Tickets Now Available for London 2022

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[press release]
Tickets are now available for the opening day of London 2022, the international stamp exhibition taking place on 19 to 26 February at the Business Design Centre in Islington in London.

Admission on the first day will cost £10: or all other days it will be free. Tickets for the opening day can be purchased now. Simply visit www.london2022.co/london-2022-first-day-entry-tickets – payment can be made using PayPal or credit card. Tickets will be emailed: they can either be printed or presented on a mobile phone at the door on entry. Each ticket will have a unique reference number to prevent re-use.

The tickets will also be available for purchase on entry. The first day tickets have been kindly sponsored by Andrew Lajer.

Some, of course, are eligible for free entry every day including Patrons and Sponsors, exhibitors, booth holders, Jury and Commissioners and volunteers.

The exhibition will be open each day from 10am to 6pm (closing at 4pm on Saturday, 26 February).

Visit www.london2022.co for the up-to-date listing of booth holders, competitive exhibits and society meetings.

Hotchner: Kids and Stamp Collecting, Then And Now

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When my children were in the 8- to 12-year-old range, each one in turn tried stamp collecting. Three of the four even did exhibits. They did not have to be cajoled into it by a clearly involved helicopter father. Rather they were, I think, curious what I found so attractive, and got involved through participation in a Ben Franklin Stamp Club established at their school (a system the USPS sponsored nationwide, providing a monthly multi-color newsletter and other support materials such as membership cards, etc.). I was the adult sponsor for the local school’s club.

Unfortunately, the hobby did not stick with them. And I can list several reasons why not. First, while there were lots of stamps available to collect, and they were all given free. And yet, one of the major areas of interest they had about stamps was their value. I contrast this to my earliest years in the hobby, where the value of my collection was the last thing on my mind.

Now, by the time I was 12, and going to club meetings with my father, I was spending my paltry allowance on stamps. But I was a confirmed collector, and my concern was in filling the blanks in my album, not with what I might get if I sold the stamps.

Some might fault me for allowing my kids to grow up thinking about possessions in monetary terms, but I contend that by the 1980s, the social fabric of our country was intensely intertwined with money and its value/what it could buy. We have in fact bred generations of children who have grown up with ever increasingly targeted advertising, telling kids what they should have; a relative rarity in the days when I grew up with a ten-inch, black-and-white TV screen.

So, in this day of $200 sneakers, $75 jeans being sold new with ripped knees, must-have electronics, and designer tops for kids that adults can’t afford, is it any wonder that money is high on the radar screens of kids who are probably not told enough, “No, we can’t afford that!”?

The result is that kids have learned to monetize everything. And when they learn that their entry-level collection is essentially worthless, a reasonable question is “Why do I want to be involved in this?”

Sc. 3190l Video Games (Celebrate The Century 1980s)

That phenomenon was just beginning to kick in when my kids were approaching their teenage years. Also kicking in was the advent of a wider range of TV channels, and one of the great time-wasters of the 20th century, TV video games. My kids were far more interested in how high they could score playing Pacman and the immediate feedback that offered, than in spending time on the laborious process of building a stamp collection; which offered no element of competition among their peers, and little in the way of immediate feedback.

Yes, there was some enjoyment in trading stamps with their friends, but nothing compared to the status gained in the ‘friend community’ by playing Pac-man well.

If anything, this challenge to our hobby has increased exponentially with the multiplicity of electronic gadgets, and the ability to communicate instantaneously with friends and acquaintances; now with both words and images. Stamp collecting could be addictive if one got serious about it, but today’s electronic gizmos are both instantaneously addictive, and the social pressure to engage in using them is enormous.

One of my grandchildren said to me a couple of weeks ago “Grandpa, you may know the basics of how to use your iPhone, but you really need to take a course to understand the power it has and the things it can do.” My reaction is that I don’t want to get involved in

[stock photo]

additional functionality. I already spend more time on it than I find comfortable. But I, like them I suspect, can’t seem to help myself! And they are pressured by their peers to obtain and use the most recent gadgets and their full power.

My observation of the behavior of my grandkids, who range from 2-years old to 21 years, is that they spend so much time with their noses buried in their electronic devices it is a wonder they have time to eat or do homework. There is just no time for working with physical objects like stamps.

We did it as kids because we had time on our hands, with few other distractions, and we enjoyed the act of organizing our collection, and the pride of learning about other nations and American history from stamps.

The other thing we enjoyed was sharing the hobby with others in our circle. With the Postal Service’s murder of its Ben Franklin Stamp Clubs in the early 1990s, it became increasingly unusual for kids to find other kids who collect. Why did they kill the BFSC? The proximate costs of developing collectors for the future were not being covered by young people buying stamps. So the program was a net financial loss, and the bean counters insisted that the budgeting process could not justify those costs. Guess they never heard of what private industry knows as “loss leaders.”

So, the practical result was that more than ever before, kids were suddenly reliant for support on adults; but how to find an adult collector if kids develop an interest? This makes the network of local clubs especially important. But keep in mind that available evidence is that the number of adult collectors has been falling in this country for many years if measured by numbers involved in organized philately, and subscription numbers for philatelic periodicals. There may still be a lot of collectors, but it seems a good share of them are lone wolves; not being involved in local philately, and not available to be mentors.

Add to this that, regrettably, all adults are now suspect; so much so that formal mentoring programs for their own protection are vetting mentor applicants against law enforcement data bases. Parents without that resource are often not pleased with the thought of having their child interacting with an adult stamp collector that they don’t know.

