With a print run of 128,000, the stamp’s image was based upon an epitaph found in the cathedral in the northern town of Frombork.
Simply titled the Postal Stamps Collection, Rodrigo Nardotto based his works on stamps previously authored by eminent artistic figures such as Helena Matuszewska, Waldemar Świerzy, Stefan Małecki and Stanisław Wyspiański.
Striking in their intricacy, the stamps depict the Polonia, Kościuszko and Pułaski, three ships once known as ‘the Princess’s jewels’. With two also serving in the war, the hero boats were once the pride of Poland.
The stamps were hidden at the end of the war by Major Rudolph Wahlmann, a passionate philatelist. The filmmakers said they lied to locals as “we didn’t want to reveal the truth because we were afraid that it might end up like the Golden Train in Wałbrzych,” referring to the intense media interest in the search for a train supposedly containing wartime stolen art and gold.
He illustrated books and stamps but Andrzej Heidrich will be best remembered for designing the current bank notes.
Titled “The Calendar of Unusual Holidays”, the stamps aim to both present commemorative designs for quirky holidays while at the same time, paying tribute to Poland’s graphic design heyday.
With a Swedish fan club meeting twice a year to celebrate the work of Polish stamp engraver Czesław Słania, TFN takes a look at the man few have ever heard of but whose designs inspired nations.
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