Dutch East Indies – Java (present-day Indonesia), 1896–1898. - Lot 301

Dutch East Indies – Java (present-day Indonesia), 1896–1898. Set of two postal stationery cards sent from Batavia to the Netherlands. The first is a 7½-cent rose-colored card, with a Weltevreden (Batavia) departure cancellation and a Maastricht arrival postmark; the handwritten message in Dutch, signed by D. Driessen and dated Batavia, October 20, 1896 (?), mentions that the sender is staying in Batavia. The second is a 5-cent blue card overprinted with a 2½-cent orange stamp, canceled with Weltevreden squared-circle date stamps, a Maastricht arrival postmark, and a boxed “12” postal marking. Both cards are addressed to young H. Driessen, c/o Mr. Lips, Maastricht—evidently family correspondence between Batavia and a boy in the Netherlands, most likely a parent writing home. Long handwritten messages in Dutch on both cards. Pencil annotations by the dealer. A fine pair of colonial postal history items illustrating private exchanges between the Dutch East Indies and the motherland at the end of the 19th century. Keywords: philately, marcophily, postal stationery, uprated, Nederlands-Indië, Batavia, Weltevreden, squared circle cancel, family correspondence, colonial mail, incoming mail to the Netherlands. The descriptions are based on our interpretation of the postmarks and handwritten inscriptions, which are sometimes difficult to decipher; they are provided in good faith and without guarantee.