Then there is the cost of the hobby, which has been on an upward curve for many years. Stamp collecting implements such as catalogs and albums (with thousands more stamps being issued worldwide each year) are beyond the reach of most kids’ allowances. The cost of a first-class mint stamp has gone from 3 cents when I was a kid to 58 cents today, and the number of issues and postal products has mushroomed. I tend to discount this as a major reason for kids dropping out for two reasons: First, the actual cost of a year of single US mint stamps is still way less than a pair of stylish sneakers, a couple of trips to the movies, or a few meals out at your local fast food outlet.

Second, as they make a fine and relatively inexpensive gift for parents and grandparents to give, mint US stamps need not be beyond the reach of kids. But the adults must be willing to navigate the USPS Internet ordering system, as limited numbers of commemoratives, and sometime none at all, are available from local post offices.

These phenomena are driving kids in the direction of used stamps, and I would have no great problem with this; in fact, it could be a positive, but it isn’t. Why? Used is less expensive, but more difficult to acquire; not to mention more difficult to store and house in an album because they can no longer be soaked free of the paper they went through the mail on. And there is another major problem that has been developing for the last 40 years: Though a few remain, local stamp stores have gone the way of the Dodo, stamp clubs are not thriving for the most part, buying used stamps from dealers by email is complicated, and the Postal Service in its zeal to keep collectors from clogging the lines at local post offices has done everything possible to push collectors to buy their wants on the Internet.

This has the predictable effect of keeping commemoratives off daily mail. So, current stamps, which should be a major focus for kids who get many of their stamps from friends and family, get little more than the current definitives from those sources.

No one set out to make collecting more difficult for kids. We are dealing with 50 years of actions and phenomena that have had a deadly set of unintended consequences.

And some of those consequences are also affecting adult collectors and dampening our ardor for stamp collecting. Do we just lie down on the tracks and let the train run over us?

Should you wish to comment on this editorial, or have questions or ideas you would like to have explored in a future column, please write to John Hotchner, VSC Contributor, P.O. Box 1125, Falls Church, VA 22041-0125, or email, putting “VSC” in the subject line.

Or comment right here.

Buffy Sainte-Marie (Canada 2021)

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Updated November 26th:
Stamp Specifications:Updated November 18th:
[press release]
New stamp honours trailblazing singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie

REGINA, SK, Nov. 18, 2021 /CNW/ – Today, Canada Post unveiled a stamp paying tribute to one of Canada’s most successful singer-songwriters – Buffy Sainte-Marie, C.C.

Believed to have been born on the Piapot First Nation in Saskatchewan in 1941, Sainte-Marie is internationally renowned for her unique vibrato vocals and emotionally charged songs, which have been covered by hundreds of artists, from Elvis Presley and Neil Diamond to Barbra Streisand, Cher and Céline Dion.

Raised by adoptive parents in New England, Sainte-Marie taught herself to play piano and guitar when she was young. She launched her career performing at coffee houses and folk festivals in the early 1960s – using her music as a platform for social and political commentary, and a force for change.

An outspoken and lifelong activist, Sainte-Marie continues to raise awareness of Indigenous issues through her work as a musical and visual artist and provides ongoing support for Indigenous youth through her long-standing educational and philanthropic efforts.

She is still an active performing artist at age 80. From left, Buffy Sainte-Marie, singer-songwriter, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary May Simon, Governor General of Canada, and Suromitra Sanatani, Chair of the Board of Directors of Canada Post, unveiling the commemorative stamp featuring Buffy Sainte-Marie at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, on November 18, 2021. (Photo: Denis Drever)

About the stamp issue
The issue includes a booklet of 10 Permanent™ domestic rate stamps, an Official First Day Cover (OFDC), and a limited edition framed stamp enlargement and OFDC. Designed by Paprika and printed by Lowe-Martin, the stamp features a photograph by Simon Fowler that appeared on the cover of Sainte-Marie’s single “The Big Ones Get Away” from her 1992 album Coincidence and Likely Stories. The OFDC – cancelled in Regina, Saskatchewan, near her believed birthplace of the Piapot First Nation – features photos of Sainte-Marie performing in concert.

The Buffy Sainte-Marie stamps and collectibles are available at canadapost.ca and post offices across Canada starting Friday, November 19.

[en Francais pour les médias d’information]
Un nouveau timbre rend hommage à l’auteure-compositrice-interprète légendaire Buffy Sainte-Marie

REGINA, SK, le 18 nov. 2021 /CNW/ – Aujourd’hui, Postes Canada a dévoilé un timbre rendant hommage à l’une des plus grandes auteures-compositrices-interprètes du Canada, Buffy Sainte-Marie, CC.

Connue pour sa voix unique et ses chansons chargées d’émotion qui ont été reprises par des centaines d’artistes dont Elvis Presley, Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand, Cher et Céline Dion, Buffy Sainte-Marie serait née en 1941 dans la Première Nation de Piapot, en Saskatchewan.

Élevée par ses parents adoptifs en Nouvelle-Angleterre, Buffy Sainte-Marie apprend à jouer du piano et de la guitare par elle-même alors qu’elle est petite. Elle entame sa carrière dans les cafés et les festivals folk au début des années 1960 et elle se sert de sa musique pour dénoncer des problèmes sociaux et politiques, mais aussi pour provoquer le changement.

Ardente militante de longue date, Buffy Sainte-Marie continue de sensibiliser le public aux enjeux autochtones par son travail en tant que musicienne et artiste visuelle, et offre un soutien continu aux jeunes Autochtones grâce aux efforts éducatifs et philanthropiques qu’elle déploie depuis longtemps.

Aujourd’hui âgée de 80 ans, elle continue de se produire en spectacle.

