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Filahome Philatelic MagazineMargietstraat 4, 6921 ZD DUIVEN, NEDERLAND If you are keen on philately you will be interested in our Monthly Newsletter. It contains many articles about stamps and thanks to our sponsor it's FREE. Each Month we issue articles in our Newsletter which are not published on our site. To subscribe to our English Monthly Newsletter, send a blank email to: subscribe@filahome.com For the Dutch Version: nieuwsbrief@filahome.com Interesting links for collectors: Filahome Philatelic Magazine Philatelic links Newstamps Philatelic Articles |
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Introduction In the eighteenth century the Netherlands cut themselves off from the monopoly of the house of Thurn and Taxis. A new post infrastructure was established under the control of the United States of the Netherlands. It's clear that this set-up looked like the English system. In a degree of 12 April 1850, the forthcoming introduction of the postage stamp was introduced. At first plans were made to introduce the stamps on 1 January 1851 but in December 1850 it was decided to postpone the introduction to 1852. The Belgian engraver Jacques Wiener was approached to make the dies. He had spent some time in England to study the process at Perkins, Bacon & Co. The first issue shows the face of King William III. At the top the words "post zegel" were added. In the left bottom corner the numeral and in the right bottom corner "c" (cent) were drawn. Three stamps were issued:
Publication of introduction On the 12 November 1851 the introduction was published: Art. 1 The day for the introduction of postage stamps is fixed for the 1 of January 1852. Art. 2 The postage stamps are at disposal of the public in all offices where letters are accepted. They are provided by our Minister of Finance, and can be had for payment of their nominal value. Art. 3 They bear our portrait and the inscription Postzegel, as well as the indication of the value. Art. 4 There are three kinds of postage stamps, namely: five cents, ten cents and fifteen cents. Art. 5 Each value of these stamps is printed in a different colour, as follows: Blue, the stamps of five cents. Red, the stamps of ten cents. Orange, the stamps of fifteen cents. Art. 6 They are used to frank the postage of letters addressed to the interior of the country. They can, however, be used also for letters addressed to foreign countries, if the sender does not act contrary to the conventions and provisions that exist with foreign governments and administrations, and confirming with the rules of Art. 14 hereafter. Art. 7 The letters provided with stamps are put by the senders into the letter boxes which are now intended to receive unfranked letters. Art. 8 The franking of letters by payment to the officials of the Post Office is still allowed. Our Minister will, however, instruct the officials to affix stamps to such letters. Art. 9 The stamps will have to be affixed in the upper left hand corner of the address side. Art. 10 More than one stamp of the same value or of different values can be affixed to the same letter to complete the postage. Art. 11 Each stamp can only be used once. The stamps affixed are obliterated at the despatching office in a manner to be fixed by our Minister of Finance. Art. 12 Letters franked with stamps that have been used already are surcharged, and this surcharge has to be paid by the addressee. If, however, it can be seen that the stamps being used a second time have been manipulated in such a manner as to lead to the belief that the obliteration has been removed, or by any other improper method, to obtain real stamps, it be acted in this case according to the instructions of Art. 15 hereafter. Art. 13 The value of the stamps used for the franking of a letter must be at least equal to the postage due. The distance, as well as the weight, has to be taken into consideration when franking letters. If insufficiently franked with stamps, the letter is surcharged with the difference of the postage. Art. 14 The meaning of the last sentence of the preceding Article does not apply to foreign letters when insufficiently franked. Art. 15 Letters franked with postage stamps that are imitated or forged, or with real stamps, the looks of which create suspicion, are kept back an put into the hands of special officials, who are ordered by law to find out and prosecute the authors. Art. 16 Our Minister of Finance will prepare a short notice for the public, describing the way in which postage stamps have to be used, and this notice will be sold to the public at the lowest possible price. Our Minister of Finance is charged with the execution of the above degree, one copy of which will be sent to the General Chambre to be published in the Staatsblad. Postal rates Inland postage due was calculated on basis of:
Because distance played such an important role to determine the postage due on the postage office, lists were sold (25 cents) to the public. Watermark As mentioned in our previous edition the stamps were printed on paper watermarked with the design of a posthorn. This mark was cut out of metal by hand. They show a considerable range of variations in size. The posthorns were enclosed by a border of four rectangular lines broken in the center of each margin. Within those spaces the word "POSTZEGELS" (stamps) were placed. The sheets The stamps were printed in four blocks of 25 stamps (5x5) per sheet. The posthorn watermarks on the sheets were placed in four blocks too. This means that no posthorn watermarks appeared in the margins. Colors The colors show a wide range of shades. The first 5 cents were printed in a deep blue color. The cancellations were hardly seen and an instruction went out to have them heavily obliterated. The following printings were done in a lighter shade, so that the postmarks would clearly show. You find these stamps in a wide range of blue, from light to dark. The 10 cents show a range from rose-carmine to deep rose-carmine. Because of the fact that the 15 cents was not reprinted often, not so many tints of these stamps exist. Imperforated The first emission of the Netherlands has been used from 1852 until 1864 when new perforated stamps were issued. These new stamps picture King William III too. Circulation In these 12 years the stamps of 1852 where reprinted a lot. Circulation numbers of the 1852 issue:
