Biak to Nice - Netherlands New Guinea

Netherlands New Guinea cover, sent from Biak to Nice, France on the 17th of September 1962

The cover shown above was sent by Lieutenant Colonel G.J.B. Veenhuys to a real-estate agency in Nice, France. Veenhuys was stationed at the marine corps barracks on Biak, an island which is situated in the so-called Geelvink Bay in what is now Indonesia. Besides its strategic location, the city of Biak is equipped with an airport: ideal for defense operations. 

Situation of Biak (green) in the current province of West Papua

On the 1st of October 1962 the Dutch government would transfer the colony to the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority and on that same day most of the Dutch troops were repatriated to the Netherlands. Dutch citizens were repatriated as well, an estimate of 12.000 citizens still lived in the colony by mid 1962 and all were eager to return to the Netherlands, especially after it became clear the colony was to be transferred to Indonesian rule. In order to cope with this evacuation the Dutch government opened an airbridge between Biak and Schiphol. This operation was called Spectrum and was ready in August 1962. Because of the threat of war many people made use of this service, but civil servants had to remain in the colony until the 1st of October. When this date had finally past, 2540 servants which were still on duty could return to the Netherlands. Only 800 of them stayed behind to take care of an orderly transfer to UNTEA rule. The last Dutch soldiers departed Guinea in late November 1962 (1).   

Dutch Submarine Dolfijn departs Biak on the 1st of October 1962, © Rinus Peperkamp

The rate of a letter with destination Europe was 65c in 1962 and Colonel Veenhuys stamped his envelope accordingly. I'm not so sure how the airmail fee is included in this rate, but the cover clearly states 'by airmail' and the postmark reads Biak Luchthaven (airport). So, the cover obviously went by plane to  France, and therefore it seems to me that the airmail fee was already incorporated in the 65c.

20c bird of paradise and 45c Juliana en profil

In my previous post I mentioned that NNG covers sent to other countries than the Netherlands are quite scarce, especially if they are not philatelic. I do wonder how many (non-official) NNG covers  were ever sent to Nice or even France as a whole! Couldn't be more than a couple of thousands, since at its peak by mid 1960 there only lived a mere 18.000 Dutch citizens in Netherlands New Guinea. (1).

Hollandia together with Biak were the only two places in the whole of NNG were considerable amounts of mail were processed. Several NNG postmarks was used quite often apparently, so that the post deemed it useful to insert a time indicator as well. So we even know that this piece was posted at 11 a.m. This additional time stamp might have been helpful for NNG domestic mail - though even domestic mail took more than one day travelling - but for locations abroad it seems quite ridicule. Bureaucracy at its finest. 

(1) Meijer, H. (2007),  'Daar heb je ze weer': de overkomst van overzeese rijksgenoten uit Nieuw-Guinea bezien in het perspectief van de algemene repatriëring uit de Oost in Transparant, 18.2:18-25

Netherlands New Guinea - a short history

Map of New Guinea with an overview of steamboat connections in 1915, published in Batavia

After the Dutch East Indies became independent Indonesia in 1949, there remained several disputes unresolved between the new republic and the Netherlands. One of them was the gigantic province of New Guinea which equals Poland in size and which landmass is about 8 times larger than the Netherlands. Nevertheless, in 1949 there existed little to non Dutch colonial activity as it was never deemed profitable for proper cultivation. Besides, the Netherlands only barely started exploiting the enormous amount of natural resources on Sumatra and Borneo in the 1930s. In short: there was no real interest in New Guinea, apart from some colonial internment/concentration camps for Indonesian / Communist independence activists from 1926 onward. The local tribes which inhabited this large island mainly covered by tropical forest remained undisturbed.

Photograph of a bay on the north coast of New Guinea. This photo was taken by Gijsbert van der Sande on the 1903 North New Guinea expedition. One of the first Dutch scientific expeditions on this vast island. Tropenmuseum Collection.

