My Christmas present flew in early this year. In fact, it
was early November when I got it!
On our annual trip to Holland I happened to pass my stamp
shop of old in The Hague, and although I didn’t really plan to get anything, I
suddenly noticed these Taiwanese owls in the window. I remembered they were shown on
our website’s forum. They made a great impression at the time because the
engravings include secret engraver’s marks. So, needless to say, I rushed in
and got them. And it being close to Christmas, I was kindly encouraged to get the other two
sets in as well, to have the collection complete.
So when I got the three sets at home, I started researching
the engravers. Luckily, the website of the Taiwanese post mentioned the
engravers. But it didn’t say anywhere whether these engravers each worked on a different
stamp or whether all stamps were co-productions. And also, there were names
which were so alike that I was wondering whether they would actually be one and
the same engraver, with the differences being explained by translating the
Chinese characters into Latin script.
So I tried the easy way and emailed both the Taiwanese Post
and the actual printers, asking them for more information. As if… Of course I
never heard anything back. I even tried to impress them by mentioning I once worked
for the Taipei Representative Office in The Hague for a bit, but even that didn’t
persuade them to come back to me.
I also think I’ve solved the Chen Y Ling versus Chen Yu Ling
situation. Both these names are mentioned on the post office website, but the
stamp attributed to Chen Y Ling includes the engraver’s mark YU-L, therefore I think
I can safely conclude this is one and the same engraver.
Engraved by Huang Lien Tsai, with engraver's marks E (?), H and T |
No such luck, though, with Huang Lien Tsai and Huang Lian
Cai. Lien supposedly has an E, an H and a T as engraver’s marks, and the two
stamps attributed to Lian have either HLT or HUANG. Now, to be honest, I can’t
find Lien’s E anywhere, so if that E maybe isn’t right and there should be an L
somewhere, then we’re one step closer to concluding that these two are just the
one engraver. Especially seeing that Huang Lian Cai's stamp initials of HLT fit Huang Lien Tsai's initials perfectly.
Engraved by Huang Lian Cai, with HLT engraver's mark |
So if you’re as mad as me, but cleverer, and have already
solved this riddle, or if you speak and read Taiwanese and you can find out whether
this is one or two engravers, then please do get in touch so I can finally get
some peace of mind!
See yous later
Adrian
Good day.
ReplyDeleteAs I do not collect these three sets of owls, I have no personal observation on the initials.
However, I live in Taiwan, and I am sure, after checking website of the post office, that "Huang Lien Tsai" and "Huang Lian Cai" are the same engraver. (There are many versions of translation here!)
This situation also applies to "Chen Yu Ling" and "Chen Y Ling".
I cannot find any engraver with initials E, H and T. (It is probable that E has been misread, and should be L instead.)
Best regards,
Thanks very much for confirming my suspicions!
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