The plates 5 cent: 6 plates. Plate 1 - January 1852 Stamps from this plate gave a sharp and good impression. Sometimes the upper borderline has been retouched or is a little bit too long. Stamps postmarked before December 1853 are always printed from this plate. Plate 2 - November 1853 A third of the stamps from this plate have a weak right bottom corner and on a quarter of the stamps the upper borderline is deformed. This was a very bad plate. Pairs and blocks of this plate are rare. Plate 3 - December 1854 The upper borderline is often thickened and the images on this plate are not placed well. Plate 4 - December 1858 The borderline on the right is thickened on 96 stamps. A third has been retouched in the "Post"-frame. Plate 5 - May 1861 Most of the stamps from this plate have a little stripe on the left near the lower corner. Eighty stamps have a thin upper borderline. Plate 6 - February 1863 Seventy percent of the stamps are printed on very thin paper, whereby the watermark can be seen on the front. All 5 cent stamps on thin paper have been printed on this plate. 10 cent: 11 plates. Plate 1 - January 1852 A good craftsman made this plate and did the retouches. The stamps are sharp and the retouches are very fine. Stamps postmarked before August 1853 (with exception of those of the rare 1A plate) are printed from this plate. Plate 1A - April/November 1852 Stamps from this plate are very rare. Many articles have been written about this plate and collectors consider this plate to have been made as study piece for the Dutch engravers. It is a fact that only few stamps have been printed from this plate and that those stamps are sold at a limited number of post offices. Plate 2 - September 1853 This plate has been used shortly. It worn out quickly. Pairs and blocks of this plate are very rare. Plate 3 - September 1854 The colour of the stamps printed from this plate is deep red and the paper is greyish. It is very difficult to point out the original position of these stamps on this plate. Plate 4 - January 1856 On many stamps of this badly printed plate there are colour spots. On eighty stamps a stripe has been printed in the right upper corner. Plate 5 - February 1857 This plate has been in use a long time. After some time the quality got bad. Soon a red mist covered the sheets: Stamps of these sheets give an unattended impression. Many of them have a red stripe above the upper border. Plate 6 - September 1860 This plate has many retouches in the lower corners. Often heavy colour stripes can be found between the stamps. Plate 7 - June 1861 All stamps from this plate bear the same characteristic failures "hornet" and "Warren"-stain: A little white stripe in front of the forehead and a red stain in the oval ornament. The plate is used shortly. Plate 8 - July 1862 In the past collectors thought this plate was made prior to Plate 9. The famous collector Warren discovered this mistake, but for convenience the plate numbers were not altered. All stamps show a retouched "hornet" as can be found on plate 7. However the "Warren"-stain is present on all stamps. Plate 9 - January 1862 This plate has only been used briefly. Often heavy red stripes can be found at the left and horizontally between the stamps. This badly engraved plate worn out quickly. Plate 10 - November 1862 For the first prints from this plate normal paper was used. Later prints were done on thin paper. Many retouches were made on this plate. 15 cent: 1 plate. All 15 cents stamps were printed from the same plate. The various shades of colour and different kinds of paper show that this stamp was reprinted many times. From the archives we can learn that this assumption is true. Everytime only those stamps were printed thar were needed in the near future. Cancellation Stamps of the first emission of The Netherlands were cancelled with three main kinds of postmarks. They all show the word "franco" which means that postage was paid. There are two main types:
There are two kinds of fonts used in these postmarks: The letters were either "Egyptian" or "Grotesque". The "franco hemisphere" postmarks were not used by every office. Generally postmarks were replaced by an other type when the old one was worn out or got lost. Of course this happened more often at post offices in larger cities. Normally those offices used all types. From 12 April 1861 on the postmark "Franco in Frame" (without name of city) was used. All post offices were obliged to use the postmark "franco in frame" from April 12 1861 onwards. Normally different postmarks were used for unpaid letters. Numeral postmarks can be found on stamps of the first emission too, because they were valid for postage till 1891. These cancellations on the first emission are very rare. Those stamps were not sold at the post office anymore when the numeral postmark was introduced. Only unused stamps still lying around could be used during the numeral postmark period. Such usage of stamps was rare, because people did not keep stamps at home. They went with the letter to the post office and bought a single stamp for a specific letter. Complicated tariffs (distance, foreign letters) made it almost impossible for a sender to determine the right tariff. General view of commonly used postmarks:
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