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Inland letter from The Hague to Roermond on June 29, 1998. The envelope is franked with a stamp of 0 (zero!) cent. The matter was genuinly handled by The Post and shows two sorting markings respectively in black and orange in the right corner below. The letter was cancelled at the branch office of the Dutch Postal Museum (The Hague) with the special rectangle postmark of the museum.
In 1998, in the period January 13 - January 16, the new Postal Catalogue, with postal services and postal rates, was distributed at all adresses of households in the Netherlands. The catalogues were delivered free of charge. Page 1 of the catalogue was a sheet of approximatly 12 x 17 cms. The centre of the sheet contained the postage stamp of zero cent. The free stamp was a little present of The Post for everyone who recieved the catalogue. The stamp could be used for sending a free inland letter or postcard on the day the shares of the Dutch Post would officially be introduced at The Amsterdam Stock Exchange. At the moment of delivery of the catalogues that day was still unknown. On June 26 advertisements announced that the historical day would take place on June 29, 1998. Owing to this The Dutch Post (official name: TNT Post) was the first postal enterprise with quotation at the stock market.
The self-adhesive stamp shows "printed perforation". The figure 0 of the design is formed by diamonds, referring to the text on the sheet (translation below): "Deze postzegel is 80 cent waard op de dag dat PTT Post naar de beurs gaat. Dit juweeltje geldt dan als postzegel voor brieven en kaarten tot en met 20 gram met een bestemming binnen Nederland. Alstublieft !".
(Translation: This postage stamp is worth 80 cents on the day that PTT Post will be quoted at the Stock Exchage. On that day this little jewel will be valid for inland letters and cards up to 20 grams. Here you are !). The addition inland was necessary because the stamp was not reported to The International Bureau of The Universal Postal Union.
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