This all changed in 1949 when Indonesia became independent. To ratify its independence the Netherlands had to agree politically on the the issue. This turned out to be quite a difficult matter. After two years of war against the independence movement the Netherlands was forced by the U.S.A. to settle the dispute. So shortly after WOII, the Netherlands was heavily depended upon the states for financial aid and supplies. More than 50% of the Dutch population held a negative opinion about an independent 'Indië'. This attitude created a major dilemma: it proved to be struggle to find a majority in the 2nd Chamber (Dutch lower house) to ratify the independence treaty. Moreover, Sukarno's highly dubious position regarding his collaboration with the Japanese during WOII created many additional problems for the then ruling PvdA to 'sell' this deal to the Dutch people. To cope with this political problem the PvdA proposed an unilateral addendum to the treaty: that the Dutch could retain control over New Guinea for the time being. This made it possible for the PvdA to get a majority in the 2nd and 1st Chambers and it softened the loss of the 'emerald girdle', a cognomen Multatuli once devised to describe the 'Oost'.

Sukarno in 1949

Of course this 'addendum' was a major blow for Sukarno, but he grudgingly accepted: he probably reasoned that it was now or never for his independent Indonesia. As stated above already, New Guinea was deemed uncultivated, inhospitable and wild in Dutch eyes. Sukarno likely reasoned the same: the vast country was of no necessity for the young republic at the moment and more importantly, there lived little to none Indonesians.

The old colonizer happily proclaimed 'Netherlands New Guinea' as their new colony and transported a small army of dignitaries, officials and soldiers to its new capital which was known as Hollandia and was situated close to the border of Australian territory of Papua and New Guinea. During the early 1950s Australian became a friend of the Dutch regime since it feared a communist led Indonesia bordering its province. Strengthened by this newly gained trust from Western allies, the Dutch government put the idea of handing New Guinea over to Indonesia in the 'refrigerator' as we say in Holland. We shelved the plan.

Sukarno felt obviously belittled over the matter and raised the stakes: he expelled Dutch Indonesians, attacked the Moluccans in 1950 and threatened to stop trade with its former colonizer. From 1957 onward relations between the two countries grew even worse: strikes in Dutch factories in Indonesia, trade bans on products imported from the Netherlands etc. Sukarno did everything to drive the Dutch government to the limit. Together with the under performing New Guinean economy and local resistance made it clear that Netherlands New Guinea wasn't meant to be for the long term.

Tensions reached boiling point in 1959 when a nationalistic government was created in the Hague. Cabinet De Quay was in favour of keeping New Guinea and it made it possible for Dutch conscripts to fight in colonies overseas. This policy made it easier to send troops to New Guinea, which lacked an army of its own. Meanwhile, Indonesia had developed an army which could easily take possession of the last bit of Dutch-possessed land if Sukarno wished. Still, he didn't know for sure how the U.S.A. would react if he dared to make such a bold move. Communis opinio had it that the U.S.A. supported the Dutch cause in this matter....

De Quay Cabinet bordes scene after Queen Juliana appointed all members by royal decision in Huis ten Bosch Palace - 1959

This all changed in late 1960 and 1961 when the Netherlands sent its troops to New Guinea: it turned into a diplomatic fiasco and was an absolute failure. The sabre rattling probably caused the U.S.A. to shift its position about the issue. Kennedy wanted to avoid a second conflict in Asia at all costs. He thought that the Netherlands provoked Indonesia which lured Sukarno into communism. He could buy plenty of weapons in Russia...

In the end Netherlands New Guinea fortunately saw little fighting between Dutch and Indonesian troops and in early 1962 De Quay made it clear he would like to negotiate with Indonesia about the transfer of power. In the meantime  a temporary executive authority led by the United Nations (UNTEA) would be in charge over the former colony. The Dutch left the colony on the 1st of October 1962, Indonesia took possession of it on the 1st of May 1963.

During the short existence of Netherlands New Guinea, it issued its own stamps- some of them were overprinted with UNTEA in 1962. Since not many Dutch officials lived in the colony and many of its native people were illiterate, its postal history is fairly unknown and real (non-philatelic) items are quite scarce. Especially covers from smaller towns and villages are sought after, as well as interesting locations to which covers were addressed. Most of them were sent from its capital, Hollandia, or Biak (airfield) to the Netherlands. Other destinations are quite rare. In my next post I will tell you something about the cover below, which was sent to France!

