Dotted crown (1)

Last Wednesday I visited the Amsterdam stamp market on the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal: a shadow of its former glory since there is only stand left... Still, this doesn't mean there is nothing to find! So, when browsing through the sole box of postal matter the dealer had brought with him from Utrecht, I stumbled across the following item:

Postcard from Haarlem to Alkmaar, sent on the 9th of August 1920

At first sight a very ordinary postcard with an equal ordinary message: congratulations for somebody's birthday. One element on this card struck me though: the dashed upper line of the machine postmark. I hadn't seen this before. We will take a closer look:

Haarlem Krag machine cancel on Wilhelmina Fur Collar 5 ct stamp 

As is clear from the scan, the upper line of the postmark's strike seems inconsistent compared to the other three. What caused the machine to create this mysterious dashed line? Before we can answer this question, we should first dive deeper in the mechanics of the Norwegian Krag postmarking device. In 1904 E. G. Lannge described the mechanism of the machine:

"After letters or cards have been placed upright in a duct, they are moved by a sliding block (or by hand) towards the lower edge of the duct. There they are caught hold of, one by one, by rubber-coated cylinders that lead them between two cylinders rotating very close to each other. On one of these the postmarks are engraved. The postmark cylinder received color from an inking cylinder located behind it. From the postmark cylinder the mail was led through a series of wheels, arranged in spiral pattern, which brought in to a horizontal duct where a counterweight held them upright."

So, if I have read Mr Lannge's description correctly, my item was pushed by two rubber-coated cylinders in a narrow duct in order to get the postmark printed on the piece. The actual Haarlem cancel together with the four lines was thus engraved on one of these cylinders. But how did one of these lines became so fractured?

Could it be that the upper line was obstructed by a piece of rubber, which could have created the dashed effect? If this would have been the case, I reckon the machine would have stopped immediately in order to save the postal items and the machine itself. Or did a rubber in the 'series of wheels' dot the still wet ink after the piece was postmarked? Or did the postmarking cylinder just reached its expiration date because of worn? Or...

A very sharp-eyed philatelist on Stampboards.com eventually found out what's really caused the dotted-line. The lower part of the actual 'Haarlem' postmarks hasn't been printed at all, so the ink roller would have probably been installed too high, which made a part of the cancel roller visible not intended to be seen (the dotted band). At the same time, the lower parts of the cancel roller missed the ink roller, which caused the split postmark and the absence of the bottom line.

In my following blog I will tell you more about the contents, route and hopefully more about the sender and addressee of this postcard. 

New Rembrandt discovered!

Rembrandt van Rijn - Newly discovered portrait of a young man - circa 1634

Exciting news in the Dutch quality newspaper NRC this afternoon: after ages a Rembrandt painting has resurfaced!

"A painting of a young man bought at a London auction house has been identified as the work of Rembrandt, making it the first unknown painting by the Dutch master to turn up in 44 years.

Amsterdam art dealer and historian Jan Six discovered the painting, which dates from around 1634 and may be part of a large double portrait. He bought the work, undated and unsigned, 18 months ago at an auction at Christie’s in London."

See for more information: https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2018/05/15/new-rembrandt-masterpiece-identified-in-amsterdam-a1602966

Out of interest I traced the painting down on christies.com and it apparently was sold on the 9th of December 2016 for a mere £. 137,000. Now it has been identified as a Rembrandt, it will probably sell for over 5 million euro. Very painful - to say the least - that Christie's misidentified the artist as a painter in the circle of Rembrandt...ouch! In a Dutch late night talk show a former employee of Christie's Netherlands said this find does add to the 'mystique' of the auction: apparently it is still possible to discover a Rembrandt in such a renowned auction house! Still, he had to acknowledge this sleeper should have been identified as a Rembrandt. He said that the shift in expertise from old masters to modern art (which is more profitable) could be the reason of the error.

The portrait had been in the possession of the Neave Baronetcy for ages, but the current baronet sold it two years ago to the auction house. Today he wasn't able to give comments about the situation... 

TNT Post issued a series of six stamps in 2006 as Rembrandt was born in 1606: his fourth centenary.

