Lot 40838 – 1852, King Willem I, used collection of reconstructions of the 19 different plates, beautifully mounted by hand in an album

1852, King Willem I, used collection of reconstructions of the 19 different plates, beautifully mounted by hand in an album, which was last exhibited at the CAPEX in 1951 by the then ambassador, Vicomte du Parc, and has been in family ownership ever since. The collection contains the most complete plating to our knowledge with around 1859 positions out of 1900 present, which corresponds to a completeness of around 98%. Several plates, including better ones, are complete, and various positions are also occupied twice. The 5c which was printed from 6 plates (plus plate VI on thin + thick paper), the 10c was printed from 10 plates (plate X on both thin + thick paper) and 15c from only one plate, thus a total of 19 different plates.

The collector obviously had an eye for quality as virtually all stamps are full-margined examples, and the number of luxury items is enormous with a variety of marginals, colours and cancellations, with many stamps which may well fetch high prices as individual items. It includes a remarkable number of multiples as well, notably the 15c in a top marginal strip of 5 as well as another strip of 5 and three strips 4. Apart from an unused 15c (position 26), all the stamps are used.

A jewel of classic Dutch philately and a gem even for the greatest collector of Dutch or classic issues!