COVER N. 557 - NETHERLANDS

Postmark: Zwolle

Posted on (?); Received on the 10th February 2025

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Every once in a while I get a request to exchange covers from a fellow collector who happens to come across this little blog of mine.

This time the request came from the Netherlands and I was quite happy to receive this cover from Rohan, which also included a kind gift of stamps inside. The more so since I haven't been receiving much mail in this beginning of year and to hear again the sound of the metallic flap of my letterbox being dropped by my friend Mr. Postman, really feels me with joy.  Hartelijk dank, or better yet, Multe mulțumiri, Rohan!

Bonaire is a small island in the Caribbean, off the coast of Venezuela, and part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands since 1636, following the Dutch conquest of Curacao from the Spanish in 1634.

In Bonaire, 209 confirmed bird species have been registered. On 02JAN2024,  PostNL issued a 10 tariff "1" Stamp minisheet dedicated to the birds of this particular Dutch possession. One of them featuring a photo of  a Red Caribbean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber), was used on the cover. Red flamingos inhabit the salty lakes of Bonair, Lake Goto having a population of 20,000 individuals of this beautiful member of the Phoenicopteridae family.

Willem-Alexander became King of the Netherlands, on 30 April 2013. that very same year PostNL started to issue yearly definitive issues with the effigy of the king, the stamps of these sets being distinguishable from each other by the faintly  imprinted year  that appears on the top corner of the stamp. The Tariff "1 International", of the 2024 set was also used on this cover.

The mechanical postmark was applied at Zwolle, a city of 120,000 inhabitants on the eastern side of the country.