Netherlands souvenir sheet celebrates a century of Child Welfare semipostal stamps

By David Hartwig

A souvenir sheet of stamps issued Oct. 7 by the Netherlands’ PostNL marks a century of Child Welfare semipostal issues.

“Over the past 100 years, the stamps have evolved with societal changes,” PostNL said, “and their designs reflect the spirit of the times, from the stylised child’s head between angel figures in the first design in 1924 to the cheerful typographic and symbolic stamps of 2024.”

One large stamp on the Oct. 7 sheet includes a QR code that allows the sender to record and send a personal video message to the recipient. Two of the stamps feature designs, and three include text.

The text on the green stamp in the upper left translates to “you are super sweet,” and the text on the yellow stamp in the lower right translates to “you are super cute.” The text on the large stamp says “you are super.”

The stamps were designed by the greeting card manufacturer Hallmark, which also designed theme cards to be sold alongside the stamps.

Jan Willem Koch, managing director of Hallmark Europe, said: “Positivity and cheerfulness are essential. The use of confetti in the design, for example, underscores this enthusiasm. The illustration style is high-contrast, playful, and minimalist. The theme card design also includes perforations, the characteristic ‘stamp edge’ symbolising the collaboration between Hallmark, Children’s Welfare Stamps, and PostNL.”

The five stamps on the Oct. 7 sheet are nondenominated, with a “1” for domestic mail and a €0.54 surtax. The proceeds from the €0.54 surtax are donated to projects of the Foundation for Children’s Welfare Stamps (Stichting Kinderpostzegels Nederland).

The Netherlands began issuing Child Welfare semipostals in 1924, and schoolchildren started selling them door to door in 1948. PostNL reports that the 2021 Child Welfare stamp campaign raised €9.6 million.

Children’s Welfare Stamps Foundation director Sofie Vriends says that it was important for them to find a balance between emphasizing the strength of children and the severity of the problems they face, adding that more than 230,000 children in the Netherlands live below the poverty line.

Joh. Enschede printed a total of 1,350,000 sheets by four-color offset.

To order this year’s Child Welfare semipostal stamps, visit visit PostNL’s online shop online shop.

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