[from press release] [click on any of the pictures for larger versions]
Het Loo Palace

Appearance: 10 personal stamps in 10 different designs, marked with ‘1’, the denomination for items up to 20g in weight destined for delivery in the Netherlands
Design: studio026, Velp
Photography: Het Loo Palace
Item number: 820058With the Het Loo Palace issue, PostNL highlights the reopening of Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn this year after a thorough renovation. The stamps focus on the personal rooms of queens who lived and worked in the palace. The stamp sheet comprises ten personal stamps in ten different designs. Each stamp is marked ‘1’, the denomination for post weighing up to 20g sent to an address within the Netherlands. The design of Het Loo Palace was created by studio026 in Velp.

The ten stamps included in the Het Loo Palace stamp sheet feature cut-outs of colour photographs of the following 5 rooms in the palace:

• Mary Stuart’s bedchamber
• Sophie of Württemberg’s dressing chamber
• Emma of Waldeck-Pyrmont’s sitting room
• Wilhelmina of Orange-Nassau’s sitting room and
• Juliana of Orange-Nassau’s bedroom.

Each room is featured on two stamps, one with an overview picture and one with a detail picture. The details depicted are

• a flower holder (Mary)
• a mirror (Sophie)
• a clock (Emma)
• a table centrepiece (Wilhelmina) and
• a suitcase (Juliana).

The overview picture and detail picture are placed alternately above and below each other. Each detail picture is framed by a geometric line pattern, the basic shape of which is derived from a characteristic pattern in the room in question. This basic shape also returns in the four corners of the picture on the overview stamp.

On the sheet edge, adjacent to the detail pictures, the first names of the female residents are printed in capitals. Adjacent to the overview pictures, the names of their spouses are printed in lower case, using initial capitals. A dotted line connects both stamps via the right-hand perforated edge of the stamps. Next to the names of each queen there is a monochrome portrait; an adaptation of a painting that belongs to the collection of Het Loo Palace. The name of the Het Loo Palace (Paleis Het Loo) stamp sheet can be found along the top edge, across the entire width of the stamp sheet. The lower left tab features the logos of PostNL and Het Loo Palace. The right-hand side of the stamps features a brief description of what we are looking at. The bottom of the sheet edge features an explanation of the issue.

Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn was built in 1686 as a hunting lodge for Stadtholder William III and his wife Mary. After their coronation as King and Queen of England, the residence was converted into a palace and expanded with 4 pavilions and a large garden.

Het Loo Palace was used as a summer residence and working palace for successive generations of the House of Orange-Nassau until 1975.

After an extensive restoration to bring the palace and gardens back to their 17th-century state, the building opened as a museum in 1984. The palace was renovated again between 2018 and 2022 and it was reopened 15 April.

The Het Loo Palace stamps highlight the personal rooms of five female residents of the palace: Mary Stuart (married to King Stadtholder William III from 1677 to 1695), Sophie of Württemberg (married to King William III from 1839 to 1877), Emma of Waldeck-Pyrmont (married to King William III from 1879 to 1890), Wilhelmina of Orange-Nassau (married to Prince Hendrik of Mecklenburg-Schwerin from 1901 to 1934) and Juliana of Orange-Nassau (married to Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld from 1937 to 2004).

The principal characters on the stamps are, in chronological >order,

• Mary Stuart
• Sophie of Württemberg
• Emma of Waldeck-Pyrmont
• Wilhelmina of Orange-Nassau and
• Juliana of Orange-Nassau.

Said stamp co-designer Anne Schaufeli, ‘For each lady, we chose a room you can visit in the palace, furnished the way it was during their time. Juliana, for example, lived there as a child, but not later on, which is why you can only visit her bedroom. In contrast, since she stayed there the longest, many of Wilhelmina’s rooms have been restored to their former state … It was difficult to choose, they are all beautiful images.’

The same team of Schaufeli and Huub de Lang designed the Netherlands from the Air (2022) Historic Motorcycles (2021) Old postal routes (2020) and 150 years of the Red Cross in the Netherlands (2017) stamps for PostNL.