À propos du timbre
Cette émission comprend un carnet de 10 timbres PermanentsMCau tarif du régime intérieur, un pli Premier Jour officiel (PPJO), ainsi qu’un agrandissement de timbre encadré à tirage limité avec un PPJO. Conçu par Paprika et imprimé par Lowe-Martin, le timbre présente une photo de Buffy Sainte-Marie prise par Simon Fowler qui figure sur la couverture du simple « The Big Ones Get Away », tiré de l’album Coincidence and Likely Stories, paru en 1992. Le PPJO – qui est oblitéré à Regina, en Saskatchewan, près de la Première Nation de Piapot, où l’artiste serait née -, présente des photos de Buffy Sainte-Marie en concert.

Le timbre et les articles de collection consacrés à Buffy Sainte-Marie seront en vente dès le vendredi 19 novembre sur postescanada.ca et dans les bureaux de poste partout au pays.

Frame

[initial press release]
Canada Post to honour singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie with new stamp

OTTAWA, ON, Nov. 12, 2021 /CNW/ – Canada Post invites you to attend a special stamp event and tribute to internationally renowned singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, on Thursday, November 18.

[The photo on the right, taken at a concert in Ottawa in 2015, was taken by Drpeterstockdale. More on Buffy Sainte-Marie on Wikipedia.]

Please Note: Due to COVID-19 capacity limits and protocols, the event is open to a limited number of people. Any media interested in attending are required to confirm their attendance to media@canadapost.ca by Wednesday, November 17.

Those registered to attend will receive all required COVID-19 protocols in advance to help maintain everyone’s safety.

Who: Special guests:
Buffy Sainte-Marie
Gilles Paquin, President and CEO of Paquin Entertainment Group
Chief Perry Bellegarde, former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations

Where: National Arts Centre, 1 Elgin Street, Ottawa

When: Thursday, November 18 at 5 pm, Eastern Time

[en Francais pour les médias d’information]
Postes Canada émet un nouveau timbre en l’honneur de l’auteure-compositrice-interprète Buffy Sainte-Marie

OTTAWA, ON, le 12 nov. 2021 /CNW/ – Postes Canada vous convie au dévoilement d’un timbre spécial qui rendra hommage à l’auteure-compositrice-interprète de renommée internationale Buffy Sainte-Marie. L’événement se tiendra au Centre national des Arts d’Ottawale jeudi 18 novembre.

Remarque: En raison des limites de capacité et des mesures liées à la COVID-19, seul un nombre limité de personnes pourront assister à l’événement. Les représentants des médias qui souhaitent y prendre part doivent donc confirmer leur présence à l’adresse media@postescanada.ca d’ici au mercredi 17 novembre. Toutes les mesures de sécurité à respecter seront communiquées à l’avance aux personnes inscrites.

Qui: Invités spéciaux :
Buffy Sainte-Marie
Gilles Paquin, président-directeur général, Paquin Entertainment Group
Le chef Perry Bellegarde, ancien chef national de l’Assemblée des Premières Nations

Où: Centre national des Arts, situé au 1, rue Elgin, à Ottawa

Quand: Le jeudi 18 novembre à 17 h, heure de l’Est

Editorial Changes At APS

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Susanna Mills will become editor of The American Philatelist, one of the largest stamp collecting publications in the U.S. The AP is the official journal of the largest stamp collecting organization in the U.S., the American Philatelic Society, headquartered in Bellefonte, Pa.

Gary Loew, who became The AP editor just seven months ago, is retiring, after moving across the headquarters building last June. Jeff Stage returns to employment in the APS editorial department.

Here is the APS announcement:

American Philatelic Society Announces Editorial Leadership ChangesThe American Philatelic Society announced the retirement of Editor-in-Chief Gary Wayne Loew effective January 15, 2022. Loew joined the APS in June 2019 as director of expertizing and took over as editor-in-chief in June 2020. As editor, Loew managed the day-to-day operations of the publications of the American Philatelic Society and the American Philatelic Research Library.

Beginning in January, Susanna Mills will become editor-in-chief. Susanna joined the APS staff in 2018 with the library. She joined the editorial team in 2019 and most recently served as deputy editor, including editor of the Philatelic Literature Review.

“Under Gary’s leadership, The American Philatelist has reached new heights in the world of philately. From day one, he and Susanna have worked side-by-side to bring the very best to our members every month,” said Scott English, APS Executive Director. “I know that commitment to excellence will continue under Susanna’s leadership and will serve the hobby well for years to come.”

Joining Susanna will be Jeff Stage, returning to the APS as senior editor. Stage served as associate editor from 2015 to 2018. Stage will return to staff in January to begin work on the March 2022 issue of The American Philatelist.

“I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with Jeff for a few years. He is an experienced editor and a great philatelic mind. Jeff was an exceptional member of APS staff when he last worked here, and he was the obvious choice to bring back to our team,” added Mills. “With Jeff, we’ll be able to transition seamlessly and stay focused on delivering for our members.”

Loew shared, “It was a difficult decision to retire as a member of the APS staff. But the time is right. I planned that Susanna would one day take over as editor-in-chief, and it’s rewarding to see that come to fruition. She’s been integral to our success over the past 18 months, and she’s ready to take The American Philatelist and the Philatelic Literature Review to the next level.”

The APS editorial department produces The American Philatelist, the monthly journal of the American Philatelic Society, and the Philatelic Literature Review, the quarterly journal of the American Philatelic Research Library. In addition, it manages all book publications of the APS.

