Evening star., 1938-10-30

10 IHe memory OF tne SecOnQ martyreQ
Chief Executive, aSSassinated by
disappointed job hunter; and will 60
on sale November 10. The color is
dark green.
First-day sales figures for the 49,
cent Lincoln stamp are announced
as: $16,85l.84, representing lO5,324
copies: 1885, first-day covers, includ-
ing 7,085 bearing blocks OF four.
The beautiful 81 Omitted States
CapitOD stamp of the 1922 series has
been removed from the sales list Of the
Philatelic Agency.
A new edition of the Post Office De-
partment's official Description of the
United States Postage Stamps" will
be published about January l.
The Post Office Department soon
may have whole fleet of philatelic
exhibition trucks Delayed temporarily,
the first of the lot soon will hit the
road" It's debut is supposed to occur
in New York.
Geddes Smith, writing in Scotts
Monthly Journal, discusses stamp pro-
ductions as follows: If the SWedes
and Firms had settled in the Bureau of
Engraving and Printing as we'll as in
Delaware, how different our philatelic
history might have been! The occa-
sion for this reflection is the fact that
the SWedes, the Firms and the bureau
all tackled the same job-a special
ISSUE of stamps to commemorate an
event in our own colonial history-and
it is interesting to put the results side
by side and see what they tell US
about stamp design.
Take the Swedish issue first. The
five designs are fresh and crisp, and
obviously made for the purpose they
serve. Each subject has been studied
with an eye to its decorative value;
line and mass are adapted to the space
at hand. and this space is used in an
easy, informal way. The engraving
shows the same unity; the fine cross
Matching of the backgrounds is keyed
TO the texture of the central figure OF
figures. The stamps have character.
Not all are equally successful The
20 ore is little crowded, the church
on the 30 ore too Photographic in de-
tail. But the bargaining figures on the
ore are amusing, the ship on the Is
ore is spirited, the portrait on the so
ore brilliant and beautifully placed. 1t
is no surprise to find that these stamps
were designed by Swedish artist of
established position-Olle Hjortzberg,
instructor in drawing at the Royal
Academy of Art in Stockholm, an
illustrator of wide experience, head for
years of the Swedish Handicraft Asso-
clation, mural painter whose work
may be seen in one of our galleries, that
of the American Swedish Historical
Museum in Philadelphia. Hjortzberg
also designed the 1896 issue commence
rating the tercentenary Of the Swedish
postal service, which I think is one
of the finest of the goth century. If
tinguished, it still reveals the hand of
an accomplished artist.
THE single Finnish stamp is of the
same order. The designer has been
not quite so successful in his use of
space-the Indian head tucked into
the corner is mistake, I think-and
the arrangement of lettering and num-
erals is little clumsy. But the theme
is simple and dramatic, the total ef-
feet lively and interesting. Here again
we are dealing with the work of COM
petent artist, in this case Aaron
Karimo, newspaper cartoonist, illus
traitor and painter.
Now for the American stamp AS
American commemorative 60, it is
good. The shape is pleasing, the ar
rangement orderly, the lettering dig
nifaed (though the bureau just can't
break itself of the bad habit of mixing
Roman and Gothic types at close
quarters). Yet the stamp remains a
copy of someone else's work-not an
original design, not even an organic
unit of design, but just borrowed
picture in q frame. The engravers
have made good copy of crowded
canvas, something never intended for
the use to which it has been put, and
not overly interesting when reproduced
on SO small scale. Emphasis falls.
as 1t happens, on the founding fathers
backs. The result is hardly to be COM
pared with stamp designed as a
stamp. The American contribution
to this three-cornered display is decent
and dull.
If the Swedes and Firms had set
tied IN the Bureau Of Engraving and