Medemblik Typenrader

Postcard which was posted in Medemblik on the 2nd of May 1916 with destination Hoefijzerfabriek Werkman in the small village of Helpman which was just outside Groningen back then

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 the so-called 'Typenrader'-model: the postal clerk could set all the different date-indicators easily by means of cogs. A major improvement over the older Large Circular/Round Postmarks which used detachable, 'insertable' characters for specific intervals. You could imagine how much filthier the hands of the postal clerk would look like when he used the latter type of postmarks. It became obvious that the typenrader was both a time-saving and less messy means of postmarking.

Medemblik Typenrader postmark (long beam, Arabic)

Until this day the Dutch postal outlets still use a modern variant of the typenrader. Our Medemblik cancel was part of the first series of typenrader-postmarks: the 'long beam' Arabic model. The 'long beam' refers to the beam in which all the dates are aligned and the 'Arabic' concerns the way how the month was being presented: an Arabic numerical '5'. After some time the P.T.T. decided to replace the month indicators with Roman ciphers - probably for the sake of clarity I guess -. Of course it's easier to 'decipher' 2-.V.16.2-3N. than 2-.5.16.2-3N. .....

The reason why I wanted to share this particular postcard was because of the sender's address: apart from the fact that the company traded in ironware (ijzerwaren) and that the sons of Johan Fransen had continued the business after their father had died (Wed.), we see that the company could be reached by dialing 7. Only a 7! In 1915 there were only 75,000 individual telephone subscribers in the Netherlands. Medemblik was (and is) a small but ancient city in the northeastern corner of West Frisia and had therefore (very) few telephone subscribers in 1916. The postcards coveys a bittersweet message too: today similar messages are all but send by means of mobile phones...

The back of the postcard isn't really interesting: the addressee still exists though: Werkman horseshoes in Groningen. Groningen has totally enclosed the small village of Helpman in the 1950s and '60s . The blue mark reads 'answered'. 

Heldring in Venedig

PH-AKR 'Rietvink'. This DC-2 aircraft carried the letter from Bandoeng to Amsterdam Schiphol

In the 1930s the world became increasingly smaller by the introduction of regular flights between every possible destination. The aircraft industry could barely keep pace with the ever demanding airlines, which asked for safe, less noisy, air-pressured cabins and larger aircraft. Comfort and luxury were key words for 1930s passenger airlines. But aircraft were of more use than only transporting passengers: they became a very important means of transporting freight and mail. Especially the last category could be transported in large quantities. For the first time in history Dutch inhabitants of the Indies (West and East) could communicate with their relatives in the Netherlands without having to wait six or more weeks for an answer. In addition to this the leading Dutch airline (KLM) improved her service every year. In the early 1930s it took more than ten days for a KLM aircraft to fly from Bandoeng to Amsterdam. In the late 1930s new modern (American) DC-3 aircraft could make the journey in a time span of only two days! That's what you call progress!

Letter departed Bandoeng on the 2nd of August 1935 and was probably forwarded from Amsterdam to Venice on the 20th of August. Attractive stamping of the square 12 1/2c Queen Wilhelmina 'Kreisler' and the 30c Seegers' lonely ship stamp.

This letter departed Paroengkoeda (now Parungkuda) on the 2nd of August 1936. First you might think that it arrived in Amsterdam on the 20th of the same month. A longer than usual travel time, isn't that a bit odd? With the introduction of the modern DC-2 flying machines a journey from the Indies to the Netherlands took only 5 days in the summer of 1935...so first thing what came to my mind was an engine failure. They often occurred in these days.

After a while though I wasn't so sure anymore: I looked the flight up in TSchroots' great airmail encyclopedia and read that the DC-2 'Rietvink' departed Bandoeng on the 3rd of August and arrived accordingly to its flight schedule in Amsterdam on the 8th. No engine failure whatsoever, just a lazy philatelist which jumped to conclusions too quickly.       

It think we might have been tricked by the Amsterdam postmark. This 'pseudo-arrival' postmark is probably only an indication of the time and day on which the letter was forwarded to Venice (and since you're probably more shrewd as I am, you might have guessed that already).

'Forwarding postmark' Amsterdam Central Station?

