Every time I look at my ever growing collection of Japanese Occupation of Netherlands Indies stamps I smile at the amount of different stamps and overprints I have. But every time I look at the 600+ pages of the two catalogues regarding this period my smile fades: there's still so much to collect. The number of overprint types and varieties is just mind boggling! But anyway, I did receive a new type of overprint the other day, so that put my smile back on again!
It is the black "IPL in frame" overprint, used on Sumatra in the province of Palembang. I've tried for a few minutes to find out what IPL stands for, but no luck. Maybe something like Imperial Palembang? Answers on a postcard please! Anyway, this here is the small version. There's also a larger version but that was never used on Wilhelmina stamps, so that's one I do not have to collect! Phew! I do need to get the violet version though! Oh well...;-)
Adrian
Saves me a lot of work!
These were the Java (this example has an inverted overprint) and Buiten bezit. overprints 
of 1908. I wrote about those 
I last wrote about those 
containing stamp proof material for some of their staff celebrating their jubilees. 
I understand that only 6 of these books were ever made. But as these books contain "stamps the staff has worked on", 
we can safely conclude that these proofs are all made by Kolff. Now, Kolff started printing stamps for the Netherlands Indies in 1941, probably because Enschedé in the Netherlands was no longe able/allowed to print those for them because of the Netherlands being occupied by the Germans. This would date the proofs in the book at round the early 1940s. This makes sense, for most Wilhelmina proofs are either of the Kreisler design (albeit slightly different) which was the then current definitive design, or of the Van Konijnenburg design which was the eventually adopted definitive design. But then we come across these:
Now these are also mentioned in Van Dieten's Proof Catalogue for the Netherlands and overseas territories, but they are dated 1908! The catalogue does not mention the printer. As I said before, Kolff did not start producing stamp for the Netherlands Indies until 1941, so what were they doing in 1908 making these proofs!? And if they are theirs and made in 1908, then the Kreisler proofs may well be from an earlier date too and could still have been the original design, with the borders added later!
And while you're at it, 
I try to update one of them daily with at least a paragraph and a picture, so if you come back every once in a while, you'll find new stuff to enjoy (well, hopefully anyway).
It is one of the American Bank Note Company definitives of the Netherlands Indies, originally issued in 1945. The overprint reads: "REPOEBLIC INDONESIA, TWO DAYS OF INFAMY!, 7 Dec. 1941 - Pearl Harbor, 18 Dec. 1948 - Jogjakarta, POS UDARA 10R".
We're talking 1940s here and as you can see a very traditional design. No sign of any urge to innovate. But why on earth did the designer place the portrait in the top left corner???? It looks so wrong and out of place, staring off the stamp like that. This one here (1930s I believe) 
is better but even here you could argue that the king is staring off the envelope. After all, the tradition (or even stipulation) that stamps have to be placed in the top right corner of the envelope had been in vogue for a long while. I believe that postal authorities started hammering on that way back in the 1800s. So basically, this one here (1935)
is how it should be. Note how well balanced the design looks compared to the others. And if you think things like that don't matter when the portrait is the central part of a definitive, you can think again, for look at this:
I immediately think there's something not right here, whereas with this version
I only think: perfect!
and of the Java overprint.
Many varieties exits, like this inverted Buiten bezit overprint.
But what I would like to know, and I hope that one of you out there will know, or will know someone who might know, is whether this research yielded anything and in particular that contemplated rate reduction!? I have only a very general list of postal rates and can't find anything that looks like a rate reduction, but seeing that the Dienst overprint did not appear until 1912, it could well have been an incredibly long research or maybe they'd given up on the normal post bit and just started research on the official mail bit later. Asnwers on a postcard please (or an e-mail would be just fine)!
That is the L for Landmacht, or territorial army. The address is to the field post office in Batavia, with further particulars to be completed by the sender. The second version has an M in the lower left corner.
That is the M for Marine, or navy. This was sent to the navy post office in Batavia. I only wonder why, if there was enough demand for all these to be produced, I never see them used! Or maybe I just haven't looked well enough...!
I was therefore very happy to win this stamp here and bring some variety in my collection.
It has a so-called hinomaru (red flag) overprint, which was used in Tapanuli (Sumatra). There are two types, a thick and a fine overprint, this example having the latter.
