Special Children's Stamps 2025 postmark

For the 2025 children's stamps, PostNL created a special postmark at the request of the Association for Children's Stamps and Maximaphily. This was announced in the January issue of the monthly magazine Philately. You could also have your own envelope stamped with it. That is what I did.

Jan van Haasteren
The 2025 children's stamps were designed by cartoonist Jan van Haasteren. The design of the stamp is by Sandra Smulders in the style of Van Haasteren. Therefore, at the center of the stamp is a figure as Van Haasteren would have designed it. Do you see that the child in the image on the stamp bears a strong resemblance to the child on the stamp?

Kinderpostzegels Foundation
The date stamp on the envelope reads: Leiden 6-10-25 (see image above). The question then naturally arises: why does 'Leiden' appear in this stamp? The answer is simple. The Stichting Kinderpostzegels Nederland (Dutch Children's Stamps Foundation) is based in Leiden. The sale of children's stamps is organized by this Foundation, which uses the proceeds to support charities for the benefit of children. I visited there a few times years ago. An employee of this foundation kept the stamps affixed to all incoming mail. And once a year, I would collect them there for the youth club of the Leiden Association of Stamp Collectors. A children's stamp bearing the Leiden date stamp is also affixed to the Foundation's card below.

Children's stamps 1947
I found an envelope with the children's stamps from 1947 in my Leiden collection. It had a registration slip bearing the inscription: LEIDEN Heerenstraat. That was back in the days when Heerenstraat was spelled with a double 'ee'. Do you know how many sets of these were sold at the time? About two million. Of the 2-cent and 10-cent stamps, well over three million of each were sold.

Children's stamps 1949
And below are the children's stamps from 1949. Again sent by registered mail in Leiden, but this time via a Mobile Post Office. It operated from November 15 to December 31. That was still a good service from PostNL. Hence, perhaps, the high sales figures. Over 4,5 million of the two-cent stamps were sold.

Children's Stamps 1952
Another nice envelope with a stamp from a roadside post office and a Leiden date stamp from 1952. Over six million of the 10-cent stamp were sold. Yes, you read that right: more than six million!! For comparison: The print run of the 2025 children's stamps is 900.000 sheets.

Children's stamps
The Netherlands was the second country to start selling children's stamps in 1924. Sold per stamp: 2 cents: 750.000; 7,5 cents: 550.000; and 10 cents: nearly a million. They were sold up to and including January 15, 1925, and the surcharge from the stamps went to the Child Protection Agency. Since 1924, children's stamps have been issued annually, with the exception of the war years 1942–1944. From 1936 onwards, the surcharge was stated on the stamps. Before that, this was not the case. In 1950, a first-day cover was issued alongside the stamps. And from 1965, a block of children's stamps was issued alongside the series. Quiz question: Which country was the first to issue children's stamps in 1912?

Roltanding
In 1925, in addition to the regular children's stamps, stamps with double-sided roller perforation were also issued.
For the machines in post offices and the stamp affixing machine (POKO) for offices introduced around 1924, rolls of stamps were affixed using strips of standard sheets. These rolls often broke due to their low tensile strength. This was resolved by removing a few pins from the short side of the stamps, creating the roller perforations. (source: special catalogue).

Children's stamps on list of harmful issues
The Dutch children's stamp series 1965–1970 appear on a list of harmful issues compiled by the Fédération Internationale de Philatélie (FIP) because the surcharge on two of the five stamps exceeded half the face value. This unnecessarily drives up costs for collectors. The stamps below with the 12 + 8 and 15 + 10 cent surcharges are harmful issues. The 20 + 10 stamp does comply with the standard that the surcharge is at most half the face value.

NB: the FIP is the umbrella international organization for philately.