Koffie Hag albums
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Heraldry of the World Heraldic collector's items catalogue > Heraldic albums > Koffie Hag albums |
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Album information :
- Issued by : Koffie Hag, Amsterdam
- Date of issue : 1925-35 (?)
- Number of stamps/cards : 1872
- Image variants : One different image, approx. 20 different reprint
Company
For information on the company, see the overview of Coffee Hag albums.
Albums
The Dutch albums were issued in two series.
The first series was issued as Nederlandsche Gemeentewapens between 1925 and 1928. These series only showed the municipal arms in the Netherlands and the Netherlands East Indies (present Indonesia, but also including the arms of Suriname in South America). For the stamp-pages hardcover albums or a cardboard box were available. The cover showed the small National Arms. The side showed the text Nederlandsche Gemeentewapens, and the back advertising for the company. The total collection consisted of 1027 stamps and generally three hardcover albums were needed.
Covers:
Image of page with stamps:
The second series were issued between 1931 and 1935 as Nederlandsche Heraldiek and showed the arms of new or changed municipal arms, new and changed arms in Netherlands East Indies, the arms of the water boards, the officially registered arms of Houses, Castles, Estates and similar, the arms of former municipalities and two series of personal arms. These personal arms were of important Dutch and foreign families and persons during the 80-years war of independence (1568-1648) of the Netherlands against Spain. The total number of arms issued was 841.
Covers:
[File:hag-nl-nieuw1.jpg|325 px]]
Image of page with stamps:
The Dutch albums are unique in the total Coffee Hag series in Europe. No other series shows arms from outside Europe (Netherlands East Indies and Surinam), obsolete municipal arms, arms of water boards (a system of local government dealing solely with water management) or arms of Estates. The Dutch albums are not unique with respect to the personal arms (the Norway and Danzig albums also contain personal arms), however, they are unique in that the series also contain many foreign arms, such as arms of Popes, Kings and foreign dignitaries who played a role during the 80-years war. In 1930/1 it was also mentioned that arms of religious bodies (churches, dioceses) would be included, but these were never published.
Within the Netherlands all government arms are registered at the Hoge Raad van Adel in The Hague. This register thus includes provincial, municipal arms as well as the arms of water boards. During the early years of its existence (1813-1850) also arms of estates, castles, houses and similar could be registered. Only in 3 cases arms of an estate were granted after 1850 (the most recent in 2004). The Koffie Hag albums contained all arms in the register at the time of publication. The arms of the Netherlands East Indies and the personal arms are not registered. Only arms of Dutch nobility are registered.
The albums were written and the images were drawn by Tiede van der Laars and his son Sytse Gerke van der Laars, who were well known heraldic artists at the time. All stamps show the signature S.G. van der Laars. Tiede van der Laars issued in 1913 a book ‘Wapens, Vlaggen en Zegels van Nederland', dealing mainly with the National and provincial arms. In 1933 the book was reprinted by Koffie Hag, with a small addition in the back, describing the publication of the stamp albums. Finally in 1989 the original 1913 book was reprinted with an additional coloured cover. See images of the three different covers below, the publication about the arms is shown as the file here. Besides the covers shown below, there has been an edition with a blue cover, which is identical to the 1913 version.
1913 issue
1933 issue
1989 issue
In addition to the above book and albums, Koffie Hag also published a booklet on heraldry as such; ‘Een en ander over Wapenkunde of Heraldiek`, by Ch. Kiès.
Information on coffee, Koffie Hag and heraldry
These pages appeared on different parts of the albums, either on the back of an empty page, or as separate pages. The latter can be placed anywhere in the albums and are often absent. All pages are combined in the file below:
Stamps issued
All 1872 images/stamps are shown in the files below:
- Provinces:
- Errata, Nieuwe en Voormalige Gemeenten
- Oost-Indië
- Heerlijkheden
- Waterschappen
- Important families
The index files:
In addition to the arms stamps, six advertising stamps were issued as well:
Collecting
To get the stamps for the albums the company issued coupons, similar as in the other countries. These coupons were added to the different products of the company, but were also printed on for example advertising material. Coupons could be exchanged for stamps or albums. See below for a number of examples of coupons issued.
An example of a complete coupon-booklet, can be seen here.
An example of a brochure with information how to order,can be seen here.
People received their stamps in small packages when buying the coffee from Koffie Hag or Koffie Sanka. To complete the albums it was possible to exchange duplicate pictures or to buy or order by coupon additional stamps. For this special forms were printed and provided with the albums. The form could also be used to order the stamp sheets or the books published by the company.
In 1931 the company issued a small leaflet with on one part information on the first part of the series, with the municipal arms, and on the other an ordering form. Click here to see this leaflet.
Besides the coupons issued by Koffie Hag, some other (daughter) companies participated in the system, such as Ka-Aba and Makota. Below an example of a coupon issued by Makota Coffee and Tea and a booklet from Ka-Aba.
The stamps were issued by a separate department of the company, the Afdeeling Wapenzegels. They used their own stationary and envelopes :
Stamps were also traded by collectors for stamps of other companies, as shown in the advertisements below:
NRC, 1929
NRC, 1930
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Leeuwarder Courant, 1930
Heldersche Courant, March 31, 1934
Texelsche Courant, May 16, 1942
Advertising
The issuing of the stamp albums was also promoted in the general advertising of the company in journals and magazines. Several examples are shown below, dating from 1927-36.
