XANTHE'S
STAMP MAGAZINE

Some of you might remember my review of the Saba birds issue in January. The Netherlands are creating four issues this year to celebrate Saba wildlife. The first one was the birds set, and this one focuses on butterflies. Later in the year there will be Saba wildlife stamps about underwater life and flowers. I was a big fan of the birds stamps and as I collect butterfly stamps you would think I would like these too. And I do. But there is something a bit different about thes

It's World Puffin Day today, so what could be better than to take a look at some of the best stamps showing pictures of puffins? Puffins are fantastic birds but they are also endangered so International Puffin Day helps to remind us that we need to protect and appreciate them. I don't know a lot about puffins but I have been lucky enough to see some and they really are remarkable birds. So, what about the stamps? There are more than you might think, and these are just some

Last month the Netherlands issued this stamp, celebrating The Bull - a famous painting by Dutch artist Paulus Potter. The Bull - sometimes called The Young Bull - is a classic work of art and the full painting can be seen below. The stamps have been designed by Frank Janse from Gouda. There are five stamps and they show sections of the original painting, placed in a strip through the middle of the painting. Design Quality - I don't understand why the designer has created

This new set of stamps showing birds was issued on 5th January. The Netherlands have created many distinctive and beautiful miniature sheets in the past and this one is another fantastic sheet that I think a lot of collectors will enjoy. There are ten stamps in the set, which celebrates Saba's birds. Like the more well-known Aruba and Curaçao, Saba is an island in the Caribbean Netherlands although it is not exactly a neighbour of these other islands - it is in the Windward

Children's Welfare stamps in the Netherlands are charity stamps sold with a surcharge to fund projects for the Stichting Kinderpostzegels (Children's Welfare Stamps Foundation), which supports "developmental opportunities" for children in the Netherlands and abroad. They have been created annually for many, many years and are called Kind postzegels in Dutch. They first appeared in 1924 and have been issued every year since apart from the war years. They have a specific des