Now normally you can tell most colour proofs apart from the real stuff because they're either imperforate or they're in a colour which was not chosen. The problem with this example here is that it is in the chosen colour and on top of that, the fact that it is imperforate is no guarantee either. Apparently, stocks of unfinished stamps (printed but not yet perforated or gummed) haven fallen into the wrong hands and have ended up on the philatelic market.
Do you feel the same hesitation? Or have you found a way to deal with this? Or do you just not care at all? Let me know!
The stamps are designed and recess-printed by the American Bank Note Company. The lower values, up to 7.5c, were pictorial definitives with a portrait of Wilhelmina in the corner. Higher values were based on the same portrait only. Here's a closer look at the proof.
Die proofs were made for all pictorial values. These were all made in black, as they were proof printings of the die and not meant to be proof printings of the colours to be used. The die proof is stuck on a cardboard piece which (if I can read it properly) has written in the bottom right corner: "Last / March 28/45".
I suppose this "Last" means that this was the final die proof made, and that from this proof the die was accepted and used for printing the eventual stamps. Here's the eventual stamp itself.
:-)
A little while ago, I showed you some proofs for that set, see 
It's a postcard with a photograph of court photographer Deutmann in The Hague. And the reason I'm so happy to have got it, is that this is the portrait that was used for the 1923 Jubilee stamps of the Dutch overseas territories. Here's a closer look at the portrait.
That same portrait was then subsequently used for various definitives, like this Curaçao set.
When funds do not permit the purchase of die proofs and other design material, this is a great way of being able to tell a bit more about the stamps you collect!
Which set me off thinking about blocks of stamps, part sheets, etc. I quite like them and when you're mainly focussed on stamps (rather than covers), they can lighten up your collection/page/display no end. The good thing is that in that way, you can show more information about the stamps. These date blocks are obvious examples as they show you when the actual stamp was printed. Now does that mean that we have to go for every date block we can find? I once tried that with my Machins but there are so many that that is just not a financially sound prospect. I suppose one way to collect them is to get first and last printing date of a stamp and all the date blocks that have any significance on the stamp. Again on Machins (I've done those the most you see), you could eg try and get the first date block when fluor was changed from yellow to blue. In that way, the date blocks included in your collection basically tell the story of that stamp. Great!
Again, it tells you from what cylinder a specific stamp is printed. And again, you don't always have to go for all the blocks that exist. This D1 dot block tells you that there's also a "no dot block" and that therefore a double pane cylinder was used. A new cylinder/plate number does not always constitute a change (that is to say, if you don't over-specialize) but new changes (like the deeper engraved Machin head on the current stamps) do usually constitute a plate/cylinder number change. I must admit though, that after finding out that with the Dutch Beatrix plate numbers, different plates keep the same number, the point of collecting these has somewhat paled.
It doesn't tell you much, only that there are counting numbers on the side (although it is nice if you have an example from the other side of the sheet too, so you can illustrate that they run from 1 to 10 or 20 on the left and from 20 or 10 to 1 on the other! Perforation types are usually nicely illustrated on blocks too.
But that's basically just trying to impress! If you really want to do this properly, you have to have a positional block, that is to say, you can see where on the sheet the variety is. But with the marginal side imperf, I think it is pretty clear where this bit was situated on the sheet!
It's a label for the Dutch exhibition "De vrouw" (the woman), which dealt with a hundred years of women's lib. As top woman of the Netherlands, Wilhelmina was of course asked to participate or at least attend. But Wilhelmina may have had the top job for any woman in Holland, she was very conservative in her ideas and had no feeling whatsoever for all these newfangled feminist ideas. Very reluctantly and grudgingly she had to agree to visit twice, which she did.
I bought it as the basic set of four stamps, because I did not have it yet. But when I studied them this morning I found that two of the four stamps had constant varieties on them! The 40c + 50c on 1.40g has a different lettertype for the capitals V and K.
The 50c + 75c on 5g has the constant variety Krljgsgevangenen. 
I won't be able to retire on them but they do come at a premium, so lucky me!
I suppose they are like courtesy stamps, just to show off the company's printing abilities. Apparently they can be found both perf and imperf, but I only have perforated copies. And, just to compare, here's the real thing.
Now do you understand why I prefer recess-printed stamps anytime?!