Announcements of the release of the albums itself in newspaper articles, some examples are shown below :
Het Centrum 07-02-1925
NRC February 7, 1925
NRC February 14, 1925
NRC April 6, 1925
Heldersche Courant March 9, 1929
Het Centrum October 9, 1929
- Error creating thumbnail: File with dimensions greater than 12.5 MP
De Groene Amsterdammer 23-12-1933
Het Vaderland, January 22, 1934
Alkmaarder Courant, February 8, 1934
Heldersche Courant, March 24, 1934
General advertisement with reference to the albums was very popular. Advertisements appeared in many local and national newspapers. Very often the advertisment was identical as used in other countries. In different newspapers different arms could be used in the same advertisement. The asvertisements also were used in the Dutch East Indies at the time, using different images of arms.
Selected by date :
NRC November 24, 1924
Heldersche Courant, November 25, 1924
Nieuw Israëlitisch Weekblad, April 9, 1926
NRC October 7, 1929
Leeuwarder Courant, February 7, 1927
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NRC October 7, 1929
Telegraaf October 7, 1929
NRC October 25, 1929
Telegraaf October 25, 1929
NRC November 22, 1929
NRC November 29, 1929
NRC December 20, 1929
Leeuwarder Courant, February 14, 1930
Leeuwarder Courant, February 21, 1930
Gelderlander, April 4, 1930
Heldersche Courant, April 17, 1930
Gelderlander, April 18, 1930
Groene Amsterdammer, April 19, 1930
Heldersche Courant, April 24, 1930
Heldersche Courant, May 1, 1930
Soerabaijasch Handelsblad September 19, 1930
Soerabaijasch Handelsblad October 17, 1930
Groene Amsterdammer, October 3, 1931
Groene Amsterdammer, October 31, 1931
Groene Amsterdammer, November 28, 1931
Leeuwarder Courant, October 14, 1932
A series of advertisements for a new factory in 1936, with the images of the albums:
Large advertisement on building of new factory (1)
Large advertisement on building of new factory (2)
Large advertisement on building of new factory (3)
Large advertisement on building of new factory (4)
Other material
Promotion letters
In 1930 the company issued a leaflet to new customers on the albums and the arms series. Click here for the leaflet (4 pages).
When the second series of stamps were issued the company sent a promotion letter to all known customers and/or buyers of the first series to announce the second series. The letter, dated November 1933, states that new series were to be issued, but mentions only the series about ‘New and changed municipal arms', the second series of Netherlands East Indies, and the first series of the personal arms. The other series were not mentioned and probably not planned at the time.
(Click on pictures to enlarge)
Promotion Brochures
Besides the advertising in newspapers and journals, the company also issued specific promotional brochures for the albums. Below are two examples, the first was issued in the packages of the products of the company, folded and wrapped as a small package. It is a 4-page information brochure on the albums. It also includes a coupon for two stamps.
The second is a multi-coloured issue from the mid or late 1930s describing the albums and some notes on heraldry, but also showing some examples of stamps issued in other countries.
A special promotion brochure was issued in 1936 and measured only 5,5x 5 cm and has 18 pages:
The albums were also mentioned in the general promotion brochures and catalogues of the company. One could collect points not only for the albums, but also for other items. All these items were also for sale directly, by placing an order with the local grocery. Three such lists are shown here, all without date.
Children's contest
A unique advertising feature, only used in Holland as far as I know, were colouring contests for children. Children of different ages could colour some of the arms.
At least four contests were run; one in 1925, in 1929, in 1930 in the Dutch East Indies, and in 1934.
First Contest :
I have not much information on this contest, except a letter to a winner from 1925.
(click to enlarge)
Second Contest:
For this I have some announcements and results from newspaper articles as well as the official announcement brochure:
Announcement (Algemeen Handelsblad 19-05-1929)
Announcement (Telegraaf 24-05-1929)
Announcement (NRC 27-05-1929)
Announcement (NRC 27-09-1929)
Announcement (Algemeen Handelsblad 29-09-1929)
Results (Het Vaderland 17-05-1930)
Third Contest:
This was basically the same as the second Dutch contest, but run in the Dutch East Indies.
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Announcement (Het nieuws van den dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië 25-07-1930)
Announcement (Soerabaijaans Handelsblad 25-07-1930)
Forth contest:
For this the company issued in 1934 a leaflet with three uncoloured large size arms. The easiest, Wassenaar, was for children up to 12 years of age, the second (Lopik) for 13 and 14 year olds and the most difficult one (Avenhorn) was for children older than 15 years. for each category a number of prizes was available. The drawings were to be send before May 15, 1934.
Price List
It was possible to obtain not only Dutch, but also stamps from other countries through the Dutch company. Instead of coupons, the stamps and albums were also sold normally. The company thus issued price lists of the available material.
Below a price list of September 1940, just after the start of the Second World War. As the albums were ordered in other countries, is is mentioned at the end of the letter that delivery times are longer than usual and that the French and UK albums are not available at all (they are listed though). The Polish and Czechoslovak albums are not listed at all.