The sender of the letter was not aware of Mr Heldring's departure to Italy - obviously - so Mr Biesenbach's of Paroengkoeda letter was at the mercy of the postal services now. In these days you could still rely on such an forwarding immaculate service. The European postal agencies quickly forwarded his letter to Venice. It arrived there only two days later on the 22nd of August.

Close-up of the two stamps and postmarks

Now two questions come to mind:

• What is the reason of the 18-day gap between the send date and forwarding date?  Did it took Heldring's family so long to forward the letter to him from their home address in Amsterdam? Or did Mr Biesenbach's letter linger in the Javanese forests for some time before reaching Bandoeng? Or...? 
• What were Mr Heldring businesses in Kaprun and Venice? His wife (or assistant) first wrote down the wrong address (Hotel Kesselfall, Kaprun) before correcting it into the more famous Grünewald Hotel in Venice. I think the 'corrector' was perfectly aware of Mr Heldring's travel schedule. He appears to me as an important man. Moreover, his name rung a bell when my eyes met this cover. In fact, in the end I bought the cover because of this name and not because of it's attractive stamping and neat postmarks.

Ernst Heldring - Dutch entrepreneur

Much Dutchmen probably don't remember his name, and if they do they remember his name because of his son. The addressee - Ernst Heldring - nevertheless was a famous and very influential individual during the first half of the last century. Born in 1871, he was educated at the Public School of Trade in Amsterdam during the 1880s. Within 10 years he had established good contacts with the Dutch Indies where he was responsible for numerous (industrial) initiatives, such as the the construction of a harbour in Sabang and a new ship route which connected Java to Japan. He started this last venture in 1902 after having becoming president of the prestigious Royal Dutch Steamboat Company (KNSM) in 1899. Perhaps more important for philatelists is his function as president of the Royal Dutch West India Mail (KWIM) between 1912 and 1928. By that time people called him a proper shipowner ('reder' in Dutch) and in the Netherlands with its long history of trade and ships such a function meant (and still means) influence and prestige. Soon he became known as the Viceroy of Amsterdam. He made it into the upper class of Dutch society. 

Ernst Heldring on the roof of his house (De Lairessestraat 96). Viceroy of Amsterdam.

In the 1930s Heldring occupied numerous functions, most of them commissionerships, at the Dutch National Bank, the Hoogovens and the Dutch Trade Company. Most notably for our letter tracing process could have been the position he held at the Holland Bank for the Mediterranean in the mid thirties. Which sort of other business could possible distract you from simmering Italian summers.... 

For the sake of all of us, he had the extraordinary gift to keep his diary up to date. So here are some notes of his own hand, written in September 1935 which will tell you his real activities in the summer of 1935.

~

Gisteravond thuisgekomen van 4 weken vacantie in Beieren, Oostenrijk en Italië met Jet als reisgezelle. We hadden prachtig weer, behalve in de bergen, waar we ons voornemen tochten te maken moesten opgeven, toen we voldoende getraind waren. De laatste 8 à 9 dagen brachten we te Venetië, Padua en Verona, Brescia, Bergamo en Milaan door. Venetië is een oude bekende, die ik gaarne terugzie. Ditmaal was er in het Palazzo Pisaro een prachtige tentoonstelling van werken van Titiaan, waar zijn meesterschap in portretkunst, het coloriet en de compositie, doch ook zijn tekortschieten in geestelijke diepte - geheel overeenkomstig zijn tijd en omgeving - gedemonstreerd werden. Ditmaal bezocht ik ook het oud-Romaansche, half-Byzantijnsche kerkje te Torcello op een afgelegen lagune-eiland. Heel mooi. De Giotto's en Mantegna's te Padua waren een verrukking bij het weerzien na 30 jaren, zoo ook Verona. De musea in beide steden, vooral dat te Padua, vond ik uitmuntend gereorganiseerd. Te Brescia waren we slechts een paar uur tusschen 2 treinen, wegens slagregen grootendeels in een café. Het oude Bergamo op den berg gelegen met zijn door kerken en loggia's omgeven piazza is een juweel.

