Coffee Hag albums
This was an initiative of Emperor Wilhelm II to make an archive of published material.
The company hired the famous artist Otto Hupp to design the stamps.
Otto Hupp already had published several well-known volumes on German civic heraldry since the 1890s.
In each country different heraldic artists were used to write the albums and draw the images.
More than 12500 different stamps were issued, making it the largest heraldic publication of the 20th century.
The Belgian Coffee Hag albums are unique, as they are issued in two languages, Dutch ("Wapens van het Koninkrijk België en het Groothertogdom Luxemburg") and French ("Armorial du Royaume de Belgique en du Grand Duché de Luxembourg").
The images and texts were made in the studio of Van der Laars in the Netherlands.
The main difference is in the (short) additional text, which was issued after the Luxembourg province pages.
In addition the albums also contained a 17-page introduction to heraldry, with numerous examples from the Belgian towns.
In a brochure for the German albums from 1935 it is mentioned that the book on Denmark was already published.
Poul Bredo Grandjean published two other heraldic books between 1920 and 1940 and was considered the most esteemed heraldist of the country in those days.
[4] The album series La France Héraldique has a complicated history.
Initially the series were intended to be issued as loose sheets, to be bound in albums per region.
The album was published by Kava Hag, Zagreb and printed by Lit.
The album contains 256 stamps with images, which are numbered without breaks from 1 (national arms) until 256 Žužemberg.
The side showed the text Nederlandsche Gemeentewapens, and the back advertising for the company.
The total collection consisted of 1027 stamps and generally three hardcover albums were needed.
[8] The Norwegian album, "Norske By-og Adelsvåben", was issued by Kaffe Hag Aktieskelskap in Oslo in 1933.
Hallvard Trætteberg (1898–1987) was within the State Archives responsible for heraldry issues for several decades.
The album is unique among the Scandinavian series, as it also contains the arms of Norwegian noble families, both historical and contemporary.
The luxury edition came in a cardboard cage and had one additional page with the Austrian National arms.
[10] The Polish album, "Herbarz Polski", was issued in 1932 by Kawa Hag, Warsaw.
[11] The album "Znaky Republiky Československé – Wappen der Tschechoslowakischen Republik" was issued around 1933.
The Regions are: Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Slovakia and Carpathorussia (sometimes called Ruthenia).
[12] The Swedish album, "Sveriges Rigsvapen, Landskaps- och Stadsvapen", was issued by Kaffe Hag AB in Stockholm in 1932.
The series were started in 1911 with the first album with Kantons und Stadtwappen (arms of Cantons and cities), numbered 1-80.
The 2nd album with arms of towns and villages (Stadt-und Dorfgemeinden, numbered 81–144) was also issued at the same time and same locations.
In 1923 the fourth album, named Stadt-und Dorfgemeinden (Serie C) was issued, and the numbering was started again with 1-48.
Arms were changed and updated due to recent grants, and the number of inhabitants was adjusted.
[14] Media related to Coffee Hag albums at Wikimedia Commons
