Attractive, special & noteworthy philatelic rarities

As an 88-year-old stamp collector, I have finally decided to consult my archive. Better late than never. A particularly appealing experience. Only now do I discover that I possess a rarity of special and noteworthy philatelic items with which, given my age, I might well be able to please others.

1) Overfranking

On January 8, 1968, the Philatelic Service sent this letter to the Youth Stamp Clubs with remarkable postage. The 24-cent postage was certainly too high for a letter in 1968.

 

2) Motherly love

In my correspondence with graphic designer Gerard Hadders of the design collective 'Hard Werken Design BV' regarding his design for the 1991 children's stamp issue, I received a particularly personal piece of information written by Hadders himself: “That is my mother's name = secret message!” on the envelope. The name 'Els' is derived from the last part of the word 'kinderpostzegels'.

 

3) Stamped, halved, and reprinted Juliana stamps

A hand stamp with the two place names 'Irnsum – Leeuwarden' was used in the village of Irnsum (now called Jirnsum in Frisian), located 15 km south of Leeuwarden, to invalidate an unstamped postal item, as is done nowadays with a ballpoint pen.

– From 1936 onwards, it was possible to obtain a stamp and frank a letter using the Kurvers stamp vending machine (after inserting money and turning the crank) after post office closing time. If the stamp roll was placed incorrectly in the machine, two halved stamps were issued.
– With the black crosshair, it was possible to apply the overprint '1953 10 c + 10 watersnood' onto the ochre-colored cross on the stamp, fitting perfectly and without shifting the text.

 

4) Faulty building

To mark the 500th anniversary of Charles V (1500–1558), a stamp block featuring a cinematic life-portrait with 17 images was issued in 2000. The stamp on the right depicts a building suggesting that the Peace of Augsburg was concluded there in 1548. This Renaissance-style town hall was not built until 67 years later, in 1615.

 

5) Mirror image, show me...

These Veluwe stamps were created through the mirrored use of animal illustrations (from Brehm's Tierleben, stripped of the original background, 1886 edition) with natural landscapes of the Veluwe.

 

6) Profile sketch

The facial profile of graphic designer Saskia Wierinck has been clandestinely applied to the large globe of the Entrepreneur's Stamp!
In the stylized globe, Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and Japan have ended up in approximately the right, recognizable places.

However, Java, Sumatra, Malaysia, and India are not present in Southeast Asia. With the necessary imagination and effort, a facial outline can be discerned in the white area. The designer only informed TPG Post of the presence of her profile sketch after the stamp had been printed.

 

 

7) Personalized children's stamp

Graphic designer Julius Vermeulen, as the designer of the 2012 children's stamp sheet, managed to give it a very personal touch by placing his signature on the sheet margin.

 

8) Incomplete children's stamp

The children's stamp sheets are printed in double sheets (L-sheet & R-sheet) of two times 100 stamps. A defective summer stamp ended up on the 9th row and the 2nd stamp from the right. The red 'c' above 55 is missing! This 92nd summer stamp from the L-sheet is known as a misprint.

Between 1500 and 2000 defective stamps entered circulation. The stamps dispatched early were sent to dealers and local summer stamp committees. For the summer stamp sheets sent to post offices, the misprints were removed in time.

 

9) Stamp personifications (2x)

The text 'Broedersbouw 1742' appears on the gable stone of the monumental, 17-meter-high stolp farmhouse in the Purmer on the Oostdijk. Commissioned by a group of brothers, this manor farm was built in 1742. In 2015, this national monument was renovated to house 9 apartments.
Graphic designer Edwin van Praet replaced the text and used his first name Edwin with the year 2020.

 

Graphic designer Joost Swarte clandestinely managed to place the initials of his name (JS) on the shoe of one of the letter writers of the 1991 December stamp. On the 2007 frame stamp, issued on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Dutch Booksellers Association (NBb), the initials JS were nevertheless openly displayed by Swarte on the far right.