US Priority Mail/Express Mail Rate Changes In January

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[press release]
U.S. Postal Service Announces New Competitive Prices and Two New Mail Products for 2022

  • Postal Service continues to offer some of the lowest letter-mail postage rates in the industrialized world and a great value in shipping as we enhance our reliability and expand our product offerings in service to the American people.
  • Pricing actions part of balanced approach under “Delivering for America,” the Postal Service’s 10-year plan for achieving financial sustainability and service excellence.
  • Rate changes will contribute to $40 billion of investments in people, technology, and infrastructure over the next 10 years to modernize and improve the Postal Service’s operations and customer experience.
  • Postal Service is also supporting mail by requesting PRC approval for two mail products focused on local communities.

WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Postal Service filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) today of price changes for Shipping Services to take effect Jan. 9, 2022.

The proposed prices, approved by the Postal Service Governors, would raise Shipping Services product prices approximately 3.1 percent for Priority Mail service, and 3.1 percent for Priority Mail Express service. Shipping Services price adjustments vary by product. Although Mailing Services price increases are based on the consumer price index, Shipping Services prices are primarily adjusted according to market conditions. The Governors believe these new rates will keep the Postal Service competitive while providing the agency with needed revenue.

If favorably reviewed by the PRC, the new prices will include an increase in the price of a Small Flat-Rate Box to $9.45. The Medium Flat-Rate Box would increase to $16.10, the Large Flat-Rate Box would decrease to $21.50 and the price of the APO/FPO Large Flat-Rate Box would decrease to $20.00. Regular Flat-Rate Envelopes, Legal Flat-Rate Envelopes, and Padded Flat-Rate Envelopes would increase to $8.95, $9.25, and $9.65 respectively.

The proposed domestic Priority Mail Flat Rate Retail price changes are:

Product
Small Flat-Rate Box
Medium Flat-Rate Box
Large Flat-Rate Box
APO/FPO Large Flat-Rate Box
Regular Flat-Rate Envelope
Legal Flat-Rate Envelope
Padded Flat-Rate Envelope		 Current
$8.45
$15.50
$21.90
$20.40
$7.95
$8.25
$8.55		 Proposed
$9.45
$16.10
$21.50
$20.00
$8.95
$9.25
$9.65

The Postal Service has some of the lowest letter-mail postage rates in the industrialized world and continues to offer a great value in shipping. Unlike some other shippers, the Postal Service does not add surcharges for residential delivery or regular Saturday delivery.

The PRC will review the prices before they are scheduled to take effect. The complete Postal Service price filings with prices for all products can be found on the PRC site under the Daily Listings section at prc.gov/dockets/daily. For the Shipping Services filing, see Docket No. CP2022-22. The price change tables are also available on the Postal Service’s Postal Explorer website at pe.usps.com/PriceChange/Index.

The filing also included pricing to support USPS Connect, a suite of affordable package delivery solutions for businesses that the Postal Service expects to launch in 2022, if favorably reviewed.

In addition, the Postal Service is also supporting mail by requesting approval for two mail products focused on local communities. First, after a 2-year market test, the Postal Service is requesting the establishment of a permanent Plus One product which will provide additional marketing options for businesses to reach local customers utilizing mail. Building on the USPS Connect pilot, the Postal Service is requesting approval for a market test for a new USPS Connect Local Mail product which will provide the ability to send documents within local communities for same/day next delivery.

With full implementation, the Postal Service’s 10-year Delivering For America plan is designed to reverse a projected $160 billion in operating losses over the next 10 years. The Plan’s growth and efficiency initiatives, including the proposed pricing changes, together with necessary legislation, should allow the Postal Service to make investments totaling approximately $40 billion over the next 10 years to modernize and improve our infrastructure to become more efficient and service responsive.

The Postal Service generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

JFK FDC Talk Online On November 14th

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John F. Kennedy first day cover expert Henry Scheuer will talk about his quest to obtain as many postmarks for the first JFK stamp as possible, in an American First Day Cover Society online seminar November 14, 2021, at 8:00 pm Eastern time on Zoom. Admission is free and the presentation is open to the public.

The John F. Kennedy memorial stamp of 1964 (Sc. 1246) was one of the most popular U.S. stamps of its era. It went on sale at nearly every post office, and many collectors had the stamp postmarked locally on the day of issue. Scheuer, a financial services professional, has FDCs from the thousands of post offices then in operation, and hopes to add more. His collection includes not only U.S. postmarks, but also covers serviced overseas and sent to overseas addresses.

The Zoom address for “Remembering John F. Kennedy: Sc. 1246 5¢ Commemorative” click here to join the meeting, or the meeting is ID 889 9249 6356 with a passcode of 598920. The program will be recorded and available for viewing at a later date.

Membership in the AFDCS is not required to attend the seminar, but, with memberships starting at $24 for Internet-only access or $35 with the printed magazine, it is very affordable and a good asset for any first day cover collector.

Members, such as Scheuer, can place notices in a secure area of the AFDCS.org website, seeking help adding to their collections. Members are in every state, as well as seven countries.

The AFDCS publishes handbooks, catalogues, directories and a bimonthly award-winning journal, First Days. The society also produces some FDCs, advocates for first day cover collecting and exhibiting, and is a co-host of Great American Stamp Show, which next will be held August 25-28, 2022, in Sacramento, Calif.

For more information on the AFDCS, visit its website www.afdcs.org, email afdcs@afdcs.org or write to the society at Post Office Box 246, Colonial Beach, VA 22443-0246.

Free Holiday Stamp Checklist

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[press release]
Free Holiday Checklist from ATA

The American Topical Association is once again offering a free topical checklist, available to everyone, which can be easily downloaded from the website by clicking on the rotating banner or at americantopical.org/ATA-Holiday-Topical-Checklist. This year’s topic is snowflakes.

