Fake
by Nowadays fake products are regularly in the news and often linked to China. Fake products are not new however. Already in 1891(!) this was an issue. There was even a real magazine related to fake foodstuffs.
Category: Stationery
A helpful and learned preacher – Dekema State 1880
by In May of this year I made my annual journey to Gouda to look for some interesting items on the stamp fair there. Many (foreign) stamp dealers, philatelic organisations etc. all assembled in two spacious sport halls. A large stamp exhibition ‘Gouda 2019’ was also …
Medemblik Typenrader
Today a small entry on the postcard above. A very ordinary Dutch postcard: there’s nothing special to it. Only its pristine condition might surprise you (over a 100 years old and the paper shows no sign of wear or stain whatsoever!). The postmark belongs to …
Reply card from Hamburg
by Collecting reply cards can be very interesting, especially when the card is sent back with an extra service. Another nice aspect is the possibility to read about the reason that the card is sent. In this case the prices of flowers. “Rote Deutsche Edelnelken und …
Too many stamps!
Yes, indeed, this ‘spoorwegbriefkaart’ (railway company postcard) is certainly over franked. In general, at exhibitions, a maximum of half a cent overfranking is tolerated. Does this mean this card cannot be adopted into your collection? I don’t think so.
Ship has left
A lot of mail can be found to passengers (or workers) on board of a ship. Quite a number of them are returned to sender or redirected, mainly because the person is not on board or because the ship has left.
The international reply coupon
In the Netherlands this was abolished on December 31, 2001, however exchange of foreign coupons is still possible. The IRC is a product of the Universal Postal Union, the UPU. It was introduced at the Congress of Rome in 1906, on May 27, and became …
Nice and fast
We are already satisfied nowadays when a letter will be delivered the next day. The obligation for PostNL to deliver at least 95% of the mail the next working day (within the Netherlands, except for the islands) did the company in 2018 with “the heels …
Ancient Dutch maps
Postal historians and postmark collectors are always interested in postal routes and geography in order to write up their collections and even often wishe to show the place on the map, especially as some places can’t be located on present day maps.
Request for Blue Diamond’s song, postage paid for by UNTEA stamps
by The last part of the former Dutch East Indies to be “lost” (as many older Dutch people thought at the time) was Dutch/Netherlands New Guinea (NNG), the western half of the island of New Guinea, in 1962. From October 1962 the United Nations Temporary Executive …