Welcome to the online exhibition!

400 years of tax stamps

Let’s go back to 1623, 400 years in the past. The Twelve Years’ Truce expired in 1621 and the country is again at war. The Spanish have besieged and taken Bergen op Zoom, Steenbergen has fallen and enemy troops are at the borders. The young Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands is struggling. Defence spending suffered serious cutbacks during the truce. Although all taxes have been increased, there is still not enough money coming in to meet defence expenses. The search for new taxes is on. 

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inleiding
Introduction
Mask Group 42
The real inventor, the misunderstanding and the aftermath
bdmuseum-onderwerp
400 Years of Revenue Stamps
BDM BEZEGELD Illustratie voor Introductie van Het belastingzegel in de kunst
Embossed Tax Stamps and Seals in Art
dagbladzegel penning afschaffing BDM_00771
The newspaper stamp, history and freedom of the press
3-2
Tax Stamps in former Dutch Colonies
178aff7e-3ab0-4ee6-987b-9050e504377c.3ac2cad995204281180b0bbe4af70ae6-2
The tax stamp in the world
Image 49
Tax Stamp Artists
Image-15
Savings Stamps – The birth of social security in The Netherlands

Exhibition credits

Guest Curator Fons Overwater, Tax & Customs Museum
Film and editing Dai-we Li, Point Pictures
Translations Renuka Wikramasinha, Afterwords
Web design Denice Rieu, Lettow Studios
The Art of Tax Stamps author Jantine Bloemhof
Tax Stamp Artists authors Anne-Marieke van Schaik and Fons Overwater
Other texts author Fons Overwater 
Images Tax & Customs Museum, unless stated otherwise
Sponsors: Register Belastingadviseurs and Vrienden van het Belasting & Douane Museum