Het Welzijn van het kind

I don't know about you but I needed someone to explain that these super-modernist stamps were issued to commemorate child welfare. Building blocks! Of course! It's so obvious now.

Not being a philatelical purist, I had no problem mounting the mono stamp in isolation...because it looked cooler that way.

 

Comments

[mb]

lovely stamps, but just out of interest – how are you mounting the stamps onto the card? it looks like you might be gluing them down, but i could be wrong...

[Richard]

Hi Matt,

Long time, no commenting! Glueing them down?! That'd make a philatelist mad wouldn't it? That said, I do what is probably the next worst thing...they're mint stamps, so I just give 'em a little lick. Tried hinges but they didn't work for me, too delicate. The used stamps I have have a little spray mount on the back. That's probably a terrible thing to do too, but I keep all my stamps on little cards in Moleskin pocket books so I can pop them into my pocket. It's like my own private art gallery, in my pocket.

[mb]

A pocket-sized art gallery – that's a nice thought.

You could always invest in a pocket stock book, or even some archival Prinz stamp mounts – the only trouble with licking the backs is that should you want to move them later, you might have a bit of trouble...

[bz2]

The reason the art on the stamps doesn’t exactly depict child welfare is that these stamps don't commemorate child welfare, they raise money for it. The ‘12 C + 8’ on the first stamp, for example, means that the face value is 12 cents, but out of the 20 cents you pay in the store 8 cents goes to a child welfare charity.

[Kuka]

Wonderful stamps!

[Richard]

mb, I know, I know. You're quite right. I thought about it long and hard. Time may prove my actions foolish. Right now, I'm comfortable with my transgression. But thanks for the ideas anyway.

bz2, That's great. Thanks for clearing that up.

Kuka, Don't want to leave you out, so just, "Thanks".

[Bert Vanderveen]

Very nice to see these stamps here. They are considered to be icons of the Dutch Post Office (see: http://www.iconenvandepost.nl/site2/icoon.php?id=4043947 ) and were published in 1970 (sic!).

As a ten/eleven/twelve year old kid I (and thousands of other kids then and now) presold packages of ‘Children stamps’ to relatives, neighbours and friends. There was quite a fierce competition amongst us, because the one who sold the most was quite the hero. After publication we would receive our alotment of stamp packages to deliver, collecting the monies due at the same time. Image all these kids running around with stamps and cash — it’s a wonder not a lot were mugged…
(The last ones I sold were the 1968 ones designed by Ootje Oxenaar: http://www.iconenvandepost.nl/site2/icoon.php?id=6747379 )

The Dutch Post Office publishes a yearly overview of all the stamps published in that year, extensively illustrated with sketches and such. I am not sure when they started doing this. My collection of Yearbooks comprises the period 1979–1992, but they are still at it.

BTW These yearbooks are collector’s items by themselves, because they have been designed by some the most distinguished Dutch designers and beautifully illustrate the design process for some of the best stamps ever done.

I had a professor in Art School who had done a few stamps & he told us students that when asked to provide the Post Office with sketches for the Yearbook he did them after the fact (having done very little preliminary work) & was complimented by a lot of people on account of the insightful representation of the way a designer works…

[mb]

I must say the stamps do look much neater mounted onto the card, especially with simplicity of the design.

I always try my hardest to look after things like posters and stamps but they inevitably end up with bashed corners or grubby fingerprints...