Postage Stamp Stories: A Dutch Cow

About a month ago, we got a friend's wedding invitation, and it had a new stamp on it! (Well, okay, a stamp I'd never seen before.)

Source: Powervrouwen

Dutch Icons

Each stamp in this series features a different Netherlands icon.  Go ahead, take a guess at what they are.  You should have a total of ten.  Ready, GO!

Did you say....
Cheese?
Windmills?
Bike?
Tulips?
Wooden shoe?

You're halfway there.  The others are a flat bottomed boat from Friesland , the clapskate, an example of Amsterdam architecture (the trapgevel, or step-facade), and a Delft-blue kissing couple.

Not Your Typical Souvenirs

Most of these can be seen as motifs on Dutch souvenirs - probably the ones you thought of.

Since living in the Netherlands, I've learned some very interesting facts.

The most common cow seen here in the Netherlands is the black and white one.  I am useless when it comes to identifying cows by breed, but I grew up in an area with many Holstein cows.  While watching a BBC show this weekend, I learned that Dutch Friesian (from the northwest of the country) were specially bred for their milk production beginning about a hundred years ago.  As Wikipedia informed me, the two breeds are one and the same!

During the 2014 Winter Olympics, I also learned that the Dutch invented the clapskate to help speed skaters go even faster!

Dutch Trivia

Do you know any more Dutch trivia? Leave it in the comment section below!

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