Netherlands (Dutch) New Guinea
1st January 1950
Printed by J. Enschedé & Sons, Haarlem.
|Design 1, perf 12½x13½, no wmk, photo|
|1 cent slate blue||1|
|2c deep orange||2|
|3c deep plum||4|
|12½c crimson||9||Design 2, perf 13½x12½, no wmk, photo|
|30c deep blue||1952||13|
|50c deep orange||16|
|Design 3, perf 12½x12, no wmk, engraved|
|1 gulden red||19|
|5g dark olive-green||21|
† Date of issue, where not 1950.
To paraphrase Gibbons , the Netherlands claimed north-west New Guinea in 1828 and an 1884-5 treaty established the borders between Dutch, British and German New Guinea, amended in 1895. The stamps of the Netherlands Indies were used until 1949, when that became independent as Indonesia.
West New Guinea,
|1962 Sc1a SG1||1963 Sc20 SG1|
Changes of Administration
Indonesia continued to claim the area and in October 1962 administration was tranferred to the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA) as West New Guinea with the intention of transferring control to Indonesia in 1963. Overprinted Netherlands New Guinea stamps were issued. There were two versions of the overprint, one made locally (dull ink, SG1-19) and the other by Enschedé (shiny ink, SG20-38). Scott lists only one set in the Standard catalogue  as Sc1a-19a, but notes that there are two local and two Enschedé overprints distinguishable by size and detailed in the US Specialised catalogue.
The tranfer took place on 1st May 1963 and the name changed to Irian Barat (West Irian). These are listed with Indonesia in Scott and by Gibbons in Pt. 21.