Great Barrier Pigeon Post.

        Great Barrier Island is the largest island in the Hauraki Gulf, laying only 65 miles (105Km) from Auckland City. The island can be seen from Auckland on a clear day, it is that close, but back in the 1800s, it was isolated with no communication other than by sea with an irregular ship service. When in 1894, the Northern Steamship Company's ship SS Wairarapa hit the northern end of the island with the loss of 121 lives, the news took several days to reach Auckland. It highlighted the need for better communication between the island and the mainland. See our post Wreck of the Wairarapa.

       The Great Barrier Pigeongram Agency was created in early 1897 with a purpose of providing a mail service using pigeons. The letters carried, known as flimsies, were written on extremely lightweight paper. A few months later, on 14th May 1897, a rival pigeon mail service was established under the name of The Original Great Barrier Pigeongram Service. The two companies, commonly known as the 'Agency' and the 'Service', competed with each other until 1908 when a telephone cable was laid between the island and the mainland. 

2009 ANZAC II - Comrades in Arms.

        
        2009 saw the issue of the second yearly ANZAC issue by New Zealand Post. This issue showed scenes from each of the major wars New Zealand has been involved in. The theme of Comrades in Arms was shown in pictures of men facing and hardships and dangers of war together.

        The first stamp shows a typical ANZAC Day scene where soldiers carry the coffin of the Unknown Warrior so those who died, but whose bodies were never recovered or identified, are remembered. To many whose loved one was never found this is one of the few links they have.

       The format followed the 2008 issue by showing a sepia photo with the silver writing and red poppy. The words "Lest we forget" were also included too. I actually like this design better because the words "Lest we forget" were very hard to see in the 2009 ANZAC issue.

2008 ANZAC I Stories of Nationhood.

         In 2008 New Zealand began what has become a regular issue on a military theme for ANZAC Day. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, the combined army group which had hastily be put together by the two countries and sent to join the fighting in World War I. The first action was the ill-fated landing at what is now known as ANZAC Cove, Gallipoli.

        Both countries now remember this landing, in which many brave young men lost their lives, by putting aside the 25th of April each year to hold special parades and services. The day is also remembered by the wearing of a red poppy, as can be scene on each the stamps below.

        There have been other military sets issued before this one for ANZAC and for special military anniversaries but this issue is different in that it was to become the start of a yearly issue for ANZAC. Over the years younger people, people who had been born many years after the two world wars, have begun attending these services in ever greater numbers. So as the ranks of a veterans have thinned with the now old men passing away the crowds of young people have increased. New Zealand Post now recognises this with a regular ANZAC issue.

        The stamps are a simple, yet effective design, with a background picture in sepia, a red poppy and writing and the silver fern in silver. Each stamp also carries that famous slogan of ANZAC Day "Lest we forget."     

(To see my entire Military / Anzac collection, click on either link in the page bar above.)

50th Post - 1991 Feel Good Stamps.

         For sometime now I have been wondering what I could do for my 50th post in this blog. I have covered some interesting issues over a wide range of topics so I though I needed something a bit different. Then I found these two issues.
         In 1991 NZ Post issued two sets which I am calling "Feel Good Stamps." One was for birthday cards and greetings and carried the words "Happy Birthday" on each stamp. The other for more general greetings carried the words "Thinking of You." They were issued in booklets holding five different 40c stamps.
         So lets have a party!!!

Happy Birthday!

15th May, 1991  Happy Birthday - 40c

1970s Vintage Transport Series.

       During the mid 1970s New Zealand issued a yearly set of stamp featuring vintage transport. I think it might be better if we view these sets in one group rather than individual issues.  I have combined these issues to make and interesting series of 30 stamps depicting the development of early transport in New Zealand. Maybe one day I might return to view each issue in greater detail.

   

See the 1984 - 1986 Vintage Transport Issues.

1855 Full Faced Queens - Part Four.

Definitives Tour.  

Forward to 1973 Newspaper Stamp.

Links:- Full-Faced Queens.
          1855 Full-Faced Queens - Part One.
                    A basic introduction to the Full Faced Queens issues. 
          1855 Full-Faced Queens - Part Two.
                    Looking at factors effecting the condition and value of Classic Stamps. 
          1855 Full-Faced Queens - Part Three.
                    A collection of covers from before and using Full Faced Queen stamps. 
          1855 Full-Faced Queens - Part Four.
                    Modern use of the Full Faced Queen design.

        This is the last post in my series on Full-Faced Queens, New Zealand's first postal stamp issue.
        Over the years the Full-Face Queen design has been reused a number of times as New Zealand has marked various anniversaries since their first issue. They have appeared, either as copies of the original stamps or with the design updated with more modern content.

1955 Centennial of Postage Stamps in New Zealand.
        There were three stamps in this issue but we are only interested in the 4d value in this post.  In this case the original design was updated with a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II instead of Queen Victoria. Since New Zealand was still using the old Sterling currency the value could still be written as "THREE PENCE" rather than the more common 3d.

Queen Elizabeth II - 3d

For the other stamps in this issue see my posts

1955 Stamp Centenary. 

2005 - 150 Years of New Zealand Stamps.

1985 - 93 Native Birds Definitives.

Definitives Tour.

Back to 1982 - 1985 Definitives.                              Forward to 1991 Butterfly Definitives.

         The Native Bird definitives issued during the late 1980s and early 1990s proves to be a confusing issue to lay out in an album or catalogue because it was issued over eight years on eleven different issue dates. Most dealers seem to place them in two sets with some extras after that but I've decided to lay them out as they were issued. This actually turned into an interesting exercise finding these dates then placing the stamps accordingly. 

         I have been unable to get a clear explanation as to why this set was issued in stages. The best reason I can think is that they were released as stocks of the older definitive series ran out.  
         Since this was one of our very early posts, in October 2017 we returned to this page to bring it up to the standard of our more recent posts. Descriptions were added for each bird and First Day Covers were added for each issue. During this process, we discovered we had missed a couple of issues which were also added.  

24th April 1985.

                               

    Kokako (Callaeas cinerea) - $1.00.                                  Black Robin (Petroica Traversi) - $2.

The first two values to be issued were the $1 and $2. These featured two rarer birds on a larger format stamp. 

(See the PhilexFrance '89 Miniature Sheet further down in 1989 which features colour separations of the $2 stamp.)