The free list has been an ATA tradition for many years. A different holiday-related topic is offered each year. “We invite you to download the list and enjoy collecting beautiful stamps for this timely topic,” said Jennifer Miller, ATA executive director.

December (Holidays) Stamps (Netherlands 2021)

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[press release]
December Stamps 2021

Date of issue: 15 November 2021
Appearance: sheetlet of twenty December stamps in ten different designs, with a special December rate for destinations in the Netherlands
Item number: 411261
Design and illustration: Geertje Aalders, Kampen
Graphic design: Corine Zwier, Kampen
Image processing: Ro de Boer, Haarlem

Each year, PostNL issues new December stamps, which can be used by consumers and companies to send each other Christmas and New Year cards at a reduced rate. The special December rate of € 0,91. per stamp applies from 15 November 2021 up to and including 6 January 2022. This year, a sheet of twenty December stamps costs € 18,20. When purchasing two sheets of December stamps, each customer receives a free Christmas decoration especially designed for PostNL by Vondels. This ornament is in the shape of the red postal car that appears on one of the December stamps. The illustrations for the December stamps 2021 were made by paper cutting artist Geertje Aalders from Kampen.

The illustrations on the December stamps 2021 are papercuts, specially made for this issue by paper cutting artist Geertje Aalders. For this year’s December stamps, she has invented a fantasy world full of stories in which a lot happens. In the ten different scenes on the December stamps, all the animals are enjoying the festive month of December. Everyone is doing their best to make it enjoyable for each other. The hare has fetched a bunch of Christmas roses, and the squirrel is on his way with treats for someone else. In this way, Aalders shows that this time of year it is extra nice to be together and to let people know that we are thinking of them.

The earliest examples of paper-cutting or cut-out art date from the 3rd century BC. The art of cutting paper is not only part of popular art, but famous modern artists such as Matisse have also worked with it. Famous Dutch cutting artists of the past include Anna Maria van Schurman, Elisabeth Rijberg and Johanna Koerten, who worked in the 17th and 18th centuries. We know that enormous sums were paid for cuttings by Koerten. The Paper Cutting Society was founded in the Netherlands in 1983. In 2013, the society was granted the right to bear the UNESCO logo after paper cutting was placed on the Dutch National Inventory of Intangible Heritage as a craft. The Paper Cutting Museum is located in Westerbork. Other important collections can be found in the Westfries Museum in Hoorn and the Netherlands Open Air Museum in Arnhem.

The following winter scenes are depicted on the December stamps 2021 in the form of papercuts:

  • A mole with candy cane and rucksack
  • 2 love-struck blue tits under a mistletoe
  • a fox with a fluttering scarf and envelope
  • a mouse in a red postal car
  • a badger decorating the Christmas tree with his scarf
  • 2 mice decorating a peacock
  • a squirrel pushing a sleigh with gifts and treats
  • a squirrel, hare, dog and owl by the skating pond
  • a hare with a bunch of Christmas roses, and
  • a fallow deer decorated as a Christmas tree.

All the animals are depicted in a friendly winter landscape, a cosy animal forest with brightly coloured picture elements. Sometimes a larger scene can be seen, other times all the attention goes to one animal. There are three types of sky: light blue, bright blue and dark blue for the morning, afternoon and night respectively. Each December stamp tells its own story. Together, the ten December stamps form a whole because the animals are all, in one way or another, engaged in the theme of Christmas, winter or December.

Typography
For the title of the issue, the December indication on the stamps and the header on the back, round letters hand-cut by Geertje Aalders were used. For the remaining typography, the Gilroy Regular (by letter designer Radomir Tinkov, 2016) and the Alte Haas Grotesk (letter designer Yann le Corroler, 2007) were used.

Designer
The creation of the December stamps is always a highlight of the PostNL issue programme. The large circulation, the Christmas and end-of-year feeling, the accompanying publicity campaign – everything is different. This applies all the more this year because the illustrations on the December stamps are, for the first time, based on cutting works of art made of paper. These papercuts were made by illustrator Geertje Aalders from Kampen.

Geertje Aalders (right) has been active as a paper cutter since 2006, among other things for magazines and books. Despite her extensive experience, the December stamps were a very special commission for her as well. “It was already great to see how something like that comes about. On the one hand, there is a lot of structure in the planning and organisation, on the other hand, I was given all the freedom to do what I wanted to do. Really wonderful. It was more than fantastic to be able to work on this commission.”

Aalders started writing before she started cutting. “I often do that, making up little stories first, like this one about the animals in the forest, with a shared story. Only then did the sketches come. The special thing about papercuts is that you have a beginning and an end, but you cannot show halfway through what it is going to be. Hence the stories and the sketches. I also made a colour chart and completely worked out and cut one of the December stamps – the one with the mole on it – beforehand.”

After PostNL had approved the stories, the sketches, the sample stamp and the chosen colours, it was time to make the papercuts. Aalders: “I always use the same knife that my grandmother gave me 30 years ago. To put it more precisely, I use the same holder with a different blade every time. I change the blade often – sometimes every fifteen minutes – because it has to stay razor-sharp. Otherwise the knife may slip. For the December stamps, I used a lot of paper in many colours. For example, each eye on the peacock’s tail consists of at least seven pieces of paper in different colours, one on top of the other. First I cut all the animals and the main objects, like the lamppost, the car, and the gingerbread house. Only then did I start with the surroundings, the trees, and the sky. No two papercuts are the same. A scene with many details takes a lot of time, for example. With others, it is sometimes difficult to get the composition right. I have paid a lot of attention to the smallest details in the silhouette, so that you can quickly see what kind of animal it is. In the mole, for example, the curve at the top of its nose is very important, as is the small hollow under its chin. If it is not right, I will cut it again. Just until I am satisfied.”

