Koffie Hag albums

Heraldry of the World Heraldic collector's items catalogue > Heraldic albums > Koffie Hag albums

Koffie Hag Albums Nederland : Nederlandsche Heraldiek / Nederlandsche Gemeentewapens

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.

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.

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.

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.

To get the stamps for the albums the company issued coupons. 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.

In the Shop part of the site we offer most images from the albums, as well as the complete albums on CD.

On the CD you can find:

• the complete albums as pdf files
• all known variations
• images of coupons, trade and exchange forms
• letters dealing with the arms, or with arms on it
• information on the children's contests (drawing the arms)
• advertising material
• catalogues of Hag
• etc

Index of stamps issued

All images/stamps are shown in the files below:

• Provinces:
  • Groningen
  • Friesland
  • Drenthe
  • Overijssel
  • Gelderland
  • Utrecht
  • Noord Holland
  • Zuid Holland
  • Zeeland
  • Noord Brabant
  • Limburg
• Errata, Nieuwe en Voormalige Gemeenten
• Oost-Indië
• Heerlijkheden
• Waterschappen
• Important families