The use of the 1934 Queen Emma Charity stamps on airmail to and from the Dutch Colonies

By George Vandenberg

Two charity stamps depicting Queen-Mother Emma (1858 – 1934) issued during 1934, became very prominent.

The first one, a Netherlands Indies 12 ½ + 2 ½ ct (NVPH # 216) was issued from September 15 through October 24, 1934 and remained valid until March 31, 1935. The second one, a Netherlands 6 + 2 ct (NVPH # 269) stamp was available from October 1 through December 5, 1934 and remained valid through December 31, 1935. The surcharges were for the benefit of the anti-tuberculosis societies of the Dutch East Indies and the Netherlands respectively.An original photo taken by court photographer Franz Ziegler was selected and subsequently adjusted by artist W.J. Roozendaal and eventually engraved by H. Seegers.

Queen Emma was born on August 2, 1858 in Castle Arolson in the small Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont. Germany. She married the elderly (she was 20, he 61(!)) Dutch King William III on January 7, 1879, two years after the death of the King’s first wife, Queen Sophie. William III and Queen Sophie had three sons, all of whom preceded the King in death.

On August 31, 1880 Queen Emma and King William III became the parents of the future Queen Wilhelmina. When William III died November 23, 1890, Emma became regent of their daughter, who was 10-year old, and she would remain so until Wilhelmina’s eighteenth birthday on August 31, 1898. Queen -Regent Emma was very gracious and ruled very tactfully (being a foreigner and female was something the country had get to used to).

After Wilhelmina’s inauguration in the New Church in Amsterdam on September 6, 1898, Emma (now as Queen-Mother) continued to stand at her daughter’s side in many affairs of State.

Earlier, Emma’s older sister had contracted tuberculosis, which explained Emma’s active support in the fight against this disease.

Emma devoted much of her time and energy to tuberculosis related charity. Queen Mother Emma passed away March 20, 1934 in the Hague. Shortly there after the surcharged Emma stamps came out.

Of course the purpose was to sell as many of these surcharged stamps as possible, to benefit the anti-tuberculosis cause. The 1934 Queen Emma stamps issue periods coincided with various major aviation events on the air routes and air services to and from the Netherlands, the Dutch East Indies, Australia, and across the Atlantic to Surinam and Curaçao. A tie-in to one or more of these events was expected to bring

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in a lot of money for the anti-tuberculosis organization, and going by the covers I’ll show here, it was successful.

The first three covers shown are special ‘Queen Emma Covers’ issued during this period by the Netherlands-Indies Anti-Tuberculosis Society.

The first cover (one of only 2500 made) was flown from the Indies to the Netherlands, cancelled at Batavia on October 3, 1934, departed Batavia on October 5, 1934 and arrived at Amsterdam on October 15, 1934. Then…it flew from Amsterdam via Mildenhall (England) with the KLM’s DC-2 “de Uiver” in the Mac.Robertson Race to Melbourne, Australia on October 20, 1934, where it arrived on October 24, 1934 at 11.25 a.m. after a glorious flight (second place overall, and first place in the handicap category). Then this cover was forwarded from Melbourne to Batavia by ship where it arrived on November15, 1934. Notice the Australian franking, as well as the official “KLM plane PH-AJU arrived Melbourne 11-25 A.M. Wednesday 24th October, 1934” marker.

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The second Queen Emma Cover was especially issued to partake in the “Douglas” flight (the Batavia – Melbourne section of the Mac.Robertson Handicap Race) from the Netherlands-Indies to Australia.

The cover was returned from Melbourne to the Netherlands-Indies by ship. Notice the Australian franking, registration and a Batavia-Centrum arrival marking of Nov. 22, 1934.

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The third special ‘Queen Emma Cover’ was also issued by the Netherlands-Indies Anti-Tuberculosis Society. This cover features the so-called “Snip Flight”, a.k.a. the Christmas flight ‘Ned. - Indië to West - Indië’.

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The particular flight originated in Batavia on December 5, 1934, arrived in Amsterdam on December 15, 1934, where the red cachet was applied.Mail was then transferred to a waiting KLM Fokker tri-motor F-XVIII to continue on a flight of 3,730 miles across the Atlantic. Arriving in Paramaribo (Surinam) it received a special “First Flight” cachet dated December 20, 1934.Via La Guaira, Venezuela, the “Snip” arrived at its destination, Willemstad, Curaçao on December 22, 1934. The cancels on the back of this cover show that it subsequently was returned from the West-Indies to the East-Indies by ship via the Pacific Ocean, arriving in Batavia on February 25, 1935.

Another (not specifically designed for the use of Emma stamps) KLM Christmas Flight Cover to the West-Indies I have features a 6 ct. blue Netherlands Queen Emma stamp. The front of the

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cover shows a red departure cachet “SNIP15DEC34.PH.AIS”, and the back shows the 22 Dec. 34 arriving cancel of Willemstad.

Postal rate was 6 ct plus 100 ct airmail surcharge; 106 cent total, paid for by the mandatory 30 cent triangular stamp, a 70 cent ‘airmail’ stamp plus a 6 cent Emma stamp. Also 6 cts (four stamps of ½ cent each) in Curaçao stamps for postage back to the Netherlands.

The last cover I would like to show is Queen-Mother Emma (6 +2 ct blue), tied together with stamps depicting her daughter Queen Wilhelmina (5 + 4 ct lilac) and granddaughter Princess

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Juliana (6 + 5 ct blue). It is a cover flown in the London – Melbourne Air Race. Mailed in Amsterdam on October 15, 1934 it was flown from Amsterdam, via Mildenhall (England) on October 20, 1934 to Batavia, where it arrived safely on October 22, 1934 and then continued on to the office of the P.T.&T. service chief in Bandoeng on the same day.

The NVPH catalog mentions that 1,176,730 copies of the Dutch Emma stamp (netting about 20,000 guilders) were sold. The fact that Queen-Mother Emma had passed away only about half a

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year earlier might have contributed to the significant number of stamps sold. Of the Dutch East Indies version 688,147 copies were sold.

References:

Handboek Postwaarden Nederland, Chapter C21, G. Holstege,J.Vellekoop, R. van den Heuvel,Joh. Enschedé, Amsterdam

From the History of Airmail Transport, J. Boesman.

Luchtvaart en Luchtpost Encyclopedie, J.L.C.M. TSchroots, H.H.C. TSchroots-Boer, 1990

Linn’s Stamp News, July 6, 2009, Michael Rogers, Dutch Indies Airmail cover went around the world in 1934-35

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_of_Waldeck_and_Pyrmont

http://beeldbank.nationaalarchief.nl/nl/afbeeldingen/sortering/relevantie/start/117/q/zoekveld/emma

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