Etching of an old woman seated (Probably Rembrandt's mother)

Etching of a man with beard in eastern garments (maybe Rembrandt's father)

Rembrandt's son Titus

Saskia van Uylenburgh: Rembrandt's wife

Woman standing in the doorway (maybe Rembrandt's later partner Hendrickje Stoffels)

The stamps were sold in sheets of five. Each stamp could be used for a normal postcard or letter within the Netherlands. Until 01-01-2007 the domestic rate was € 0,39: now you have to lay down € 0,83 for one stamp! A special stamp to be used on registered items was issued simultaneously with the stamps above. The then already crazy rate of € 6,45 was the price to acquire the stamp, but it has to be said you received a very specially crafted item in return. The printing was done by means of copper plates, adding to the 'special' effect which made the etching's lines tangible. A very special stamp indeed! I only do not get how my copy was postmarked by an ordinary cancelling machine...that was (and still is) not the procedure for registered items in the Netherlands. I gather the sender made an expensive mistake by using this stamp for an ordinary letter...

Etching portraying Rembrandt and his wife Saskia van Uylenburgh. Registered rate € 6,45.

 

A 'Classic' cover (2)

Albert Willem de Groot (1892-1963)

As the seal in my previous blog post points out, the sender of this cover had some kind of connection with the University of Amsterdam's Institute of Classical languages. Nowadays the study in Ancient Greek & Latin is still practiced in Amsterdam, although the average quality of its students will stand by sharp contrast with the students of Professor De Groot. Prior to WWII, Classics was deemed the most valuable and esteemed study you could possibly follow and it was appreciated as such until the late sixties when other studies began to emerge. The translating abilities of students Classics dwindled since then, as the Latin and Greek curriculum at grammar schools was sharply reduced.

Willem de Groot was born in Groningen on the 13th of January 1892. A part of his obituary reads as follows:

"Willem de Groot werd in 1892 in Groningen geboren en liet zich in 1909 aan de Rijksuniversiteit aldaar inschrijven als student in de Klassieke Letteren na slechts vijf jaar over het gymnasium gedaan te hebben dank zij het met goed gevolg afleggen van het zg. Staatsexamen vanuit de vijfde klasse. Zijn belangstelling beperkte zich niet tot de oude talen, doch betrof tevens linguistiek, philosophie en psychologie. ...

... Nog geen dertig jaar oud wordt hij dan benoemd als hoogleraar in de klassieke taal- en letterkunde aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam. Dertig jaren heeft hij dit ambt bekleed. Hoewel hij voordien zich vooral bezig hield met de Klassieken in het algemeen, kan men reeds een aankondiging van zijn toekeer naar de algemene taalkunde beluisteren uit de titel van zijn oratie: ‘Over veranderde denkwijzen en nieuwe problemen in de Latijnse taalwetenschap’;"

"In 1892 Willem de Groot was born in Groningen. He was enrolled as student of classical philology at the State University in that city in 1909, after completing grammar school in just five years [instead of the regular six]. Apart from his interest in the classical languages, he was also charmed with linguistics, philosophy and psychology. ...

... Not yet having reached the age of thirty, he was appointed as professor in classics at the University of Amsterdam. For thirty years he held this position. Although he was primarily occupied with classics in his early years, one could already perceive a signal of his interest in linguistics when reading the title of his inaugural lecture : 'On the changing way of thinking and new problems in Latin linguistics';"

Apart from his contributions to the classical languages, Prof De Groot aimed for a practical approach to sounds and morphology in Dutch. This 'structuralist-functionalist' way of 'reading' a language was new and he fully dedicated himself to this project after the war. Together with Anton Reichling he created the journal Lingua, International Review of General Linguistics in 1948. After teaching classics and linguistics at the University of British Columbia between 1951 and 1956, he returned to the Netherlands and became professor of general and comparative linguistics in Utrecht. His lectures were of a brilliant quality:

"De omvangrijke kennis, het diepe inzicht en de jarenlange ervaring van De Groot kwamen eerst hier ten volle tot hun recht. De brillante geleerde trad ook met de eenvoudigste deelnemers in een eerlijke discussie, waarbij allen wisten dat alleen maar de objectieve stand van zaken de beslissing teweeg kon en mocht brengen. Men hoort het hem nóg zeggen: ‘Alleen maar de feiten, maar dan ook die alléén’."

"De Groot's extensive knowledge, profound understanding and his experience of many years reached their full in his classes. The brilliant scientist also debated sincerely with the most ordinary of participants, but all took into account that only an objective state of affairs might result in a decision. One could still hear him saying: "Only the facts, nothing else!"."

Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957)

Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957) had about the same age of De Groot and had more things in common with the Dutch professor. A Cambridge graduate in Ancient Greek, Ogden became a fervent advocate of Basic English from 1925 onwards. Basic English in essence is a simplified subset of regular English to be used as an aid for teaching English as a second language. Because of his particular legacy, other activities of this influential linguist have been somewhat forgotten. He, for instance, also founded the weekly, later on quarterly The Cambridge Magazine in 1912 to which noted literary figures contributed, including Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells. In addition he translated over 15 books from French and German during the interbellum.

Now the question remains what the contents were of the letter Willem de Groot sent to Ogden in 1948. My educated guess would be that De Groot wanted to share some thoughts about his new magazine, Lingua, since the first edition was published that year... I haven't found any evidence (yet) that the two scientists knew each other personally, so I think we can exclude the possibility of an ordinary Christmas /wishing card. You will never know for sure, of course!

There is one fitting puzzle which still need to be solved: what about the marks under the 'par avion' label? They're quite illegible: no basic English to me!   

 

  

       

     

A 'Classic' cover (1)

The cover shown above was posted on the 10th of December 1948 from Amsterdam to London, at least, that's where the sender of the cover, Prof Dr A.W. de Groot, thought C.K. Ogden would dwell at the time.

The Wilhelmina "Konijnenburg" stamps which adorn the cover were initially issued in 1940, but after the German invasion of May 1940 the stamps were withdrawn from use as of 11 October 1940. The occupying force reasoned that the stamps could incite resistance, since the stamps bore the portrait of Queen Wilhelmina whom the Dutch considered their only dignity left, as she successfully escaped to England. After the war the stamps were reinstated although the paper quality was noticeably poorer than the 1940 issue. A small act of resistance during the war was to put a Wilhelmina Konijnenburg on cover with a 2 cent orange "Lebeau" Flying Dove stamp above. This would allude to the "Oranje Boven"- song which was (and is) a very popular song in the Netherlands:

Oranje boven, Oranje boven

Leve de koningin (2x)

Orange above all, orange above all,

Long live the Queen (2x)

After more than a century the Netherlands has a king once more, so we'll have to wait until Willem-Alexander's daughter ascends the throne before we can sing the song again...

The Lebeau 2 cent 'Flying Dove' Orange stamp. Artist Chris Lebeau, who helped Jews during the war by faking official documents, was betrayed and deported to Dachau where he died in April 1945...

I'm wandering off, since the real interesting part of this cover is the seal in the upper left corner, which was the reason I bought the cover at an auction in Diemen.

It reads Academia Amstelodamensis - Seminarium Classicum. In my next post I will reveal more about the sender and his relation to the department of classics of the University of Amsterdam and his even more intriguing relationship with the famous linguist/philosopher Ogden. 

An explanatory start

A warm welcome to all readers of my blog!

As this will be my first post, I feel myself obliged to explain why I have decided to immerse you in the diverse and fascinating world of Dutch Philately. There are several answers to this question, but the most important one - in my humble opinion - is the sheer lack of well-informed philatelic blogs on the Netherlands and its former colonies today. It has been years ago when Adrian Keppel decided to stop with his superb http://akphilately.blogspot.nl/, which tells many (short) stories about mainly Dutch stamps. Today he maintains another excellent blog: http://stampengravers.blogspot.nl/, but the focus on Dutch stamps has - understandably - been somewhat relaxed. Another blog which last post dates from 2013 is called http://netherlandspostalhistory.blogspot.nl/. A great resource for anybody who is interested in Dutch philately from 1924 to 1946.

Wilhelmina Fur Collar,  ƒ 0,25 - 1899

Another blog devoted to Dutch Philately has received critical acclaim since its start in 2006 (!) and could be found on http://www.postzegelblog.nl/. This great source of information has been my daily starter for many years, but all articles are in Dutch...as its target audience consists out of Dutch philatelists.

Still, I gather there is a worldwide interest in Dutch philately - or at least I hope this blog will contribute to a Dutch Philatelic Revival ;) - so that's why you're reading my posts.

Apart from the blog-business, there does exist one great online resource for philatelists called https://www.stampboards.com/. Various Dutch subjects has been dealt with over there and many passionate and respected philatelists shared their opinions on certain series such as the wonderful Wilhelmina Fur Collar issue of 1899 (see above). But the forum lacks real passionate Dutch philatelists to keep up a steady stream of posts about Dutch philately. A blog devoted to Dutch philately seems hence more suitable as 'threads' from other authors won't 'intervene' and the focus will always be on Dutch stamps and postal pieces.

I hope you will enjoy 'Dutch Philately'!