Dutch Marine Insurance Or Floating Safe Stamps

Its been rainning all day so the wife and I have been browsing the internet for stamps like kids in an ice cream parlor...one seller had the Dutch scott GY1-Gy7 set for $2700..i don't think so ...but we stamp collectors are innovative....we found a set that Surinam overprinted for regular postage for $15.00 Surinam scott 132-138..they will look nice in my album..will post a picture when they arrive !!

They're great stamps. Oddball idea, but neat designs. I don't have the complete set...looking forward to seeing yours.

For anyone who isn't familiar with the concept, I understand the idea to be a large safe fixed to the deck of a ship, set up to float free if the ship sank. You'd pay for this extra bit of security/service, evidenced by the stamp.

Marine Insurance Stamps.

Marine Insurance stamps were issued by the Netherlands and the Netherlands Indies in 1921 in
connection with a special service known as the DRIJVENDE BRANDKAST (floating safe). This
was a special steel container attached to the boat deck of ships plying between Holland and the Far
East. The safe was secured to the deck by four arms which were automatically released if the ship
sank. The safe then floated free, to be salvaged later. A special tariff for floating safe letters was
promulgated at the Madrid Congress of the UPU in 1920. This was proposed as a result of the loss
of ships from mines and torpedoes in the closing years of the First World War. The idea was
conceived by the Dutch firm of Van Blaadercn who constructed the safes. The service was little
used and postally used examples of the stamps arc very rare. The 1924 UPU Congress abolished the
floating safe tariff. A similar service known as Simmande Kassaskap, was provided by the Swedish
Post Office on ships plying between Grisslehamn in Roslagcn and Ekero in the Aland Islands, but
no stamps were provided for this purpose.