Page 23 - Demo

Signed by Charles R. Chickering. George A. Gundersen and Axel W. Christensen. Charles Chickering designed the Indiana Territory Sesquicentennial stamp as a freelance artist while for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. In the Army during World War I, he produced detailed illustrations of soldiers%u2019 wounds, and during the Second World War, he created recruiting posters. In his civilian life between the conflicts, he created illustrations for a number of prominent magazines, including the Saturday Evening Post and Good Housekeeping. It was in 1947 that his work on postage stamps began. Besides the 77 stamps he designed, he modeled 41 additional U.S. stamps that were designed by other artists, and jointly as modeled 8 more.George Gundersen, who engraved the portrait and vignette for the Indiana Territory Sesquicentennial stamp, gained some notoriety in 1954 as a devil worshiper when he engraved a portrait of Queen Elizabeth on a Canadian banknote which had the devil%u2019s face hidden in her hair. Although he strenuously said he based his work entirely on a photograph he was given, the design had to be altered to allay the public outrage. Later it was learned that the photographer, Peter-Dirk Uys, dabbled in the occult, and may have manipulated the photo to include the devil%u2019s head. Besides Canadian stamps, Gunderson worked on U.S. postage stamps between 1948 and 1950. It was not unusual for multiple engravers to work on a single stamp, as each had a specialty. For Axel Christensen, that specialty involved engraving the lettering and/or the frames on stamps, and he did both on the Indiana Territory Sesquicentennial stamp. While at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, he worked on 42 U.S. postage stamps between 1942 and 1954. In 1951, he was the Assistant Superintendent of the Bureau%u2019s Engraving Division at the at an annual salary of $8,000. He also engraved the frame and lettering for the 1942 10%u00a2, 25%u00a2, 50%u00a2 and $1 war savings stamps, and worked on two Duck Stamps. l