An Oranjebeurs? I will try to explain what it is. A few times a year royal collectors in the Netherlands organize this event in various parts of the Netherlands: Buren, Wassenaar and Nijverdal. It is the place to be for collectors of royal euphemera and memorabilia: plates, cups, tins, postcards, photos, books, coins … just anything you can imagine. Usually the items are being sold by other collectors, like Royalty Twins, or the photographers of Royal Press Europe. But it is more than just a place to look for an addition to your calendar. You can easily hang around for hours, not only watching and buying the items that are being sold, but also meeting royalty watchers you don’t know yet, or don’t see too often. In Nijverdal there are three rooms with items. Organizer of this collectors market, that is usually being held in Nijverdal on the second Saturday in October, is Wilbert Slooijer, who is a collector himself. Usually there is also some press around, often curious why all these crazy people are so fond of the royal family. This year for example the local TV-channel RTV Oost was there and made a short but nice report. The event started at 10am and ended just after 3pm. Most visitors come in the morning though. Soup and bread available, in case you forgot to bring your own food.
Needless to say as usual I did buy a few items, even when I was not going to spend much money. I found some lovely old Norwegian and Danish yearbooks (late 1980s and 1990s), a few lovely photos, the newest postcards by Royal Press Europe and a few Wilhelmina Peppermint tins I didn’t have yet.
