Some places stay with you from the very beginning. De Posthumus Winkel is one of those for me.
It was one of the first shops I stumbled into during my first year in Amsterdam, back when I was still getting used to the city and letting myself wander without much of a plan. I remember turning off Kalverstraat, the busy, overwhelming shopping street, and suddenly finding myself on a much quieter side street. And there it was: a small shop window that hinted at something older, slower, and far more interesting for me than anything around it.
De Posthumus Winkel has been here since 1865, and you feel that history the moment you step inside. The shop is compact, but dense in the best possible way. Every surface seems to hold something interesting, something that captures your attention.
It’s a specialty store for stamps and stationery whose collection of hobby stamps for card making is one of the largest in Europe. You will find here: company stamps (with logo and text), wax seals (logo or monogram), official stamps (notary stamps), embossing stamps (creates relief in paper), branding stamps (for wood and leather), leather stamps (our own patent), ceramic stamps (for pottery, clay, soap, or dough), chocolate stamps, and ice stamps (for use in ice cubes). There are notebooks, and Italian papers, elegant envelopes, cards you almost don’t want to write on because they’re so beautifully made. Old-school writing sets with feather dip pens (so beautiful!) and bottles of ink that make you feel like letter writing could once again become part of daily life, rather than something reserved for special occasions.
If you’re into crafting, this place can easily steal an hour of your time. My favourite corner in the shop is the famous Wall of Wax, a wall filled with ready-made wax seals featuring symbols and initials (single letters) and a wide variety of wooden handles. It’s strangely beautiful, like a visual archive of communication before emails and instant messages.
What I love most about De Posthumus Winkel is that you don’t come here with a strict shopping list. You browse, you touch, you imagine. You think about writing a letter, sealing an envelope, making something that will be kept rather than quickly consumed.
I’m so glad that this shop is still thriving, in a city that’s constantly changing. It stays there as a reminder that there’s still space for craftsmanship, for analogue rituals, for objects made to last.
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