~

Translation:

Yesterday I returned after having spend 4 weeks of holidays in Bavaria, Austria and Italy with Jet as my travel companion. The weather was great, except in the mountains, where we had to give up our intention of making walks after sufficient training. The last 8/9 days we stayed in Venice, Padua, Verona, Brescia, Bergama and Milan. Venice is like an old acquaintance, whom I very much like to visit again. This time there was a beautiful exposition of pieces of Titian, where his mastery in portrait art, of colorite and composition, but also his under performance in philosophy- which perfectly corresponds to his age and surroundings - was demonstrated. I visited the old and small Romanic, half Byzantine church of Torcello as well this time, which stands on a remote island in the lagoon. Very pretty. To see  the paintings of Giotto and Mantegna again in Padua was a sheer delight after 30 years. The same applies to Verona. I found that the museums in both cities were very well organized, especially in Padua. Since we had to switch trains in Brescia, we had only a couple of hours to visit this city. (Unfortunately) We had to take shelter in a cafe because of a downpour. The ancient city of Bergamo situated on its mountain and its piazza surrounded by churches and loggia's is a gem.

So Mr Heldring was not for business in Italy and Austria: he enjoyed a lengthy holiday there! One mystery solved.

   

Sparkling tiara's on Curaçao stamps

Last but not least in this series of studying Wilhelmina's tiara's, we will cross the Atlantic to the Dutch Caribbean. Although all stamps during Wilhelmina's reign carry the name 'Curaçao', they were used on the other Dutch Antilles as well (Aruba and Bonaire and St. Maarten, St. Eustatius and Saba). We will see that most designs match the Dutch Indies stamps, starting with the Veth 1903 series. By 1916 the new series by Seegers and Harting was introduced:

NVPH 64 - 1915 - Queen Wilhelmina 22 1/2c

NVPH 68 - 1916 - Queen Wilhelmina 50c

I always felt these designs suited the Dutch possessions in the Caribbean much better than the Dutch Indies territories. This 'feeling' might result from the fact that the Seegers' design only displays an empty horizon and a lonely ship. When thinking of the Dutch Indies I always imagine mighty volcano's and inaccessible mountain ranges which are draped in dense tropical forests. The Dutch Antilles on the other hand remind me of small windswept islands exposed to hurricanes, the sea and whatever more. The Seegers' 'lonely ship' design nears this feeling the closest, but Harting's design with its plain palm trees does invoke this same 'barren' atmosphere. Only when you try very hard, you will uncover the mystic mountain ranges of the Indies:

Detail of NVPH 68 with focus on the mountain ranges

When we continue we will see Cheffer's Jubilee design of 1923 again, which I decided not to review here again - see this post for his design.. Unlike the Dutch Indies however, the colony of Curaçao decided to grant these stamps a second life as definitive series by slightly altering the frame. It appeared between 1928 and 1930:

NVPH 89 - 1930 - Queen Wilhelmina 6c

I don't know if this design does the trick: I find myself somewhat puzzled by the three ships. I think that Mr Seegers tried reworking the frame, but he pushed the design too far by engraving three seemingly random ships below the queen in my modest opinion. I think it would have better suited the stamp to have only one ship displayed or a combination between the outline of an island and a single ship -  or even better: no display of ships at all. 

NVPH 126 - 1936 - Queen Wilhelmina 6c

Next comes a stamp which was only used on the Dutch Antilles and in Suriname, since the Dutch Indies had their own iconic square Kreisler stamps. Of course I do not want to suggest that this stamp is inferior to Kreisler's design, but I have to admit it is a bit dull ... On the other hand the designer - Mr Mees -  chose to depict Wilhelmina with a veil. This really makes her a bit magical and quite exotic. A remarkable choice and therefore the design will get my stamp of approval nevertheless. Wilhelmina seems to wear three strands of pearls on a plain tiara. I seriously doubt if Wilhelmina ever possessed a jewel of this kind.

NVPH 138 - 1938 - Queen Wilhelmina 1 1/2c

We will end with the ruby jubilee stamps which were a shared issue between the Netherlands, Suriname, Curaçao and the Dutch Indies. Mr Koch made a fine drawing of Queen Wilhelmina with the massive Wedding Gift Tiara which was so quickly dismantled after Juliana became our queen in 1948. A very stylized stamp.