While cutting, Aalders adds all sorts of details that are not in her sketches. “For example, I cut different kinds of skates for the animals on the frozen pond: Frisian skates, ice speed skates, and figure skates. The blue tit’s post cap is another reference to how you can recognise that bird by its blue cap. I like to include secret jokes in my clippings, like the PostNL crown on the lamppost. And there is a rocket in the New Year’s Eve sky, but in the shape of an ice cream.”

Aalders cuts in mirror image, i.e. on the back of the paper. “Based on the sketches, I draw the desired contours in pencil. Then I start cutting. Not everything is suitable as a silhouette. For example, a rose is beautiful to look at, but its silhouette is uninteresting. A fox, on the other hand, is beautiful in silhouette, instantly recognisable by its tail and the ears sticking up. I made all the papercuts for the December stamps at the same time. Each stamp is a story in itself, but together they should of course form a beautiful whole.”

The Big StoryTogether, the ten stories on the December stamps tell one big story, in which the animals in the forest are busy celebrating December. “They are decorating the place,” says Aalders. “They are on their way with gifts and mail, and they pay attention to each other. Just look at the kissing blue tits under the mistletoe. Everyone is having a good time. While making the papercuts for the December stamps in the spring, I often thought back to last winter. Then the pond in front of my house was frozen over, children were busy skating, adults were having snowball fights, and everyone was having lots of fun. I wanted to convey that feeling.”

All cut elements are brought together in a three-dimensional frame of usually about 40 x 35 centimetres. Aalders: “I use this to put the papercut together. They are fragile works with a whole framework behind them to connect all the layers of paper. I use pieces of balsa wood, a light and strong type of wood. Not all the paper layers are in a flat plane in the 3D frame. Sometimes I tilt them a little to enhance the spatial effect.”

All frames with the cut-out illustrations for the December stamps were photographed by Aalders herself. “With a special lens, straight from the top. On the basis of the photos, I determined the cutout. Some papercuts have been readjusted and photographed again to get the perfect cutout. For example, I very carefully removed the mistletoe and moved it a little closer to the blue tits. Everything I do is analogue, I don’t adjust anything on the computer. The colours are determined by the paper I choose, the shapes by the way I cut the paper. The only image editing was done by photographer Ro de Boer, with whom I often work. He made sure that the different colours of the sky would have the same intensity. I enlisted more help. Designer Corine Zwier has placed the cut-out letters in the stamps in such a way that it seems as if they have been cut out of the stamp paper. That was her idea. Corine also added a frame to the December stamps with a shadow border, as an imitation of the 3D frame. The background of the sheet was given a relief structure as if it were a real paper sheet.”

Order
The final step in making the December stamps was to determine the order on the sheet. “That was a bit of a puzzle,” says Aalders. “Because I wanted as much variety as possible. So preferably no animals with the same colour next to each other, not the same types of sky next to each other, and not the same walking direction of the animals next to each other. Moreover, by giving the bottom block of ten December stamps a different order than the top block, at first sight it looks like a sheet with twenty different designs. I am very happy with the final result, I worked very hard on it. Hopefully, people will also like it and realise that they are cut-out illustrations. The wren on the back of the stamp sheet is the best proof of this. To confirm that everything has been cut, there is a scissor on the back instead of a copyright symbol.”

About The Designer
Geertje Aalders (Doetinchem, 1983) is a Dutch illustrator who is best known as a paper cutting artist and an authority on modern cutting in the Netherlands. Aalders studied graphical design and illustration at Constantijn Huygens School of the Arts in Kampen and ArtEZ University of the Arts in Zwolle from 2001 to 2008. Since 2006 she has worked as a freelancer for magazines such as Flow Magazine, Happinez, and Margriet. Other well-known clients are Albert Heijn, Bekking&Blitz, and Hema. In addition, Aalders illustrates all kinds of books that are also published abroad. Arab fairy tales (Gottmer Publishers Group) from 2017, with adaptations of fairy tales by Rodaan Al Galidi and with cuttings by Aalders, was awarded the Libris Most Beautiful Book Cover and the Jenny Smelik-IBBY Prize. In addition to cuttings, Aalders makes detailed pen drawings and illustrations in oil. She also wrote a handbook on paper cutting, Het Papercutboek (Kosmos Publishers, 2019).

Limited Validity
The 2021 December stamps are available from 15 November 2021 at all PostNL sales outlets in the Netherlands and through www.postnl.nl/collectclub. The stamps can also be ordered by phone from the Collect Club customer service on +31 (0)88 868 99 00. The validity period is indefinite, but the December stamps can only be used on their own from 15 November 2021 up to and including 6 January 2022.

The December stamps with the special rate are intended for use on mail weighing up to 50 g and on envelopes with minimum dimensions of 14 x 9 cm that are destined for delivery in the Netherlands in the period from 15 November 2021 up to and including 6 January 2022. Two December stamps are enough for mail weighing up to 50 g destined for delivery to addresses outside the Netherlands. December stamps can also be used outside of the period from 15 November 2021 up to and including 6 January 2022, provided that they are accompanied by an extra stamp for the rate applicable at the time of sending.

