Peter Lynn ARCHIVE
Dear Kitefriends,
Before all I wish to thank you for sending me the Kite journal in which the
pictures of what you call "Worlds Oldest Kite".
I hope I can contribute some minor particularities about its discovery.
John Verheij and I are happy to learn about your trying to conserve and
expose this rare artefact.
First about the finder.
It was Cas Heeneman who took the kite to Gerard van der Loo. I thought to
know that he was the finder, but now he told me how it happened. The finder
was a carpenter repairing an old building in the town of Leiden. There he
found it opening an attic floor. Instead of discarding it, he remembered he
knew a kiteflier working for the some firm in the Hague. When he met him
there some time later, he gave it to Cas Heeneman, who recognized it as an
interesting historical object and offered it to Gerald van der Loo. This
happened in 1986.
John Verheij and I tried to find the building in Leiden where it has been
found. John will make a (photograph) picture which we will send later on.
Additional remarks!
We expect Cas Heeneman will like it to be mentioned in an article we intend
to write for the Dutch Kite magazine on this theme. In the end we thank him
the finding at all.
As a matter of fact we will mention the original source and the writer Ben
Ruhe.
We should like to translate some parts of your article in the Drachen
Foundation Journal. Therefore, we like to obtain the higher definition dates
of the four pictures in this article. Would you be so kind to send us these
electronic pictures. Copying the pictures out of the Kite Journal has
unsufficient resolution for reprinting on paper for our Journal.
E-mail address:
j.a.verheij@hetnet.nl
Harm van Veen, The Hague
Dear Peter,
We thank you for buying this kite and save it for history and publication.
By now we are not optimistic about the possibility of finding the exact
original occupant of the building.
Some facts:
The kite has been found not in The Hague but in the town of Leiden. This
happened in 1986 during the restoration of an old building (we try to find out
the century). The finder, a carpenter, was not aware of the exceptional
value of the kite and gave it to an acquaintence, he knew to be a kiteflier.
This acquaintence was Cas Heeneman in the Hague who
recognized the kite as a very old example and offered it to Gerard van der
Loo who appreciated it and had it framed behind glass in the Textile Museum
in Tilburg as you may know. We suppose that in Tilburg there was made some
restoration.
The text to be read on the tailpieces is likely to be Latin from an old
Psalmbook or Roman Catholic bible. It may be much older than the kite, but
the use of pages from an old book for this purpose is more likely in the
18th
than in the 19th century when there was plenty of cheaper paper for a kite
tail. (The handwritten date is an additional indication for that). (The
information in the last sentence is from Harm).
John Verheij and Harm van Veen.
Dear Peter,
We are glad to send you a picture of the building in which the old
peartop-kite has been found. The address is:
127 Breestraat 2301 CK Leiden.
Kind greetings,
John Verheij
Harm van Veen
