No, really, I am not a big fan of Diana, Princess of Wales. Very likely she was even the main reason for me not having a soft spot for the British royals. I started following the royals early 1980. We had a portfolio with magazines (called a ‘leesmap’ in Dutch) delivered at home weekly. Of […]
Dutch Commemorative Plates
Recently I inherited three commemorative plates. They are rather old but still in an almost perfect state. Online I found a bit more information about them. I wonder how much they’re worth, but luckily (or not) for me they don’t seem to be as rare as I thought they might be. But maybe someone can […]
125 Years Wilhelmina Peppermints – A Collector’s Item
The peppermints with the portrait of the young Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands on it is probably the most known peppermint brand of the Netherlands. In 1892 the Dutch sugar confectioner Fortuin Dockum B.V., founded in 1842, created the “Wilhelmina Mints” on the occasion of their 50th anniversary and named them after the 12-year-old Queen […]

Princess Margriet and her Collection of Inuit Art
On 1 July 1867 – this year 150 years ago – the North American colonies of Great Britain were united. The four founding provinces officially became the Dominion of Canada. The Museum Volkenkunde (ethnology) in Leiden, The Netherlands, celebrates this with a special gallery exhibition about the Inuit: Canadese Inuit Kunst (Canadian Inuit Art), on […]
Royal (Christmas) Mail
Once in a while, when I don’t forget I like to send postcards to royals who had his/her birthday, a baby, got married or lost a member of the family. But most of the time I just stick to a few Christmas cards. You don’t always get something back, but if you’re lucky you do. […]
Old scrapbooks
Recently someone gave me two old notebooks, one had supposedly been used at primary school for arithmatic, the other for presentation. Inside I found totally different things. Funny how these notebooks were used over and over again, as one contains something that looks like an account book or recipes. But on top of all the […]
Oranjebeurs in Nijverdal
An Oranjebeurs? I will try to explain what it is. A few times a year royal collectors in the Netherlands organize this event in various parts of the Netherlands: Buren, Wassenaar and Nijverdal. It is the place to be for collectors of royal euphemera and memorabilia: plates, cups, tins, postcards, photos, books, coins … just […]
How do you manage your royal collection?
I am sure this sounds pretty familiar to lots of other collectors with just limited space in their house. Once in a while I look around in my house and think it is really time to clean up the mess. That moment came again this week. Piles of magazines and other stuff collected in the […]