Feathered Friends
The six species of birds on the Garden Birds in the 2019 Netherlands stamp sheetlet are common in the Netherlands. But no matter how "normal" they seem, thanks to illustrator Michelle Dujardin, they come to life on the stamps in...
Netherlands
A Greener Link
The opening of the Ceneri Base Tunnel in December 2020 will mark the completion of the New Rail Link through the Alps (NRLA), turning the dream of a flat rail link through the Alps into reality. The NRLA provides Switzerland...
Magic Moments
Harry Potter Christmas stamp, Netherlands 2005 Harry Potter is possibly the world's most popular wizard, and author J.K. Rowling's fictional character's exploits have been the subject of many stamp issues. The first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was...
The Gull Spreads its Wings Again
The 1924 flying pigeon stamp is one of the icons of Dutch postal history. An equally special precursor appeared three years earlier: the airmail stamp with the seagull. This bird comes to life again almost a hundred years later on...
Hidden Messages
If you think this is just a normal picture of a red fox you are mistaken. There is more to the image than that seen at first glance. Over the years the United States Postal Service has issued more than...
The History of Stamp Collecting Part 36 – Dutch Cow Madness
In the late 1970s a fascinating series of articles written by Mr. K. Kouwenberg about the history of Stamp Collecting, appeared in the Dutch magazine Philatelie. This series has been the source of inspiration for PostBeeld owner Rob Smit to...
The Tortoise or the Hare?
Naturally, the ease with which one can communicate with people worldwide via email and other modern instant messaging systems has its advantages, but these methods have caused a great decline in the act of physically writing a letter and sending...
In a Material World
In 1955 Hungary became the first country in the world to issue a “metal” stamp. And below you see an example. Aluminium foil glued to paper was used in the production process. Since then there have been many stamps released...
New from The Netherlands
PostNL issues a ‘Life in the North Sea’ commemorative stamp sheetlet today. This contains illustrations of plants and animals found in the North Sea region, drawn by four scientific illustrators from the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden. The ten stamps on...
Vote Green!!
In 2010 the Dutch stamp sheet entitled 'Lang leve het bos!'was voted the best Netherlands stamp issue of the year. It features nature to be found in woodlands and was designed by Bart de Haas. Voted second-best was the sheet commemorating...
The History of Stamp Collecting Part 19 – The Netherlands in 1863
In the late 1970s a fascinating series of articles written by Mr. K. Kouwenberg about the history of Stamp Collecting, appeared in the Dutch magazine Philatelie. This series has been the source of inspiration for PostBeeld owner Rob Smit to...
The History of Stamp Collecting Part 18 – The Netherlands in 1862
In this series, we have already seen that the stamp collecting virus had spread quickly in 1862 in Europe. But had the virus reached the Netherlands? The answer is yes, but not until the end of that year. The first...
A Bridge Too Far
…... was the title of a 1974 book and 1977 film, the main subject of which was the failed Second World War allied military campaign 'Operation Market Garden'. September 17th is the 62nd anniversary of that operation, which is remembered...
Doutzen Kroes on a stamp?
As loyal followers of Dutch model Doutzen Kroes on Instagram we' spotted a post on which she shows a Dutch stamp with her likeness. Is this a possibility?? It's only an image with no caption, but it seems very likely...
Sticky business
The Pacific Ocean island Kingdom of Tonga, Polynesia, went into the history books as the first country to issue self-adhesive stamps in 1963. The series, circular in shape, was printed on embossed gilt-foiled paper and commemorated the 1962 first issue...
The crown doesn’n fit
In 2014, The Netherlands issued stamps featuring its newly-crowned king, Willem-Alexander. But something didn’t quite fit on the stamps – and I’m not talking about the size of the new king’s head. Those responsible for the design had placed a...
