Posted 10 years ago
aghcollect
(2304 items)
These are three different postage stamps from the Netherlands Antilles which were all part of the separate "Islands Series". This series of stamps were issued in 1958-1959 (which consisted of a total of sixteen different denominations using six different designs); 1973 (nine denominations using five of the previous designs); and 1977 (four denominations using two of the previous designs). The denominations and the colors used were unique to each issue.
(1958-59) - Scott# 247 - 15 cents - "Fort Willem III / Aruba" - (green/lilac)
(1958-59) - Scott# 255 - 1 1/2 gulden - "Old Buildings / Curacao" - (violet/yellow-brown)
(1973) - Scott# 340 - 45 cents - "Volcano / Saba" - (dark purple/aqua blue
*** The Netherlands Antilles, also referred to informally as the Dutch Antilles, was an autonomous Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Although the country has now been dissolved, all of its constituent islands remain part of the kingdom under a different legal status and the term is still used to refer to these Dutch Caribbean islands. The Netherlands Antilles consisted of two distinct island groups. The ABC Islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao are located in the southern Caribbean Sea, just off the Venezuelan coast. The SSS islands of Sint Maarten (actually a territory covering a bit less than half an island), Saba, and Sint Eustatius are in the Leeward Islands southeast of the Virgin Islands. The Dutch colonized the various islands in the 17th century and united them in the new constituent state of the Netherlands Antilles in 1954. Aruba became a separate state within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1986. The Kingdom of the Netherlands dissolved the Netherlands Antilles in October 2010, reconstituting Curacao and Sint Maarten as new constituent countries and Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba as special municipalities within the Netherlands.