Stamp size: 26.5 x 29 mm
Sheet size: 144 x 151 mm
Paper: normal with red phosphor print
Glue: self-adhesive
Printing technique: offset
Printing colours: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black
Print run: 3,615,000 sheets
Appearance: sheet of 20 stamps with 10 different designs
Design: Geertje Aalders, Kampen
Graphic design: Corine Zwier, Kampen
Image processing: Ro de Boer, Haarlem
Printing company: Koninklijke Joh. Enschedé B.V., Haarlem
Item number: 411261

Underwater Landscapes (Netherlands 2021)

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[press release]
Dutch Underwater Landscapes
Issue date: 16 November

Three sheets with five personal stamps in three different designs, marked with ‘1’, the denomination for items up to 20g in weight destined for delivery in the Netherlands.

Design and image editing: Bart de Haas, The Hague

Photography: Willem Kolvoort, Arthur de Bruin and Matthijs de Vos, Peter van Rodijnen, Paul van Hoof, Buiten-Beeld (Jelger Herder, Luc Hoogenstein, Nico van Kappel, Wil Meinderts, Ron Offermans, Peter Verhoog)

Item Number / Issue for 16 November 2021:
810064 Life in a flood plain [subscription only]810065 Fish in the North Sea810066 Invertebrates in the North Sea

The Dutch underwater landscapes series consists of 25 sheets, each with five personal stamps in three different designs. After the issues on 16 November 2021, every quarter for the next three years, subscribers to this series will receive two new stamp sheets with the following titles:

Item number / Issue
810067 Fish in the Oosterschelde
810068 Invertebrates in the Oosterschelde
810069 Fish in freshwater lakes
810070 Plants in freshwater lakes
810071 Fish in peat ponds and lakes
810072 Plants in peat ponds and lakes
810073 Fish in sand quarry ponds
810074 Plants in sand quarry ponds
810075 Fish in rivers
810076 Invertebrates in rivers
810077 Fish in freshwater tidal zones
810078 Plants in freshwater tidal zones
810079 Fish in farming ditches and canals
810080 Plants in farming ditches and canals
810081 Fish in the pond
810082 Plants in the pond
810083 Fish in the uplands
810084 Amphibians in the uplands
810085 Amphibians in the fenns
810086 Plants in the fenns
810087 Amphibians in pools
810088 Invertebrates in pools

[According to Wikipedia, The Eastern Scheldt (Dutch: Oosterschelde) is a former estuary in the province of Zeeland, Netherlands, between Schouwen-Duiveland and Tholen on the north and Noord-Beveland and Zuid-Beveland on the south. It has also the largest national park in the Netherlands, founded in 2002.]

From November 2021 to September 2024, PostNL will issue two personal stamp sheets in the Dutch underwater landscapes series every quarter. The first two stamp sheets with issue date 16 November 2021 are entitled Fish in the North Sea and Invertebrates in the North Sea. Subscribers also receive the unique stamp sheet Life in a flood plain free with their first set. This stamp sheet is not for sale separately. In June 2022, all subscribers will receive a handy storage album, also free of charge.

In addition to the usual stamp release schedule, PostNL also has an annual personal stamp release schedule. This programme is flexible. It allows PostNL to respond to topical developments and requests. Each issue is designed based on a fixed layout with a fixed number of personal stamps.

The stamp sheets can also be purchased separately at [direct link] and from the Collect Club’s customer service. This does not apply to the additional Living in a flood plain stamp sheet and the storage album. These gifts are for subscribers only.

Each stamp sheet in the Dutch underwater landscapes series includes five personal stamps in three different designs. The stamps feature plant or animal species from the relevant underwater landscapes. The pictures are framed by wavy graphic lines alternating between the top and the bottom of the picture. The edge of each stamp sheet features a large landscape photo of the underwater landscapes being depicted. The wavy motion of the graphic lines returns on the edge of the sheet, both at the top of the sheet and at the top and bottom of the strip of five stamps.

The Life on the flood plain issue features a burbot, a garlic toad and a yellow floating heart. The background image on the sheet edge depicts a submerged willow forest. The Fish in the North Sea issue features a red mullet, a school of pout whiting and an Atlantic wolffish. The background image on the sheet edge depicts a school of hunting needlefish. And finally, the Invertebrates in the North Sea issue features a maritime lobster, dead man’s fingers coral and a compass jellyfish. The background image on the sheet edge depicts bryozoa on Dogger Bank.

Typography
The font used for the denomination 1 and Nederland was designed in 2018 by font designer Martin Majoor from Arnhem. For the remaining typography, the Puffin Display Soft (2008-2021) by Pieter van Rosmalen, Bold Monday from Eindhoven was used.

Subject
The Netherlands has many different types of surface water: standing and flowing water, fresh, salt and brackish water, waters that may or may not be isolated and vary in size from small ditches, fens, ponds and pools, meandering rivers and streams to straight canals, city canals, lakes, estuaries, an inland sea and a marginal sea. Water makes up 19 percent of our country (13 percent is built-up area and 68 percent is greenspace). People mainly see and use the surface of this 19 percent, but below the water it is teeming with life. There are plenty of aquatic plants and fish, of course, plus all kinds of other species such as arthropods (crabs, lobsters, shrimps and insects such as dragonflies), coelenterates (polyps, anemones and jellyfish), echinoderms (starfish and sea urchins), molluscs (bivalves, snails) and amphibians (frogs, toads and salamanders).

Designer
The 25 stamp sheets from the Dutch underwater landscapes series were designed by graphic designer Bart de Haas. He realised he needed expert help while he was researching the subject. ‘So I contacted photographers and filmmakers who are specialised in this discipline, for instance. They know like no other what goes on beneath the water surface and which species are representative. I learned a lot from the tips of underwater specialists like Willem Kolvoort, the photographers of Blikonderwater – Arthur de Bruin and Matthijs de Vos – and Peter van Rodijnen.’

