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