Traditional Costumes : Postage Stamps Holland 1958

If you have looked into my vintage shop P8iosities on Etsy, you know that I collect postage stamps. I started as a kid and collected each stamp I could get. This became much too much, and finally I decided to collect only stamps with traditional costumes on it. Each Friday I will show you some stamps of my collection in this blog. We begin with the stamps of The Netherlands.




The series of stamps I will show you today is the 1958 summer stamp series. Summer stamps are distributed each year by the Dutch Post and you can buy them at every post office in The Netherlands. There is an extra charge on the stamps, which is intended for cultural, social or health projects. In 1958, the summer stamps had to show the traditional costumes of different areas in the country. The designer Hubert Levigne was asked to make the stamps. He made two engravings of the provinces of Zeeland and Overijssel which were intended to be printed in one color. His engravings were rather stylized with an emphasis on one aspect of the costume and dominating lines.



However, the Dutch Post and the designer did not agree; the Dutch Post found Levigne's designs too expressionistic, not colorful enough and not realistic enough. Finally they took the assignment from him and gave it to five different designers: P. Wetselaar (4 ct), W. den Ouden (6 ct), C.R. de Josselin de Jong (8 ct), J.R. Mensinga (12 ct) and A. Sins (30 ct).


These five designers have made a very harmonious series together, more realistic and with dominating color spaces of delicate nuances instead of lines.
4 ct: Walcheren, Zeeland
6 ct: Marken, Noord-Holland
8 ct: Scheveningen, Zuid-Holland
12 ct: Friesland
30 ct: Volendam, Noord-Holland



I like the 1958 series very much, but I must say that I like Levigne's designs even more; somehow they look much more modern. It's a pity that they were never realized.

Source: Postzegelblog