From large to small
Based on all the information gathered, De Haas selected a number of images from the Kolvoort and Blikonderwater image archives. Where necessary, he supplemented the images with pictures from Buiten-Beeld, the image bank for nature photography. De Haas explains: ‘The most important criterion in the selection was the habitat. The species featured should, of course, naturally occur in the relevant waterway or wetland area. I picked a number of underwater landscapes in our country, with the overarching aim to present as many different plants and animals as possible. In addition to the special issue featuring creatures and plants on flood plains, the stamps feature marine life in the North Sea and the Oosterschelde, followed by freshwater lakes, peat ponds, sand quarry ponds, rivers, freshwater tidal zones, farming ditches and canals, the Limburg uplands, fens and pools.’

Recognisability and variety
Another criterion for the choice of pictures was recognisability. ‘Not all photos taken by nature photographers are suitable for the miniature format of a postage stamp. Fish are tricky anyway because of their long bodies, which do not always fit onto a vertical postage stamp. That is why, for example, for Fish in the North Sea I picked a picture of a red mullet swimming into the picture at an angle. I also alternated more and less familiar species. For example, the burbot featuring on Life in a floodplain is extremely rare, whereas the lobster on Invertebrates in the North Sea is much more common. Of course, I wanted beautiful images – and I found them – but content-related criteria took precedence.’

Photo editing
As the choice of pictures was extremely high-quality, De Haas had to do very little editing, if at all. ‘That only applies to the plants and animals. They had to stay true to life. I did edit the colours and details in the background. The aim was to separate the species from the background, while ensuring the different stamps would go together at the same time. The fact that each type of water has its own colour plays a significant role in this respect. The North Sea tends to be grey, for example, while peat ponds and lakes are reddish. I took advantage of the arrangement of five stamps in three designs by putting the unique design in the centre of the sheet. Then I arranged the double images symmetrically around it. This also reinforces that sense of unity.’

Sheet edge
The atmosphere of the stamp sheet is also determined by the large-format photo of the mysterious underwater world around the edge of the sheet. De Haas was inspired by the school posters depicting nature designed by M.A. Koekkoek (1873-1944). Many generations of Dutch people grew up with these posters, and the species featured on these posters can still be found in our country. De Haas: ‘This approach allows me to show the mysterious atmosphere of the underwater world. A colourful, serene, fairy-tale world that is much more diverse than I thought. The more you pay attention to the details, the more magnificent and beautiful this world becomes. Everything moves, even though many Dutch waterways don’t really move very much. This movement returns in the flowing character of the font. And you can also see it in the graphic lines, which are an abstract representation of the movement and currents below the water. The lines soften the rectangular character of the stamp sheet. Because you will not find rectangles under water.’

About the designer
Bart de Haas (1966, The Hague) graduated from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. After working for several design agencies, he established himself as an independent graphic and typographic designer in 1993. He has a strong preference for book design, but has also designed posters, magazines, websites and visual identities in the past. Bart de Haas has designed books for Huis Marseille in Amsterdam, the Army Museum Delft, nai010 publishers, Brill publishers, de Buitenkant, Clio, SUN, THOTH, Vantilt, W-Books and Waanders, among others. For PostNL, he previously created the Primeval Species stamp series (2021-2023) and the stamps for Dutch castles (2017), Apple and pear varieties in the Netherlands (2016), National musical instruments (2014) and Long live the woods! (2010).

Photographers
Willem Kolvoort is one of the photographers who took pictures for the Dutch Underwater Landscape series. Kolvoort has been obsessed with underwater photography since he was young. Back in the 1960s, he went exploring with his home-made diving and camera equipment. ‘While I was on an excursion in the Wadden Sea I saw a huge ray swim past. It was unbelievably exciting.’ Captivated by this dramatic sight, Kolvoort subsequently travelled the world to produce underwater reports. He feels that he is primarily a landscape photographer. ‘I look for atmosphere and alienation, for mystery. I have a picture of Spirogyra, photographed from below. An amazing image, taken in the pond behind our house.

The Dutch Underwater Landscapes series also features photographs by Arthur de Bruin. He still remembers how he used to traipse around the countryside catching frogs and sticklebacks in canals and ditches. ‘That fascination with what the surface of the water is hiding from us never left me,’ De Bruin says. His most spectacular ‘picture catch’ in the Netherlands was a huge catfish. ‘But I also enjoy the little sunbleak, the smallest fish in our waters. Under the surface of the water you can find a unique, hidden parallel world. We are showing how beautiful and fascinating that world is. I hope that people will be looking at the stamps and think “is this really in the Netherlands? I want to see more!” I only have one answer to that: do it. Go snorkelling in the local open air swimming pond, and be amazed by the treasures you’ll find underwater.’

Availability and Validity
The stamps are available while stocks last at www.postnl.nl/bijzondere-postzegels and can be ordered by telephone from the Collect Club customer service on telephone number +31 (0)88 868 99 00. The validity period is indefinite.

Technical Details:
Postage stamp dimensions: 30 x 40mm
Appearance: five personal stamps in three different designs, marked: with ‘1’, the denomination for items up to 20g in weight: destined for delivery in the Netherlands
Print run: 3000 per issue
Item numbers:
810064: Life in a flood plain
810065: Fish in the North Sea
810066: Invertebrates in the North Sea: :
Issue date: 16 November 2021
Design and image editing: Bart de Haas, The Hague
Photography: Willem Kolvoort, Arthur de Bruin and Matthijs de Vos, Peter van Rodijnen, Paul van Hoof, Buiten-Beeld (Jelger Herder, Luc Hoogenstein, Nico van Kappel, Wil Meinderts, Ron Offermans, Peter Verhoog)