Sparkling tiara's on Dutch Indies stamps

In my previous post I wrote about the various tiara's worn by Queen Wilhelmina which appear on Dutch stamps. Now time has come to do the same for Dutch colonial stamps (Curaçao and the Dutch Indies). While some colonial series share resemblances with Dutch stamps and are based on the same photographs, various series belong solely to the colonies. They really give you a more exotic impression when compared to the quite frugal Dutch designs. We will commence with the Dutch Indies.

Veth 1903

The first Dutch Indian series of Wilhelmina was designed by Jan Veth and introduced in 1903. Veth was also responsible for the definitive 1924-1930 series which was used in the Netherlands. His 1903 Indies design was even more attractive than his Dutch series in my opinion. Have a look at this 10c overprint variety:

NVPH 88 - 1908 - Queen Wilhelmina 10c 'Buiten Bezit' overprint

Even with the heavy postmark and obtrusive overprint the stamp still possesses a simple grace. The overprint 'Buiten Bezit' indicates that this stamp was meant for post offices in the Dutch Indies which were not located on the isle of Java. Since this island was the first real colonial property of the Netherlands, officials used the term 'Buiten Bezit' (~ outer possessions) for the numerous other islands, especially Sumatra, Celebes and Borneo.  

Queen Wilhelmina 1897 photograph

I'm convinced Mr Veth used the photograph above for his design, the same photograph which was used for the Dutch 1899 Mouchon 'Fur Collar' stamps. Wilhelmina wore her Württemberg Ornate Pearl Tiara on that occasion but I have to admit Veth didn't succeed in engraving this tiara. He has turned it into a rather clumsy diadem on his stamps. 

NVPH D26 - 1911 - Queen Wilhelmina 1g 'Dienst.' overprint

The stamp above belongs to the same series, but is larger in size (together with the 2 1/2g) and is embellished with two Olympic gods (Hermes and Ceres) and two ships in its frame. A very handsome design, although this particular one is gravely ruined by the 'Dienst' overprint. 'Dienst' stamps are officials.

Seegers and Harting 1913

NVPH 120 - 1914 - Wilhelmina 20c

In the early 1910s H. Seegers designed a new series of stamps, to be used in the Dutch Indies, Curacao and Suriname. A plain engraving showing Wilhelmina en profil and a lonely ship was used for the lower values up to 50c. From 50c onwards a more elaborate and a larger stamp was used, designed by D. Harting (see below). I daresay both designers used the 1897 photograph again (15 years after it was made...) and Harting obviously did a better job. Wilhelmina's ear on Mr Seegers' stamp is simply too grotesque.  

NVPH 132 - 1913 - Queen Wilhelmina 1g

What I do like when looking at Harting's stamp is the very exotic though elegant framework. Much attention has been given to design the denomination and country designation, which makes me think of this stamp as a particularly charming one.     

Jubilee 1923

NVPH 162 - 1923 - Queen Wilhelmina 20c

In 1923 Wilhelmina had reigned for 25 years: a jubilee which the P.T.T. did not miss. In the Netherlands and the colonies series of stamps were issued which commemorated her achievement. The colonial stamps differed a great deal from the Dutch series, which was designed in art deco style. The stamp above though can be described as very conservative and '19th centurish', but was apparently deemed perfectly apt for the Dutch colonies associated with all their opulence and richness. We see a heavily illuminated frame surrounding Wilhelmina who wears a grand diadem. You could almost imagine that this diadem should be called the 'pearl of the Indies' when taking its gigantic proportions into consideration. Not frugal at all and very un-Dutch. On top of this she wears an eye-catching necklace. 

1923 photograph by H. Deutmann

In the archives I found the photo on which the series was based. Cheffer made the excellent engraving, whilst Seegers resorted to the framework. He probably hadn't forgot his clumsy ear (nor had the P.T.T.), but he made it up by lovely adorning this series. Wilhelmina wears the so-called Wedding Gift Tiara. Because of its gigantic proportions her daughter - queen Juliana - had dismantled the parure when she became queen. Maybe she thought it a too opulent display for the Netherlands, especially after we lost the Indies in 1949.  

