door Many people will never have heard of it, except for philatelists, perhaps. I shall return to that later.
There is no shame in never having heard of the village. It was small, and it remains small. The village is situated in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, in the south-western Netherlands, and is now part of the municipality of Sluis. In addition to the village itself, the area includes several hamlets and small settlements with evocative names such as Turkeije, Goedleven, Klein Brabant and Stroopuit. The boundary of the parish area (though not the village of Waterlandkerkje itself) borders Belgium. The local name for the village is ’t Kerkje (‘the little church’). Today, fewer than 500 people live in the village. It has always been small. In 1889, it had a population of 608, and in 1899, 612.
Origins
Waterlandkerkje originated in the seventeenth century as a hamlet that grew up around a church and was known as ’t Kerkje. In 1797, the village was called Waterland. However, this caused confusion with the nearby Belgian village of Waterland-Oudeman. In 1820, the village acquired its present name, Waterlandkerkje. Waterlandkerkje was one of the few villages in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen to escape destruction during the Second World War. Although it has always been small, it remained an independent municipality from 1796 until 1 April 1970.
Postmarks
The name Waterlandkerkje makes philatelists’ hearts beat faster. The auxiliary post office used several office-name handstamps (naamstempels): Waterlandkerkje and Waterland-kerkje. But it also used the rarest of all small-round postmarks! (kleinrondstempels). This postmark was in use for only a short period, from 6 September 1893 until 31 December of that year, when the office was closed. The postmaster responsible for the local postal service was Daniel Hubregtse, who was born in Zuidzande in 1837. He died relatively young, on 7 December 1893. Despite attempts to find a replacement, no successor could be found.
Auction
The Waterlandkerkje small-round postmark is by far the rarest of its kind. By way of comparison, it is much rarer than the numeral cancellation (puntstempel) 259 of Waddinxveen. More examples (13) of the latter are known, and in 1893 Waddinxveen had a population approximately seven times that of Waterlandkerkje. Very few examples of the Waterlandkerkje small-round postmark are known (4, maybe 5), and most are very poor strikes.
In the auction on 19 December 2026 (Sheraton & Peel No. 74), an almost complete strike is being offered on a 5-cent Hair Lines stamp! The opening bid is €800.
As far as is known, this is the finest strike of the Waterlandk
erkje small-round postmark ever recorded. Around 19 November the catalogue will be published on the website.
