1906 Christchurch Exhibition.

         This issue commemorated the New Zealand International Exhibition of Arts and Industries which was held in North Hagley Park, Christchurch, between November 1906 and April 1907. It was the first set with large stamps to be designed, engraved and printed entirely within New Zealand.
        This was also the first commemorative stamp set issued in New Zealand. The stamps were only on sale for the duration of the exhibition and could only be bought from the post office at the exhibition. One-third of the revenue from stamp sale went to the organisers.

 

½d - Arrival of the Arawa Canoe.                                       1d - Maori Canoe Carving.

The halfpenny green stamp depicts the arrival in Aotearoa of the Arawa canoe. Te Arawa is a confederation of Maori iwi and hapu (tribes and sub-tribes). The history of the Te Arawa people is inextricably linked to the Arawa canoe. In Maori tradition, Arawa was one of the great ocean-going, voyaging canoes that were used in the migrations that settled New Zealand. It was formed from a great tree in Rarotonga.

An index on stamps with a Maori theme New Zealand Maori.

The one penny red stamp shows the prow of a Maori canoe being carved inside a Marae by a group of Maori craftsmen. When it is considered that the Maori did not process metal tools and relied upon stone and bone, the intricacy and beauty of the wood carving that was produced is incredible. (See 1d Claret below)

 

           3d - Captain Cook's Landing.                           6d - Flag / Annexation of New Zealand.

The dual colour three penny stamp depicts the landing of Captain Cook on his first voyage to New Zealand at Poverty Bay on the east coast of the North Island on the 7th of October 1769. This first meeting led to the deaths of six local Maori during skirmishes with the crew, due to a misinterpretation of the traditional Maori challenge. Cook was unable to gain many of the provisions he and his crew needed at the bay, and for this reason, gave it its name.

See our collection of Capt. Cook stamps - Captain Cook Stamps of New Zealand.

The dual colour six-penny stamp depicts the annexation of New Zealand on the 30th of January 1840. Governor Hobson read his Proclamations which were the beginnings of the Treaty of Waitangi in the presence of a number of settlers and the Maori chief, Moka 'Kainga-mataa'. A document confirming what had happened was signed at this time by around forty witnesses; including Moka, the only Maori signatory.

1d - Vermilion.                                                                                      1d - Claret.

There is considerable controversy over the one penny claret stamp. The exhibition organisers were not happy with the claret colour and ordered that the stamps be reprinted in a brighter red at their expense. The original stamps were destroyed except for one sheet which went to the Postmaster-General, one to exhibition organisers and 14 which were retained by the Post and Telegraph department.

According to legend, one sheet got mixed up with the new stamps and was sold over the counter at the Post Office. The Post Office accounts, however, do not record any sales of the claret stamp and while there are several mint copies of the stamp in circulation, the only used copies known to exist appear to have been cancelled five days after the exhibition post office had closed. Indeed, three of the stamps are on a cover addressed to the secretary of the exhibition committee.

These are very rare and copies of the 1d Claret are said to have been sold for up to $40,000.00.

 

Two examples of the claret mentioned in one of the comments below as having been sold in auction by Mowbray. Both have a nice sharp Christchurch Exhibition cancel as well which shows the date 20th April, five days after the exhibition closed.

What an amazing find this is. The cover addressed to the secretary of the exhibition committee mention above that carries three copies of the 1d Claret.

(Thanks for the links sent via a comment below)

Errors.

1906 Christchurch Exhibition 6d offset.

2005 150 Years of Stamps.

A copy of the 1d Claret was shown in the 2nd instalment of the 2006 150 Years of Stamps series. I'm not sure why a stamp that was never supposed to have been released should make the list of New Zealand's top stamps.

Kiwipex 2006 Cals.

            

 Copies of the 1906 Christchurch Exhibition issue, including the 1d Claret, were shown on CALs (Custom Advertising Labels) issued to promote KIWIPEX 2006.

See our post  -  2005 - 2009 Stamp Exhibitions.

      

The Christchurch Exhibition.

An Exhibition Set on cover dated 17/12/1906. Very good example of the special cancel used by the Post Office established inside the Exhibition.

Here is a most unusual Christchurch Exhibition postal item. It a leather shoe shaped novelty postcard, personalised at Exhibition, used with 1d Exhibition Stamp at Exhibition Post Office on 4/1/1907.

          The New Zealand International Exhibition was held in Christchurch from 1 November 1906 to 15 April 1907. It was the brainchild of Richard Seddon, Premier of New Zealand from 1893 until his death on 10 June 1906, just a few months before the Exhibition opened.  

          The Exhibition was government subsidised and no expense was spared in turning Hagley Park into the Exhibition Area. Large wooden buildings were constructed solely for the exhibition and were dismantled afterwards. The Exhibition buildings were at the time the largest structure ever erected in New Zealand. Some 14 acres (5.7 hectares), a floor space of 476,500 square feet (44,315 square metres), was undercover, including the Main Building, the Machinery Hall, the Fernery, the Art Gallery and the Concert Hall.

          The space available for exhibitors was about 300,000 square feet (27,900 square metres), which was charged out at between 2 shillings and 2 shillings and sixpence per square foot. Those exhibits that weren’t housed inside were situated in Hagley Park.

          The total cost of the building project was around £97,000, including over £9000 for lighting and gas (supplied by the Christchurch Gas Company and Scott Bros.), £900 for water and sewerage and nearly £3000 for lavatories. Between 150 and 200 men worked on the buildings at different times. 

          Despite the substantial financial loss incurred by the Exhibition, it was deemed to be a success. With nearly 2 million visitors, attendance exceeded expectations - New Zealand's total population at the time was less than 1 million.

     The Main building.                                                                Gateway to the large Maori Pa. 

Technical information.

Date of issue: 1 November 1906.

Designers: L J Steel, Auckland.

Printers: Government Printing Office, New Zealand.

Stamp size: 40mm x 24mm.

Sheet size: 60 stamps per sheet, in 2 panes of 30.

Process: Surface printed - Typography.

Perforation gauge: 14.

Paper type: Cowan, NZ and star watermark.

Some of the images in this post were used with permission from the illustrated catalogue of StampsNZ

You can visit their website and Online Catalogue at, http://stampsnz.com/

Information & images for this post came from.

New Zealand Post (Stamps)