Lost place names: Koegras

We go back more than 100 years. In an area between Den Helder and Callantsoog, a polder had been created starting in 1610 through the construction of a dike, a sea defense that provided protection between the North Sea and the tip of North Holland. The polder was formed by the siltation of salt marsh soil and the deposit of sand originating from the construction of the North Holland Canal. It was given the name 'Het Koegras'.The polder was offered for sale by the State Domains in 1849. For a sum of nearly 900.000 guilders, the polder was purchased by Jonkheer Cornelis van Foreest for his father-in-law Pieter Loopuyt, a merchant in Schiedam and founder of the banking firm P. Loopuyt & Co. Many collectors of old letters possess envelopes bearing this name, originating from the extensive archive. A small hamlet arose in the polder, which was given the name of the polder: Koegras. On January 1, 1853, an auxiliary post office was established here. The postmaster was provided with a name stamp. This name stamp was replaced by a new one in September 1875. An impression with the date 6 JUL 79 was made in the stamp book of De Munt. The stamp is said to have been issued on December 23, 1879. However, no impression of the small round stamp KOEGRAS on a piece of mail is known. Only impressions of the name stamp (in use from September 27, 1875) have been found! According to the PTT Annual Report, the auxiliary office was closed in 1880. This is also mentioned in List 3 of 1880. For postal matters, people were subsequently dependent on Alkmaar. On July 1, 1908, the auxiliary post office was re-established, and a new long-bar type stamp was issued, as well as a new name stamp. However, those stamps were withdrawn after only five years. In 1909, a request was made to the Royal Household by Pieter Loopuyt's grandson to change the name of the hamlet to Julianadorp. This request was granted by Queen Wilhelmina. It was not until December 1, 1913, that the name of the Koegras auxiliary post office was changed to Julianadorp. And that, therefore, meant new stamps.

The two new stamps were issued on 25 November 1913 and put into use on 1 December 1913. The long bar stamp remained in use for a long time. The stamp was revised in September 1939, at which time the hour characters with V (morning) and N (afternoon) were replaced by 24-hour characters. Until this stamp, too, was decommissioned in June 1970 and replaced by two cylinder bar stamps of the German Braungardt type. The stamp numbered 1 was a hand stamp, used at the counter. The stamp numbered 2 was a hammer stamp used to stamp mail from letterboxes. Impressions of all these stamps are known on postal items. However, not of the small round stamp. Or perhaps you have a stamp or postal item with such an impression? If so, that is a particularly rare specimen, and therefore valuable! Could you please take a look in your album?