Dedicated to Chuck Matlack (+)

    Czeslaw Slania (pronounced Chess-wav Swan-ya) was born near Katowice, Poland in 1921. He entered the Krakow School of Fine Arts at the age of 24. Employed for six years by the Printing Office of the Polish Government, Slania engraved his first stamp in 1951. Escaped to Sweden in 1956, he engraved the same year his first stamp for the Swedish Postal Administration. An year later Slania has been appointed by the Swedish Postal Service as a full time engraver. Since then, he has been appointed as the Royal Court Engraver in Sweden, but also in Denmark and Monaco, and won numerous awards for the quality and the beauty of his engravings. Czeslaw Slania is considered the world's most famous stamps engraver ever.
    Although already holding the world's record for the greatest number of fine engravings, he had a personal goal of 1,000 engraved stamps. This incredible result was attained this year, more exactly on March 17, 2000, when a Souvenir Sheet, reproducing a work of the baroque painter David Kloecker Ehrenstrahl (1628-1698), was issued by the Swedish P.A. The ceiling painting named "The Wonderful Deeds of Swedish Kings", shown on the sheet below, is located in the Drottningholm Caste, the residence of the Swedish Royal family. The work was finished in 1695, three years before the painter's death.
Czeslaw Slania, aged 80

Tip: Point on the stamps with the mouse index for more information.

Sweden, 2000. David Kloecker Ehrensrtahl, The Wonderful Deeds of Swedish Kings Sweden, 2000. David Kloecker Ehrensrtahl, The Wonderful Deeds of Swedish Kings
Denmark, 1976. Postillon, by Otto Bache. Scott 591.

    The 1000th Slania's stamp, reproduced above, recently entered in the Guinness Book of Records, as the biggest engraved stamp ever.
    Czeslaw Slania engraved not only stamps, but also banknotes, for many countries. Among the countries for which he worked are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Denmark, England, Estonia, Faeroe, France, Germany, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Monaco, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Sweden, the United Nations and the United States. He is continually on the way and admits that he don't always know in which country he is at a given moment.

Sweden, 1972. Lady with Veil, by Alexander Roslin. Scott 944 Sweden, 1994. Paintings by Hillestrom, Lafresen, Gerard. Scott 2065-70 Sweden, 1972. Queen Sofia Magdalena, by Carl Gustav Pilo. Scott 945

    Mr. Slania said about his 1000th stamp: "This is until now my best work, but just wait till I'll reach the age of 100 - then I'll be EVEN better..." I hope that the future will give both of us the chance, to Mr. Slania to engrave his centenary anniversary stamp and to myself to publish it on this page, that is, in AD 2021.

Sweden, 1994. Eva Ede, after Roman de la rose, Rene Dessirier Sweden, 1983. Hins Anders, Violonist. Scott A 450 Sweden, 1997. Gustav III Antikmuseum. The stamp above engraved by Slania

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Published: 3/17/2000. Revised: 06/04/03.
Copyright © 2000 - 2003 by Victor Manta, Switzerland.
 All rights reserved worldwide.

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