Kreisler 1934

NVPH 196 - 1934 - Queen Wilhelmina 12 1/2c

To complete the Indies diadem tour, we cannot exclude Kreisler's magnificent 1934 Wilhelmina series. Why magnificent? Well, he dared to present the P.T.T. with a square stamp design. That was a first and a gamble. Moreover, his design consists out of a very humble but at the same time proud depiction of the queen within a neat though elegant framework. This and the combination of native art with two important Dutch elements (shipping & infrastructure) makes the stamp truly iconic. Where the 1923 jubilee series overwhelms you a bit too heavily, this stamp does not make any presumptions. That's quite an achievement, since Wilhelmina is depicted with her Wedding Gift Tiara again. Kreisler didn't make this diadem look preposterous though (a feeling which I got with the jubilee series), since the diadem softly sinks away in her hair. Very refined. 

Sparkling tiara's on Dutch stamps

Last night a grand state banquet was held in Buckingham Palace in honour of the state visit of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima to the United Kingdom. A historic state visit, since Willem-Alexander is the third (!) monarch of the Netherlands to visit the U.K. during Queen Elizabeth’s reign. Whilst Brexit was certainly discussed, the king’s speeches to the U.K. parliament and Queen Elizabeth stayed both very diplomatic (as was expected) and amicable.  

In the months and weeks prior to the state visit, many royalty experts eagerly discussed the possibility of Queen Máxima wearing the so-called Stuart Tiara (and accompanying parure) which was last worn by Queen Juliana (reign: 1948-1980) in the 1970s. Her daughter queen Beatrix (reign 1980-2013) never seemed to have worn the set in public. She might have had her personal reasons not to wear it, but certainly its absolute stunning extravagance (see photo below) will not escape anybody's attention. 

The tiara itself is massive and was ordered by Queen Emma for her daughter Wilhelmina on the occasion of her inauguration in 1898. Its absolute piece de resistance is the fabulous Stuart Diamond which has been in possession of the Dutch royal family for centuries. Stadtholder-King William III of the Netherlands and England acquired this uncut diamond for his wife Mary in 1690 and in the same year an Amsterdam diamond cutter polished it into a heavy 39,75 carat gem.

NVPH 1407 - 1988 - 75c

Some people deem the tiara itself already over-the-top, let alone with the Stuart and the accompanying diamonds added! Queen Máxima however did not think it was too pompous and – to the absolute delight of many royalty fans and gemmaphiles – the Stuart sparkled on the queen’s head yesterday after decades in the Dutch royal vault.

Queen Máxima with the Stuart Diamond tiara in Buckingham Palace yesterday

This story inspired me to look at Dutch (colonial) stamps bearing engravings/photo’s of queen Wilhelmina and Juliana, as I knew some of them depicted tiara’s as well. Of course I wondered if the Stuart tiara was ever portrayed on a Dutch stamp… I soon found out though that it proved very hard to precisely determine the small and sometimes roughly engraved tiara’s. Moreover, it appeared to me that some tiara’s on these stamps seemed to have vanished altogether…or even never existed in the first place. Please read my report below. In this particular post I will pay attention to tiara’s on Dutch stamps only. Mu next post will discuss Dutch colonial stamps.

Inauguration of Queen Wilhelmina and subsequent 'Fur collar' series

NVPH 77 - 1899 - Queen Wilhelmina 1g

On the occasion of Wilhelmina’s inauguration in 1898 the P.T.T. issued a so-called inauguration stamp which is almost identical to the stamp above. This stamp though is part of the high value definitive ‘Wilhelmina Fur Collar' series which is considerably cheaper than the real inauguration stamp...and therefore saves me some money.

When we look closely we see that the young queen wears a tiara – but after an even closer inspection we observe that it is not the Stuart tiara, which was specifically made for her inauguration! A real shame she was not portrayed with the Stuart here. Instead she seems to wear the so-called Württemberg Ornate Pearl Tiara. This tiara was probably crafted in 1897 and – contrary to popular belief – has nothing to do with Sophie of Württemberg (first wife of king William III). Queen Beatrix was apparently quite fond of the piece but often wore it without the characteristic pearl ‘toppers’ – too preposterous to her likens I guess? Sometimes though, on very special occasions she did add the pearls, for example while she visited Queen Elizabeth in 1982 or on the eve of her abdication in 2013. The Württemberg tiara can be found on all other stamps of the ‘Fur Collar’ series of 1899-1921.

