Finally Completed My Set Of Indonesia "Failure Of Dutch Blockade" Souvenir Sheets

I finally completed the set of 12 Indonesian "Failure of the Dutch Blockade" souvenir sheets, part of the Vienna Printings period of 1948-49.

I was initially drawn to these by the aesthetics of the bold "art deco" design of the frames and the color palette.

The set consists of 3 different souvenir sheet deisgns issued in December of 1948, released both perforated (Scott #59-61) and imperforate (#59a-61a), and then those same 6 versions overprinted in gold ink one year later to commemorate the liberation of Jakarta (Scott #117-119 and #117a-119a for perforated and imperforate respectively).

The Scott catalogue values range from $45.00 to $2,500.00 across the 12 sheets, with the 3 most expensive types not appearing on the market very frequently. I had monitored online venues, major auctions, and specialist dealers when trying to complete the set. Surprisingly, it wasn't either of the two 4-figure sheets (#117, #117a) that was the most difficult to locate, but rather the third most expensive (#59a) that took the longest to find.

For those with any interest in the Vienna Printings of Indonesia, the specialized reference on the stamps of this period is the Dai Nippon "Catalogue Vienna & Philadelphia Printings and Sub Areas of the Republic of Indonesia" by Henk Ramkema & Leo B. Vosse, published in 2003.

Here are images of the 12 sheets:

Scott #59.




Scott #59a.




Scott #60.




Scott #60a.




Scott #61.




Scott #61a.





Scott #117.




Scott #117a.




Scott #118.




Scott #118a.




Scott #119.




Scott #119a.

They are very attractive. Thanks for sharing.

Do these sheets ever surface in postally used condition, or on covers?

Did Scott explain why it had started to list these bogus issues (pretty as they are)?

https://www.linns.com/news/us-stamp...evoluti.html
Authorities in Indonesia explain that until actual independence was achieved, most high-level government officials were Dutch. They controlled the post offices and refused to recognize these stamps because they are inscribed Repoeblik Indonesia, or later, Republik Indonesia.
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Indonesia "Vienna" stamp issues catalog
http://docplayer.net/49852405-Indon...-issues.html

Sorry, but the article states "representatives of the Indonesian government met in New York with J. & H. Stolow to print these stamps"; can we guess just who approached who first?

This is reminiscent of the Greenland 1945 Danish liberation overprints, also produced at the behest of a US stamp dealer. A fairly recent study showed that all the errors went out the back door of the printers to the stamp dealer. If this all sounds like the later Format International scam, yes, it's the same story.

I would also be interested in seeing covers with the Vienna stamp issue. Even Trucial States and Bhutan 3D stamps got postally used.

It's almost universally agreed that these souvenir sheets were never legitimately used postally, as is the case with all of the Vienna printings.

In fact, I've never seen even an example of a philatelically contrived cover using one of the souvenir sheets, unlike the regular stamp issues, which you can find on contrived covers. I have a decent representative sample of those.

The interesting thing (to me anyway) is that even the contrived covers have considerable collector demand.

Michel has always listed the Vienna printings.

Work-in-progress flipbook of my Vienna printings covers:

https://indonesianstamps.net/covers/chap5.html

Excellent presentation revenuecollector! Again, thanks for sharing it.

'
Congratulations on completing the set.

To my easily-amused eye, that Art Deco border is also Art Azteca.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I have an extensive collection of Indonesia, many expensive Souvenir sheets, alas, missing all these. Very nice to see them all.

Fabulous "Flipbook", the future of online philatelic presentations I'd say.
Must try this myself.
Nice work! (Very much like the "Steiner Style" Pages)

This is not a criticism of this excellent work but, rather, an observation:

Perhaps it is because I am very right-handed ... or, perhaps because I am so accustomed to stamp albums which only have stamps on the right-hand page ... or, perhaps because, if the actual physical cover was mounted, *it* would always be on the right-hand page ... but ...

I keep expecting to see the 'major' image (the obverse) on the right-hand page, and the 'minor' image (the reverse) on the left.

Q/ Is it just me?

Q/ Or, do others find themselves 'fighting' the layout?

Again, this is not a criticism of the exhibit, just a weird behavioral anomaly I've noticed in myself.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I thought about doing it that way, but this way you can observe front and back side by side rather than having to flip pages between. Useful, especially with postal history and documents, if you're wanting to see the markings on both sides at the same time.

The right-side pages are the same as the left, just with the reverse of the same cover showing.

I think it comes down to personal preference, and I prefer being able to view front and back of the same cover on the same spread.

I have only just discovered this thread ,I too collect Indonesia up to 1950 ,still need some of the Blockade sheets I don't have any of the Imperf's and only need the Sc 61 to complete my perforated set.
Some one was asking about postally used,at the moment I only have one but I have seen private covers using the Vienna printings.


Snowy12

I don't know the Indonesian postal rates of the period, but it is possible, that the regular Indonesia stamps paid the full postage and that the Vienna Printings stamps were extraneous. Given that the addressee was J. and H. Stolow, it is definitely philatelic.

Are there any receiving marks on the reverse of the cover?

A nice cover regardless.

Here is the reverse of the cover ,with back stamps.

Snowt121

Revenuecollector:

I love your flipbook presentation, and admit I had the same thought initially about the cover obverse/reverse arrangement as left page= cover front / right page=cover back side issue.

It seems that a more natural presentation would be with the cover front (obverse) side at the top of the page, and reverse at the bottom.

But, like the style of collecting of stamps, covers, or anything else, the presentation approach is the sole decision of the collector. I'm grateful to see anyone's collection that is displayed with pride and skill, even if I don't have an interest in collecting the subject. That's a great feature of this forum.

What tool is used to construct the flipbook?