Catalogue information
This is most likely the first Dutch Stratego release. It was invented during the war years by a Jewish person in hiding, Mogendorff. The design of the game pieces, cardboard in wooden feet, is strongly reminiscent of the Monopoly editions from the war years 1941-1947 by Smeets & Schippers, who indeed had the first license from Mogendorff to be allowed to release the game, and is an indication that this game is from that time. Various sources point to a first publication date around 1947. However, I found an advertisement in the Leiden newspaper of December 20, 1946 in which the game Stratego is offered by the firm Wifrana in the Breestraat. This is also the earliest known date. features of this first edition: - the board has a WHITE linen back - the rules are made of MAT paper - the wooden feet of the pawns are rough, red and blue-green - the cardboard of the pawns are cut at the top ANGLED - The stuck plate on the lid shows the numbers K2507 and 14055 - the paper of the box is MATT These K-numbers were issued in the period 1942 to 1947. The number K2507 was assigned to "Smeets Drukkerijen" in Weert and can also be found on the Monopoly boxes from that time. The number 14055 is probably the article number for Stratego. Similar numbers are also found on other games by Smeets & Schippers (e.g. 14034 for Monopoly). At least 1 box is known of which the cloth spine is BLACK instead of white, while the other characteristics are identical. The first and third photo are from Rob de Jong.
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