The Tradition of Czech Stamp Production

Catalogue number	0667
Date of issue	20.1.2011
Face value	10 CZK
Print sheets	30 stamps
Size of picture	40 x 23 mm
Graphic designer	Bedrich Housa

The 2011 issue in the series Tradition of Czech Stamp Design is a single-colour stamp, printed by the rotary recess method, which first appeared on the "Mail Coach on Charles Bridge" envelope commemorating the exhibition of specialised branches of the Union of Czechoslovak Philatelists Prague 1966. The stamp was originally designed and engraved by Josef Hercik. Bedrich Housa is the author of the current engraved version.
Josef Hercik (March 22nd, 1922, Uhersky Brod - July 9th, 1999, Prague) was one of the leading Czech engravers in the post-World War II era, mainly due to the large number of national and international awards he received for his contribution to the art of engraving in stamp design. As the author of more than 400 stamp engravings, Josef Hercik managed to overcome even Jindra Schmidt and became the most prolific Czechoslovak engraver.
Josef Herčík's started his art career in the almost forgotten craft of gunstock engraving in the arm producing firm Zbrojovka Uherský Brod. He moved to Prague in 1940 where he also married. After the end of the war he was admitted to the College of Arts in Prague. The education opened him a broader way to graphic design. Although mainly recognized as a stamp engraver, he also authored a large spectrum of other graphic works, such as drawings, book covers and illustrations, bibliophilic works. His engravings for the 1958 edition of Arthur Rimbaud's "Le bateau ivre", designed by painter František Tichý, was the first work that made him publicly visible. His cooperation with graphic designer Václav Sivko, which started at the same time, introduced him to stamp engraving; Herčík's first stamp engravings followed Sivka's designs used for the PRAGA 1962 exhibition, although his first "real" stamp engravings featuring two insect motifs appeared later.
Herčík worked mainly for the Czechoslovak stamp design, but several of his works became also internationally renowned. He engraved an extensive series of facsimiles of famous stamps, e.g. the Blue Mauritius, for the German philatelic firm Hermann Sieger, as well as a few stamps for other postal administrations, such as Monaco or the United Nations.
Herčík covered also other areas of graphic design, such as free or heraldic graphics. As a heraldic designer he was even commissioned to design and engrave almost all Czechoslovak issues including heraldry of Czech or Slovak towns.
Josef Herčík and his wife Helena remained very active and enterprising in the graphic arts industry even in old age. The printing firm "1. ceska graficka spolecnost", set up by them and their son Josef Hercik Jr.'s family in the 1990s, soon attracted major printing and graphic contracts from around the world.

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