The special 1928 Olympiad postmarks
On May 9, 1928, the State-owned PTT Company issued the following announcement: During the Olympic Games to be held in Amsterdam, a temporary district office for the Post, Telegraph, and Telephone Service will be established there on the grounds of the Stadium. Said district office will be opened to the public for the first time on May 17 and subsequently as needed, and will be permanently closed on August 12 following that, following the conclusion of service. It will be designated as Amsterdam-Stadium.
Amsterdam Olympiad numbers 1 and 2
Amsterdam Olympiad number 3
The stamps numbered 1 and 2 were in use at the temporary post office near the stadium. However, number 3 was in use elsewhere. The director of the Amsterdam post office announced this as follows: The director of the Amsterdam post office hereby announces that, during the period of the Olympic Games, in addition to the temporary office on the Stadium grounds itself, there will also be an opportunity to have Dutch postage and franking stamps not attached to documents stamped at the Amsterdam-Zuid district office (Roelof Hartplein, corner of Ger. Terborgstraat). The purpose of this is to promote the sale of Olympic stamps as much as possible. Cancellation will be performed using the stamp specially manufactured for the Stadium office. This opportunity is offered on working days from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Three different stamps in use at two different locations in Amsterdam. And then again as impressions in black and violet. And moreover in two different periods: a. First period of use from Thursday, May 17, 1928, up to and including Wednesday, June 13, 1928. b. Second period of use from Saturday, July 28, 1928, up to and including Sunday, August 12, 1928.
Hello Cees Janssen,
First of all, my praise to you for the wealth of data on general philately that you have collected, studied, and published. Valuable information! You may be aware of my passion: the Olympic postal history of 1928. I have conducted research on many aspects of this issue. Development of the stamps (present but never published), the Olympic Huygens stationery, the frankings (see Pim vd Bold's article in OPUS 2008), Olympic registered mail, 10c (NVPH 217) right unperforated, plate errors on the Olympiad stamps (Dirk Wolthuis catalogue), etc. In addition, participation in many exhibitions. National Gold and two Grand Gold awards. International: Gold (2004). This serves as an introduction. The focus now is on the challenge of collecting the three special pentagonal commemorative cancellations in black and violet. I could write extensively about this, but I wish to keep it short and simple. Three stamps with the numbers N1, N2, and N3 were produced. The temporary district post office 'Amsterdam Stadion' (in service from May 17 to August 12, 1928) had two counters at its disposal that used stamps N1 and N2. Stamp N3 was placed as an extra stamp at the new Post Office Amsterdam-Zuid, which opened in May 1928.
This stamp moved to the Olympic Post Office at the end of July 1928 and served there as a reserve stamp on busy days. The well-known philatelist D.A. de Vries once told me that stamping took place in a kiosk on the Stadionplein. This probably involved stamping Esperanto sheets. That must have been done with the N3. The stamps had three parts that could be replaced: the D for Day, the M for Month, and the U for Hour. Changing the characters was difficult. This means that the postal clerk sometimes made mistakes and parts were lost. I am aware of many varieties.
Another phenomenon is the color of the stamp. Black is the official color.
However, we are also familiar with the violet-purple color and gray cancellations resulting from mixing. Besides Mr. JBB Dufrenne, director of the Amsterdam Stadion district office (also chairman of the Dutch Esperantist Association. This explains the issuance of Esperanto sheets), Mr. CFH Zeegers (the later director of the Apeldoorn Post Office) was the first postal official at this temporary Post Office. He told me in 1979 (shortly before his passing) that he sometimes cancelled in violet at special request. The violet ink pad was intended for other purposes.
The violet stamp is not unambiguous.
It is sometimes light purple, then mottled violet, and in combination with the black stamp pad, light to dark gray.
This violet stigma occurs in all three stigmas and is extremely rare.
The pentagonal stamp indeed had two periods of use. First during the hockey and football tournament > May 17
(Ascension Day) through July 13, 1928. Sometimes there were no match days and the Post Office was closed as well. The opening ceremony took place on Saturday, July 28, 1928, and the post office was open daily through August 12. From July 28 onwards, the time on all stamps was no longer changed (U 18). The reason is easy to guess.
Groet
Laurentz Jonker
A beautiful and valuable explanation of the use of these special postmarks. With thanks from Cees Janssen
Good morning.
I read the above information from both Mr. Janssen and Mr. Jonker with interest.
I have heard that there are 2 different versions of Esperanto sheets: There are two different editions, one without and one with a star over Amsterdam.
Both exist with the pentagonal stamp, of which there are in turn 3 different versions. With N1, N2, and N3 in the stamp.
Question: Is this correct?
Kind regards, Peter CA de Jong
Good night Peter,
Your experience regarding Experan sheets with and without a star at the top is correct. The exact circumstances are unknown to me. However, it is known that those with a star occur less frequently. Usually, the sheets are folded due to their awkward size. In other words: unfolded sheets are considerably rarer and more valuable. The origin of these sheets comes from Dufrenne, post director of the temporarily established post office 'Amsterdam Stadion'. Visitors purchased a series of Olympic stamps and wanted to have them stamped on a blank sheet with the commemorative stamp.
The post office did not provide blank sheets. Dufrenne, who was also president of the Esperanto association, subsequently had these sheets printed. Anyone who bought a series of Olympiad stamps received an Esperanto sheet upon request. Approximately 9.000 forms were issued.
Laurentz Jonker
A card is being offered on eBay with a star stamp dated August 18, 1928, thus later than the stated end date of August 12; please explain that.
Laurentz Jonker to Robert Verloop
I am reading this strange notice late. I have no explanation for August 18, 1928. I will only believe it if you can provide me with a copy of the aforementioned card with this date.
On second thought, and suggestively. Dear Robert, could it be possible that you mistook U(uur)18 for D(dag)18?, Regards, Laurentz