Famous children by name on stamps

While clearing out, I recently discovered a box in the attic that had remained untouched there since 1999. Inside, I 'rediscovered', among other things, statements by Sierk Schröder, designer of the 1939 children's stamps. A blog reader from Limburg provided me with further information (following the contribution “Wanted: Still Living Children on Stamps” from October 19) regarding former fellow residents of Sittard on the 1-cent children's stamp of 1931. nvph 41, nvph 240 en nvph 330 A fellow collector noticed that the first 'child' to appear on a Dutch stamp was missing from my contribution of October 19. Many thanks to both 'contributors' for 'thinking along'. I am happy to act as a conduit: “Who is next?”

children's stamp postcard 1939

Children's Post Office 1939

Designer and portrait painter Sierk Schröder has painted the child figure (nvph 327/31) with the horn of plenty in tempera on a small panel 15 cm wide. He composed it in a cross shape: the horn of plenty (a horn containing everything one desires) runs diagonally across the centrally positioned child. The relief makes the naked child more lively, lifelike, and alive. “The protruding end of the horn kept me occupied for more than a week. It wouldn't turn out the way I wanted. I worked on that part for days until I finally found a satisfactory solution.” And then the door opens. The studio is filled with the pattering of children. The painter says: “And there is the model.” The 'model' turns out to be two children: Rosemarie, who, as she says, is already in kindergarten, and Liesbeth, who does not participate in the conversation. Peculiar problems and solutions emerge in the depiction of the 'double model'. According to the interviewer, the cheerful Liesbeth is immediately recognizable to an outsider. She ended up on the children's stamp with childlike innocence. “But the rest,” says Schröder, “they walked around here in the studio while I was painting. Not posing, but if I needed a leg, one of the children had to stop playing for a moment. Rosemarie had to step in for the arm, and that is how 'Rosemarie-Liesbeth' indeed became my model for the 1939 children's stamp figure.”

Click on the preliminary designs of the Children's Stamps to enlarge.

One of the preliminary designs depicts a naked little boy from the front. In 1939, such an image was not possible. Many children's stamps were sold by nuns in North Brabant. They might well withdraw their cooperation in the event of an 'offensive' design, resulting in lower profits. A side view was the solution, which Sierk Schröder, in a time-bound manner, expresses as follows: “What relaxation emanates from the posture of the toddler. How happy, how carefree the child steps through life, abundantly blessed with the gifts that Mother Earth has bestowed. What is it that attracts us so much to the child? Could it not be this: that he is so completely unaware of the tenderness awakened in us when we see his little figure stepping past, entirely absorbed in his play?” In the Handbook of Dutch Postal Values, Schröder provides us with further information about the preliminary design: “With the horn of plenty (as the symbol of good gifts) we wish to give the child much.” In both preliminary designs, the child (due to his active involvement) is aware that all kinds of flowers and fruits are falling out of the horn. In the final design, the child knows nothing of this. "That is why I personally think that variant is better," says Schröder.

Peter Dor and brother Cesarius

Brother Cesarius practices the sound 'OE' or 'OO' with his deaf-mute pupil Peter Joseph Dorr. Peter has one hand on the brother's throat and one on his own throat to feel the vibration and compare it to the vibration of his own vocal cords.

As soon as a vibrational correspondence is established, Peter pronounces the word correctly. The brother possessed the patience of an angel during the extensive practice to achieve the correct pronunciation. This photo, taken on the landing in front of the main entrance of the Institute for the Deaf in Sint Michielsgestel, does not correspond to the image on the stamp. Teacher and student are standing closer together. Wilhelmina coin 11-year-old Wilhelmina In 1891, Wilhelmina (the future Queen) already appeared on a permanent stamp series at the age of 11 (nvph 34/48). In 1890, her father, King William III, had died at the age of 73. Her mother, Queen Emma, ​​became acting head of state for her minor daughter as Queen Regent during the period 1890 to 1898. The necklace (pearl necklace!) lends Wilhelmina, with her hair down, some royal dignity, apart from the generally accepted royal ornamentation from earlier style periods in the border decoration.