NVPH 71 - 1899 - Queen Wilhelmina 15c

Definitive series queen Wilhelmina 'Veth' 1924-1930  

NVPH 165 - 1926- Queen Wilhelmina 5g 

The first stamps of the next definitive series of queen Wilhelmina were issued in 1924 and they bear a handsome engraving of her with a different tiara. I’ve chosen the 5 guilder as example here, since it was printed in a larger size than the lower values. After searching a while through some online depots, I found the following two drafts of designer Jan Veth. 

2nd draft by Veth

1st draft by Veth

It strikes me that in the first draft he had drawn the Württemberg tiara, while in the second one he obviously opted for a different tiara. A problem remained though: I couldn’t find a single tiara belonging to the royal family with at least 9 pearls on one side. It seems to me Prof. Veth produced a brand new tiara out of his pencil…

1931 Photo Queen

NVPH 237 - 1931- Queen Wilhelmina 80c 

A special stamp appeared in 1931 with a photo of Queen Wilhelmina. A first, since the P.T.T. had never used photo’s on its stamps before. In 1933 the 80c value was issued. Because of the photo we do not have to be afraid some designer made up an artificial tiara (or do we?). Still, it was not easy to trace down this particular tiara as the photo quality isn’t spectacular and we only see Wilhelmina en profil . After comparing it to other stamps (especially colonial ones) and the 40^th anniversary of Wilhelmina’s reign stamp of 1938, I’m fairly convinced though that this is the so-called Wedding Gift Tiara. A Dutch jeweler crafted this now-lost voluminous diamond and sapphire tiara in 1900 on the occasion of Wilhelmina’s wedding to Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1901.

Juliana had dismantled this tiara – maybe because of its sheer size – and several new jewels were made out of it for her daughters.  

Crisis 1934

NVPH 265 - 1934- Queen Wilhelmina 5c

In 1934 the P.T.T. issued two charity stamps on behalf of the Dutch National Crisis Committee. The other stamp bears an image of princess Juliana – alas without a tiara! On the depicted stamp we observe a very regal queen Wilhelmina wearing a tiara, but we’re in for a second disappointment: this is also an imaginary fabrication of an artist (Fokko Mees). The photo upon which this engraving was based is the same one which was used for the 1931 stamp with the Wedding Gift Tiara (see below).

Fokko Mees did draw a more true to nature draft version though:

Ruby Jubilee 1938

In 1938 a series of stamps was issued in honour of queen Wilhelmina’s 40^th ‘ruby’ jubilee. A fine and detailed drawing by designer Pijke Koch can be found online. She does wear the Wedding Gift Tiara here again.    

NVPH 311 - 1938 - Queen Wilhelmina 5c

Drawing by Pijke Koch

1940-1947 definitive series Queen Wilhelmina 'Konijnenburg'

NVPH 332 - 1940 - Queen Wilhelmina 5c

Last but not least we have the so-called Konijnenburg definitive series, named after designer Willem van Konijnenburg. He produced plain but very elegant stamps but had the misfortune that his series was printed in the spring of 1940 and therefore saw only limited use during WWII. Even more unfortunate was that he died of flu in 1943 and therefore never enjoyed a liberated Holland again. His stamps though were granted a proper renaissance when they were reprinted after the war. The lower values were based upon a drawing of Konijnenburg, but the higher values (1,2½, 5 and 10 guilder) only appeared for the first time after the war. They differed from the lower values in size and were handsomely engraved by Sem Hartz. Luckily engraved portraits were not something of the past yet!

NVPH 349 - 1946 - Queen Wilhelmina 1g

If I'm not mistaken Queen Wilhelmina wears the so-called ruby Mellerio Tiara on these stamps. Especially the engraved version clearly shows us this particular tiara. I was grateful to find an original drawing of Van Konijnenburg and the photo upon which he modeled his stamp:

Queen Wilhelmina with Mellerio Tiara

Drawing by Willem van Konijnenburg - 1939

The Mellerio Parure is a set of jewels which the royal family owns since the late 1800s. William III asked the French jeweler Mellerio to craft a tiara, necklace, brooches and armbands for his second wife Queen Emma. He acquired it for a mere ƒ160,000 in 1889...

Queen Máxima with the Mellerio tiara