Adriaanse puts his ‘valuable’ stamp on life
For Corrie Adriaanse, from Boksburg, life is all about stamps.
“Life is depicted on stamps,” said this passionate philatelist.
Adriaanse was born in Holland, in 1948, and immigrated to South Africa with his parents and sisters, in 1957.
He has been collecting postage stamps since the age of seven, while still in Holland. Some of his collections he bought, while others he traded.
Not only does he collect stamps, but also gemstones and other precious items – therefore a true philatelist in heart and soul.
When the Advertiser paid him a visit, he was more than eager to display some of the approximately 52 albums of stamps which he has collected over the years.
And he knows the history and value of each one of his beloved stamps.
According to Adriaanse, the first-ever postage stamps were invented in Europa.
“The postal industry originated in Europe, in the late 1800s, with a soldier who delivered letters on behalf of the king to the rulers and other well-known people in the continent,” he said.
Even though his collection includes stamps from basically all over the world, most of them originate from Africa and the old-Netherlands.
He is intensely proud of stamps from the Dutch East India Company, depicting the three famous ships of the Dromedaris, the Rejiger and De Goede Hoop, that carried Jan van Riebeeck and his crew to the Cape in 1652.
Stamps that feature a portrait of the youthful Queen Victoria also form part of Adriaanse’s collection.
Even though he has many favourites, he is also not shy to show off one of his most treasured stamps, which originated in the Cape of Good Hope.
In 2012, this stamp was apparently classified as the top 12th most valuable postage stamps in the world.
“Issued in 1853, the Cape of Good Hope stamp is the first postage stamp issued in the Cape of Good Hope, and even in the whole of Africa,” said Adriaanse.
“The stamp has a triangular shape, so that even the illiterate could tell that it was not a stamp from another country, although many other countries have issued triangular stamps since then.”
However, Adriaanse’s ultimate favourite stamp is the One Cent Blue Imperf Benjamin Franklin.
According to him, this postage stamp is one of the most valuable and most difficult stamps to obtain, because there are only two existing samples.
This ”beauty” was discovered in one of the collections he bought from someone in Durban, between 1950 and 1970.
The popular stamp, associated with the Civil War issue, contains a portrait Benjamin Franklin, the famous political theorist, diplomat, author, scientist and the President of Pennsylvania.
Dubbed ”the First American” for his extensive political campaign in support of colonial unity, Franklin played a key part in shaping the American mentality as the union of practical values and social tolerance.
The Post Office Department used Franklin’s profile, taken from Houdon’s bust for multiple stamp designs, starting from 1847.
The One Imperf Cent Benjamin Franklin stamp, issued in 1867, features a rare Z-grill with horizontal ridges, just like two other designs from the series depicting Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.
According to Adriaanse, the most valuable stamps are, in fact, from America.
Moving away from the postage stamps to a big glass cabinet, Adriaanse also showed the Advertiser other precious items he has collected over the years.
This includes a beautiful, 300 million-year-old ammonite fossil, an ancient spear point, a fossilised shark tooth and a chipped piece of a plate from Jan van Riebeeck’s era.
“I dived out the chipped piece myself, between the rocks at Cape Point, in the 1970s,” said Adriaanse.
According to him, he will be collecting and studying stamps until he dies.
“When buying a collection from someone, you’re not always fortunate to find something valuable and rare,” he said.
“Sometimes you strike gold and sometimes you don’t.”
Anyone interested in buying the One Cent Blue Imperf Benjamin Franklin from Adriaanse, can contact the Advertiser on 087 285 6458 to get in touch with him.
