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Netherlands Indies
or Dutch East Indies
1st April 1864
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| Netherlands Indies Sc1 | Sc2 |
imperf, no wmk, engraved
Printed by The Mint, Utrecht
| Description | Date Issued | Scott# | SG# | Mi# | Y&T# | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 cents lake | 1st April 1864 | 1 | 1 | imperf | ||
| 10c lake | 1868 | 2 | 2 | perf 12½x12 |
The Netherlands Indies comprised the islands of Sumatra, Java, the Lesser Sundas, Madura, most of Borneo, Celebes, the Moluccas, western New Guinea and a large number of small islands [1].
Netherlands Indies changed its name to Indonesia in 1948, sovereignity was transferred by the Dutch at the end of 1949 and the Republic of Indonesia was declared on 15th August 1950. Dutch New Guinea, which had used Netherlands Indies stamps until 1949, issued its own stamps from that date.
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Japanese Occupation |
| 1943 Sc-N43 SG23 |
Occupation Issues
Japan occupied the Netherlands Indies from 1942 until 1945. Scott [1] notes that “a great variety of overprints” were used and no effort is made to categorise or number them.The catalog then lists stamps for use in the following (a representative sample is shown):
- Java and Sumatra, Netherland Indies Sc-N1-N4, SG1-4
- “Java (also Sumatra Borneo and Malaya)”, Sc-N5-N14, SG7-14
- Sumatra, N15-N37
- Issued under Nationalist Occupation, N38
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Floating Safe / Marine Insurance |
| 1921 Sc-GY1 SG-M257 |
Innovations
Floating Safe stamps
These (also, more prosaically referred to as Marine Insurance stamps) were issued by the Netherlands and Netherlands, for mail shipped between the two countries. Mail with this additional stamp was carried in a special safe designed to float and be recovered if the ship sank. The service was introduced in 1921 and discontinued in 1923 through lack of interest.