--- title: Bees for Sale: Photos From a Busy Bee Market in the Netherlands, 1956 description: LIFE celebrates the at-once humble and remarkable bee by transporting readers back six decades, to a bustling bee market in the Netherlands. canonical: https://time.com/3877078/bees-for-sale-photos-from-a-busy-bee-market-in-the-netherlands-1956/ author: Liz Ronk article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-05-17T00:59:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:52.421Z og:title: Bees for Sale: Photos From a Busy Bee Market in the Netherlands, 1956 og:description: LIFE celebrates the at-once humble and remarkable bee by transporting readers back six decades, to a bustling bee market in the Netherlands. og:url: https://time.com/3877078/bees-for-sale-photos-from-a-busy-bee-market-in-the-netherlands-1956/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt491cc23711680ac2/69884a0c55a85900d3a8b587/02_113318544.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Dutch Bee Market, 1956 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bees for Sale: Photos From a Busy Bee Market in the Netherlands, 1956 twitter:description: LIFE celebrates the at-once humble and remarkable bee by transporting readers back six decades, to a bustling bee market in the Netherlands. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt491cc23711680ac2/69884a0c55a85900d3a8b587/02_113318544.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Buzz Thrill: LIFE Goes to a Bee Market by [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) ## Liz Ronk May 17, 2013 12:59 AM UTC  Prospective buyer at bee market, Veenendaal, Netherlands, 1956. Prospective buyer at bee market, Veenendaal, Netherlands, 1956.Thomas D. McAvoy—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) ## Liz Ronk May 17, 2013 12:59 AM UTC A recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on the still-mysterious and, frankly, frightening phenomenon known as [Colony-Collapse Disorder](http://science.time.com/2013/05/07/beepocalypse-redux-honey-bees-are-still-dying-and-we-still-dont-know-why/) — the massive die-off of honeybees throughout the U.S. — has cast a worrying light on the health of our small, busy friends. After all, a world without bees, nature’s premier pollinators, would be a dreary, depleted place for us humans. (Not to mention for the bees.) Here, LIFE.com celebrates the at-once humble and remarkable bee by transporting our readers back six decades, to a bustling bee market in the Netherlands. At the annual bee market at Veenendaal — “the biggest in Europe,” according to LIFE (August 1956) — beekeepers and prospective buyers of bees go through the ancient motions seen at markets the world over, for countless centuries: purchasers considering the wares, haggling over prices, considering the wares again … and eventually, a sale, with (relatively) happy faces all around. As for the striking first image in this gallery, LIFE explained that beekeeper Gerrit Norssleman “wore the hood to protect his face and eyes from the swarms, had the pipe because its smoke calmed the bees and kept them at a safe distance. His hands, tougher than the sensitive area of his face, were bare so he could handle his bees dexterously without crushing them.” If only the most dire peril facing bees today was the not-so-dexterous hands of their keepers! Something worth remembering the next time you bite into a peach, a strawberry, an apple, a pear — anything that grows with the quiet, restless, diligent help of the irreplaceable bee.  "Beekeeper's hood is made of heavy cotton cloth riveted to screen with a small aperture for pipe." Thomas D. McAvoy—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Prospective buyer at bee market, Veenendaal, Netherlands, 1956. Thomas D. McAvoy—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Bees at market, Veenendaal, Netherlands, 1956. Thomas D. McAvoy—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  "Exhibiting bees, beekeeper holds up open end of hive. Maskless man in center is a judge. Prize of five guilders ($1.30) is awarded best hive at sale." Thomas D. McAvoy—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Bee market, Veenendaal, Netherlands, 1956. Thomas D. McAvoy—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  "Inspecting hives, prospective buyers look warily at bees. Bees, which are sold for around $3 a hive, are bought for pollination and honey-making." Thomas D. McAvoy—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Bee market, Veenendaal, Netherlands, 1956. Thomas D. McAvoy—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Beekeepers at bee market, Veenendaal, Netherlands, 1956. Thomas D. McAvoy—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  "Concluding sale with ritualistic handshake, beekeeper and customer smack hands together hard, first in high position, then in lower, repeating." Thomas D. McAvoy—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Bee skeps at bee market, Veenendaal, Netherlands, 1956. Thomas D. McAvoy—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Bee market, Veenendaal, Netherlands, 1956. Thomas D. McAvoy—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Bee market, Veenendaal, Netherlands, 1956. Thomas D. McAvoy—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Beekeeper at bee market, Veenendaal, Netherlands, 1956. Thomas D. McAvoy—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3877078/bees-for-sale-photos-from-a-busy-bee-market-in-the-netherlands-1956/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3877078/bees-for-sale-photos-from-a-busy-bee-market-in-the-netherlands-1956/"},"headline":"Buzz Thrill: LIFE Goes to a Bee Market","datePublished":"2013-05-17T00:59:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:52.421Z","description":"LIFE.com celebrates the at-once humble and remarkable bee by transporting readers back six decades, to a bustling bee market in the Netherlands.","url":"https://time.com/3877078/bees-for-sale-photos-from-a-busy-bee-market-in-the-netherlands-1956/","keywords":["animals","Bees","black and white photography","1956"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt491cc23711680ac2/69884a0c55a85900d3a8b587/02_113318544.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Liz Ronk","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt491cc23711680ac2/69884a0c55a85900d3a8b587/02_113318544.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Dutch Bee Market, 1956","caption":"Prospective buyer at bee market, Veenendaal, Netherlands, 1956.","creditText":"Thomas D. McAvoy—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3877078/bees-for-sale-photos-from-a-busy-bee-market-in-the-netherlands-1956/","name":"Buzz Thrill: LIFE Goes to a Bee Market"}}]}] ```