to finish the engraving.

2005 was a landmark year for Naszarkowski. Not only did that year mark his transition out of the shadow of his master, but it also heralded the arrival of one of Naszarkowski’s stamp designs which has already taken on iconic status, and for which he won the Grand Prize for Philatelic Art.

Sweden and USA - Garbo Stamps
Sweden-USA Joint Issue 2005

The Sweden issue was also, originally, a Słania project. It, too, was passed to Naszarkowski, when it became apparent that Słania would be unable to complete it. Naszarkowski then had 10 days in which to make the engraving.

The U.S. Postal Service originally intended to produce the American version by an offset process. After the head of Swedish Post Stamps, Stefan Francius, showed Naszarkowski’s engraving to them, the USPS relented and commissioned another engraving for the US issue. I have read on another web site which stated that only one engraving was used for both stamps, and that any differences noted are a result of differences in the inking processes during printing. However, a personal e-mail which I received from the artist confirms that these are, indeed, two separate engravings.

Naszarkowski has also engraved issues for Japan, in 2004 (Scott #2908 ) and The Vatican, in 2008 (Scott #1390-1391 ).