What exactly is hidden inside the Rabobank stamp?

In the structure and composition of the rather unappealing Rabo Bank stamp, graphic designer Gerard Unger has nevertheless 'hidden' various activities and peculiarities of Rabobank in a particularly original way. As soon as you have substantive knowledge of the veiled depictions of various banking operations, you look at the stamp with entirely different eyes, perhaps with the astonished eyes of a connoisseur.

The slanted position of the italicized word Rabobank depicts the change, growth, and dynamics of the bank over the years.

1) Rabobank stamp: telling images

The collaboration or cooperative nature of Rabobank takes place in the financial sphere between the bank and people/customers. The three yellow-colored areas are all filled with people. The smallest area contains a small number of people, in contrast to the largest.

The difference in the surface area of ​​the three planes illustrates the financial growth of the bank, but at the same time also the increase in the number of participating individuals involved in the bank's financial activities.

The 'area magnification method' corresponds entirely to that of vertical bar charts in an original way in terms of clarity and proportions. The length and width of the small square correspond to those of the rectangle, while its width in turn corresponds to that of the largest rectangular area. In other words, the size and growth result from financial activities of previous years.

2) Rabobank stamp: telling typography

In the typographic section, clarity is ensured by the numerical arrangement of numbers and letters directly below one another. The width of the three 'typographic' areas is equal. This signifies the Rabobank's consistently applied and reliable numerical calculation and arithmetic method for many years.

The capital 'J' with a curl at the bottom of the word JAAR is surprising, as it is presented in an oversized format relative to the other capital letters.

2a) Rabo logo: meaningful in terms of content

On the Rabo logo stands an upright, chest-forward walking figure, his shadow purposefully moving forward towards you across the circular sundial. Through his stance, posture, and activity, the figure comes across as convincing, engaged, and reliable within the cyclical nature of the seasons, years, and life. Through the shadow on the sundial face, he symbolically and figuratively holds a grip and control over the course and development of things in the future.

The blue logo color is associated with water, sky, and the firmament, but also with loyalty. Orange as the national color refers to our country and radiates warmth, initiative, and creativity.

This logo design featuring just one person was created in 1994. This single person (as part of a community of members) represents the financial and economic collaboration between the Dutch rural farmer and Rabobank.

2b) The applicant pays, but does not decide! 

Years ago, when the postage stamp was still fully fulfilling its franking function, it was attractive for the business community to submit a request to issue one or more commemorative stamps for a company anniversary.

On the occasion of Rabobank's 100th anniversary in 1998, the bank requested a stamp issue from PTT. Upon approval, conditions applied: “The applicant pays, but does not decide!”

The practical implementation of this statement means that the designer, in consultation with PTT, fully determines the design and execution of the issue.

The designer delves into the ins and outs of Rabobank, making grateful use of the color choices of the Rabo logo, among other things, and adding green as a reference to grassland.

Rabobank was formed in 1972 from a merger of Coöperatieve Centrale Raiffeisenbank and Coöperatieve Centrale Boerenleenbank.

Lobed DE logo with both DE rub-and-smell stamps and the enormous coffee cup near the roundabout in Joure, the place where Douwe Egberts started his coffee roasting business in 1753, already 273 years ago.

Graphic designer Anthon Beeke also made grateful use of the red color of the lobed circular shape of the DE logo for the Douwe Egberts stamps.

The use of the logos of Rabobank and DE coffee producer on postage stamps, for example, is not permitted. The postal service absolutely does not wish to function as an advertiser for the business community as RABO and DE.

A remarkable peculiarity is the depiction of the 'moving' coffee aroma above the coffee cup. The shape of the coffee bean is present multiple times in the cup and the background. The golden dots on the 2^e The postage stamp symbolizes the tingling and invigorating effect of the coffee.

3) Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen and Raiffeisenbank

The cooperative idea was 'born' in Germany as early as 1864 as the Raiffeisen-Bank, under the leadership of Friederich Wilhelm Raiffeisen (1818 – 1888) as its founder, and was only 'exported' to our country in 1898. This also immediately explains the abbreviation RABO, by the way the words RAiffeisenbank and Boerenleen-bank are written with and without capital letters.

Ploughed farmland is depicted in the background of Raiffeisen on the German Raiffeisen commemorative stamp.

Click here to view more stamps about banking and insurance in the Freestampcatalogue.