I had a few Dutch stamps in mind when I read about this theme, but while searching my stamps I found a lot more. Many from the 'gulden' era but also newer ones, issued after the introduction of the euro.
If I only were allowed to choose two stamps, then the following two would be my choice:
The one which fascinates me most:
Why it fascinates me? Well, this one inspires me to add / draw a lot of pictures! Korfbal, in English known as Korfball, to my opinion is the most emancipated sport, as men and women are treated equally: they play together. My late grandmother (born 1910) used to play it as a teen, and we used to play it at school. Alas it isn't a well-known sport and to my frustration it still hasn't become an Olympic sport so far. I hope one day it will be.
So if I would have been the designer of this stamp, I sure would have added the typical basket, a mixed-gender team, Olympic rings as an advertorial, or whatever. But the designer made a strong design by using words only. And by leaving most of the stamp empty!
And this one is one of my favourites, for it shows true words from a female writer, Belle van Zuylen:
'Lezen en schrijven verandert werkelijk het bestaan van de mens...' means: 'Reading and writing really changes the being of mankind'.
A little more of this written letter you can see on the 'postzegelblog'.
Well, still no-one has stopped me after posting these two, so I'll post more stamps on words-without-pictures :-)
One issued in 1986 for the 350the anniversary of the Utrecht University (where Belle van Zuylen happened to have been to):
Two about law, the new, that is, in 1992 reformed, 'Burgerlijk Wetboek' (Dutch Civil Code), stamp issued in 1992:
and the Wetboek van Strafrecht (Penal (criminal) Code), issued in 1986:
This one I love for it shows an important part of book making: print letters:
The stamp has been issued in 1977 for the 500th anniversary of the first printed book in Dutch language (which happened to be the Delft Bible).
Stamps on the edge of words-no-pictures and pictures are these ones:
Five different stamps issued on a ten stamp sheet, for five anniversaries:
In which some elements of pictures slightly have been added to the pictures, like staves in the last one, issued for 'Hundred years Dutch Composers Association' (I've sent out one of these with the accompanying text).
The twelve provinces (of which I've sent out four):
(Click to enlarge the following six stamps)
The stamps show words only - the pictures are besides the stamps themselves - but the words also form the province flags!..
From letters to numbers, via the stamp issued for the Court of Auditors, which in Dutch means 'Rekenkamer', literally 'counting (or calculating) chamber':
Some number stamps. Until the introduction of the 'forever stamp' it was clear what a stamp would cost, for instance in 2002 for mail up to 20 grams:
And mail between 20 and 50 grams:
In 2007 for mail up to 20 grams:
And then there was this '1' stamp. This year it's value is € 0,69, in the new year one '1' stamp for national mail will be € 0,73.
Finally an other nice stamp, issued in 2003, on a subject you might like: 'verzamelen' means 'to collect':
The tiny words in the background have to do with (stamp and banknote) collecting.
See more interesting and beautiful stamps on this theme on Sunday Stamps, and the links under that post!
Wow, heleen,what a great collection. So many interesting choices on dutch stamps. Love the flags made out of words
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThank you, FinnBadger!
VerwijderenMe too, I love your selection. The modern design of some Dutch stamps amazed me; they are usually plenty of details to look for (in my case, to find out, because I don't read Dutch. Well, I think I'm starting to!). The design of the first is really powerful.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenI'm happy to have received some of this post :)
By the way, I think that in some schools of Catalonia they practise Korfball. Still no so popular, but I hope it get to be well known.
They call it 'corfbol'. I've been searching now in the Wikipedia, and I discovered that it's more popular than I thought. Great!
Verwijderenhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korfball_in_Catalonia
Yes, I had read about it in wiki - and saw that corfbol also was honoured by a Catalan wiki !
VerwijderenBy the way, if you need some translation of the Dutch, please let me know ! Although some are hard to read for me, too (e.g. the very small words in the province flags; the text printed in 1477, in which some letters and words are not common now anymore, 538 years later :-) ).
The written words by Belle van Zuylen are in French, a language you know much better than I do :-)
I like especially that blue stamp with Belle's letter. You sent it to me long time ago! :D
VerwijderenWow. Except for the 44 cent stamps I've not seen any of these before. You always come up with a fantastic variety! I love the ones with the provincial flags.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenI'd forgotten about korfbal, but when I lived in Zaandam, I watched and played a few games as my host family were involved. Thanks for the the memory :)
Thank you for your comment, VioletSky! How great to read you've experienced korfbal, too!
VerwijderenWow you've got some great stamps on the theme. I like the ones with the mesh on them, it reminds me of virtual reality.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThank you, Joy!
VerwijderenAt first sight I thought these number stamps boring, because they were / are used a lot, while I love to see 'real' pictures on stamps. But by this Sunday Stamps theme I watched the stamps more close and I agree, the ones with the mesh are special, too!
Great selection - and I had to find out about Korfball. The Delft Bible is brilliant and matches well with my William Caxton stamp.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThank you, Bob! I thought the same when I saw they differ only one year!
VerwijderenBy the way, I was in doubt whether this stamp would suit here, as the print letters are pictures (of print letters)!..