Dutch, Flour Bag Seal, A.M. van Dusseldorp & Co, Vlaardingen

Dutch, Flour Bag Seal, A.M. van Dusseldorp & Co, Vlaardingen, Image & Found by Peter van Lierop.
Found in Doeveren, Netherlands, c 17mm, c 5.1g.

VLAARDINGEN, (AM) VAN DUSSELDORP EN Cº * around // Date - (August 1 & July)

See fabriekofiel, "In 1843 Johannes Dusseldorp came to Vlaardingen and bought the De Bonte Os mill on the corner of the Galgkade and Westhavenkade. He was a descendant of a family of millers from Noord-Brabant, the earliest mention of which dates back to 1688. Three years later, he handed over the mill to his sons Adrianus Martinus and Corstiaan Gerrit, who used it to peel barley, but especially rice. They delivered to customers throughout the Netherlands, which meant that production capacity was quickly insufficient. In order to meet all demand, construction of a second mill on the Westhavenkade was started in 1849: De Hoop. The ambition of the brothers became apparent two years later when they ordered the construction of a steam mill to be able to produce on windless days. Although the first steam engine was installed in Vlaardingen in 1846, it can nevertheless be concluded that it concerned two progressive entrepreneurs. The husk was built halfway between De Hoop and De Bonte Os and was given the name "De Rijsthalm" when it opened, because it was mainly this grain that was processed there. In order to maintain sufficient stock, an expansion followed in 1861 on the south side of the mill with a warehouse, called "De Leeuw". Both buildings are depicted on a silver tableau that the Dusseldorp brothers had made in 1868 on the occasion of the company's 25th anniversary. The company Gebroeders Dusseldorp was dissolved in 1872 when Adriaan Martinus decided to focus entirely on flour production. ... Soon, however, they managed to significantly increase production and build up a clientele of bakeries and bread factories that processed the fine wheat flour into luxury white bread. In order to meet the high demand, which even came from the Dutch East Indies, the need for expansion soon arose. Space was not a problem since the rice peeling mill and the warehouse had meanwhile become empty due to the death of Corstiaan and the subsequent closure of his company. They were a welcome storage space for A.M. Dusseldorp & Co, but then also offered space for machines. In 1879, for example, a drying installation and pressing machine were placed in the former rice husk to be able to condition and package the wheat flour for the Indies before shipping it. To increase production capacity, a second steam engine with accompanying steam boiler was installed. Developments in flour manufacturing reached a new phase in the 1890s with the emergence of the "high mill", the first examples of which had proven themselves in Hungary. They were equipped with mill seats instead of stones for even finer grinding and a pre-treatment section for thorough cleaning of the wheat. Stoommeelfabriek Holland in Amsterdam was the first in the Netherlands to switch over and Dusseldorp & Co did not want to be left behind. In addition to the placement of roller chairs, this opportunity was also taken to accommodate a grain silo within the building of the flour factory, for which an extra floor was added on the south side. This gave the building its characteristic shape that it still has today. However, there was no more room for the steam boilers and they therefore moved to the other side of the street that ran behind the factory. The changes on the Westhavenkade were not over yet. In 1885 the De Bonte Os windmill was stripped of its superstructure and became a warehouse. A year later, the foundation stone was laid for a new house for Piet van Dusseldorp. Shortly before the turn of the century, his brother Jan, co-partner since 1882, also chose to live close to the company and then had the Villa Becalotti built north of the factory, a name based on the names of his three daughters. After the death of founder Adriaan Martinus in 1887, his youngest son Arie also joined the company, which was doing well despite the increasing import of foreign wheat flour.
Ten years later, however, foreign competition, especially the cheap "patent flower" from Germany, started to cause concern. At that time, half of the processed wheat flour had come from across the border and the "van Dusseldorpen" saw no other answer to this than a reduction in cost price through economies of scale. Only this time Vlaardingen was no longer the appropriate location for logistical reasons to realize this, because the water of the Buitenhaven was not accessible to sea-going vessels. That was the case in the new Maashaven in Rotterdam and in 1912 the decision was made to start a large, new flour factory on the Brielsekade there. For the required capital, Jan, Piet and Arie van Dusseldorp founded the public limited company Stoommeelfabrieken De Maas v.h. A.M. Dusseldorp & Co. and together they formed the board of it. In the summer of 1914, the new factory, equipped with installations from Amme, Giesecke & Konegem from Braunschweig, was put into operation. The moment could not have been more unfavorable, however, as the outbreak of war led to a dramatic decline in wheat imports within months, and deliveries to bakeries and bread factories could no longer be met. To prevent excessive price rises for this basic necessity, the government intervened by freezing prices and distributing supplies among the manufacturers. During the course of the war, scarcity increased further, and "government bread" was made from unbuilt wheat, to which potato flour had to be added later on.
While these circumstances were already unfavorable for NV Stoommeelfabrieken De Maas, the emergence of a new domestic player in the wheat flour market was added to that. It concerned the Cooperative Association "First Dutch Cooperative Flour Factories" that had been set up with money from the bakeries. Its corporate structure changed in 1916 into a public limited company in which bakers could buy shares: NV Meelfabrieken der Nederlandsche Bakkerij, Meneba for short. When after the war the market conditions only slowly improved and there was no prospect of a favorable exploitation of both flour factories, the Van Dusseldorp brothers decided to enter into talks with their new competitor Meneba. In 1919 they reached an agreement on the sale of the flour factory in Rotterdam for four million guilders to Meneba, which also meant that the remaining factory in Vlaardingen was no longer allowed to produce wheat flour. With that, the role of the Van Dusseldorps in the large milling business was definitely over."