Technical Details:
Stamp size: 30 x 40mm (wxh)
Sheet size : 170 x 122 mm (wxh)
Paper: normal with phosphor print
Gum: gummed
Printing technique: offset
Printing colours: cyan, magenta, yellow, black
Print run: 8,000 sheets
Appearance: sheet with ten different personal stamps marked ‘1’, the : denomination for post weighing up to 20g sent to an : address within the Netherlands
Design: studio026, Velp
Photography: Het Loo Palace
Item number: 820058

[from a press release] [click on any of the pictures for larger versions]
Typically Dutch – Football (“Voetbal”)

Date of issue: 15 August 2022
Appearance: sheet of six stamps in six identical designs
Item number: 420762
Design: Claire Bedon and Edwin van Praet (Total Design), Amsterdam

This issue is the fifth and last in this year’s Typically Dutch series. In 2022, the multi-annual series is dedicated to five sports in which the Dutch excel. The six identical postage stamps will be marked ‘Nederland 1’, the denomination for items weighing up to 20g destined for the Netherlands. The Typically Dutch – football issue was designed by graphic designer Clair Bedon and creative director Edwin van Praet from Total Design in Amsterdam. Earlier this year, stamps featuring ice skating (3 January), hockey (21 March), cycling (4 April) and sailing (9 May) were published as part of this series.

With over 1.2 million members, Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) is the largest sports association in the Netherlands. While the number of men’s footballers remains stable, women’s football has been on the rise for years, with over 160,000 members. Football in the Netherlands has a long history, with the founding of the first football club in 1879: the Haarlemsche Football Club (HFC). One of the founders, Pim Mulier, established the Royal Dutch Football Association (NVAB) ten years later. In 1895, athletics took its own course and in 1929, the football association received the designation ‘Royal’. This marked the birth of the name KNVB. In 1971, the Dutch Women’s Football Association (NDVB) merged into the KNVB.

The Dutch men’s team played its very first international match on 30 April 1905 in and against Belgium. Club-level women’s football in the Netherlands began in 1955. A year later, the Dutch women’s team played its first international match. When it comes to football, the Netherlands has one of the best teams in the world. Based on the situation in June 2022, FIFA (the world football association) positioned the women’s national team in fourth place in the FIFA rankings, and the men’s team in eighth place. The women became European champions in 2017 and vice-world champions in 2019. The men became European champions in 1988 and vice-world champions in 1974, 1978 and 2010. The basis for the Dutch school with the 4-3-3 formation was laid by Ernst Happel from Feyenoord and Rinus Michels from Ajax and the Dutch national team at the end of the 1960s. The most famous national coach in women’s football is Sarina Wiegman, who managed the Dutch women’s team from 2017 to 2021. The names of star players like Marco van Basten, Johan Cruyff, Lieke Martens and Vivian Miedema are known across the world. [PostNL issued a stamp for Cruyff in 2017, one year after his death.]

The stamps featured on the Typically Dutch – Football stamp sheet show an illustration of a footballer in action. With her eyes on the ball, the player moves their right leg backwards to prepare for a shot. In the background, you see a round shape intersected by a horizontal line, symbolising the centre circle of a football pitch. The bottom of each stamp has a white strip containing the sorting hook, the year 2022, the country (Netherlands) and the denomination (1). Both the ball and the heel of the left shoe run into this strip slightly. The same is happening with the footballer’s ponytail in the white strip at the top. The logo for the Typically Dutch series is printed above each stamp, with a folded Dutch banner on the left and right. The picture is repeated in enlarged form on the edge of the sheet. The dominant colour yellow continues on the two tabs on the right. The Typically Dutch logo appears once more on the top edge of the sheet, while the bottom edge features a short explanatory text.

According to graphic designer Claire Bedon, the sportsman on the stamp epitomises a professional footballer – someone who runs up and shoots the ball, perhaps taking a free kick or penalty shoot. ‘She radiates strength and is relaxed at the same time. Her strength can be seen in the upper legs and her relaxation is shown in her open hands and the balance she seeks by spreading her arms. It’s obvious that she knows exactly what she’s doing. She has already visualised the shot, and she is about to shoot and score.

This issue is the last in this year’s Typically Dutch series.

Technical Details:
Postage stamp dimensions: 30 x 40 mm:
Sheet size: 170 x 122 mm
Paper: normal with phosphor print
Gum: gummed
Printing technique: offset
Printing colours: cyan, magenta, yellow, black and orange
Print run: 75,000 sheets
Appearance: sheet of 6 stamps in 6 identical designs
Design: Edwin van Praet and Claire Bedon, Total Design, Amsterdam
Printing company: Cartor Security Printers, Meaucé-La Loupe, France
Item number: 420762

Available on the PostNL webshop.