Postage Due stamps from the Netherlands and ex-colonies

Schmidlin types - local varieties

Contents:

Netherlands Indies

Indian Print

In 1941 the stock of postage due stamps in the Netherlands Indies ran out. Since the Netherlands were occupied the normal source (the printing company Joh. Enschedé in Haarlem) was unavailable, and the colonial government had to improvise a solution, as it had to do with the normal stamps. The company G. Kolff & Co. in Batavia was given the order to print a new batch of postage due stamps. The design was the same as the current 1913 series (#4). Nevertheless some subtle differences make it possible to identify the Indian Print.
First of all: the paper is thicker and looks yellowish. Further the colour is slightly lighter and the gum (for the unused stamps) looks dull and rough. The perforation gauge is the same as the 1913 series (12½), but the Indian Print has smaller holes.

Australian Print

After the war, a chaotic period began. The Dutch wanted to continue as if nothing had happened between 1941 and 1945, "business as usual". The local people however, wanted independence. It took 4 years of bloody war (a sort of Dutch Vietnam avant la lettre) before the State of Indonesia was official. During these years the postal service continued as good as possible, and as always some letters weren't sufficiently stamped. Postage Due stamps remained necessary. Neither the Dutch nor the local Indian printers could deliver at short notice, so the Dutch turned to Melbourne, Australia where the last series of postage due stamps was printed. They are easily recognisable: instead of a uniform orange-red all values have a different colour. The stamps were printed on Australian paper, hence the watermark crowned "C of A" - Commonwealth of Australia and the unusual perforation of 14½ x 14. Unusual for Dutch stamps, which were normally perforated 12½, but common for Australian stamps.

English Print

For the same reason as the Indian and Australian prints exist for the Netherlands Indies, some postage due stamps for Curaçao were printed in England. They can be recognised on two differences from the ordinary stamps: First, they havge different perforation, 11½ instead of 12½ or 13½x12¾ and secondly the picture size is slightly different. The English stamp is 22½ mm high where the normal one is 21½.
Only the 10, 12½ and 25 ct exist as English print.

New Issue

In 1948 a new set of postage due stamps was issued for the Netherlands Antilles. They were used only for a short time, hence they are rare. They are easily recognisable because their colour is darkgreen where all the previous stamps were lightgreen.