1935 Silver Jubilee.

Silver Jubilee of King George V.

Victoria          Edward VII          George V          Edward VIII           George VI           Elizabeth II.

        When doing a post on a 1935 issue, I begin with a 1990 miniature sheet. "Why?" You maybe asking. Well my goal is first to give you the background story of the Royal Family before we focus in the George V Silver Jubilee issue. What better way to do it than this miniature sheet.
        After the very long and successful reign of his mother Queen Victoria, Edward VII came to the throne. Already being an old man, his reign didn't last long before he was succeeded by his son, George V. Three of the George V Definitives can be seen below.

                               

George V Definitives. (Three Examples)

        George V had a long reign, even getting to celebrate his Silver Jubilee as we will see below, before he was followed by his sons. First the elder Edward VIII who, soon after ascending to the throne, ran off with his American girlfriend. The younger brother George VI was now in line for the throne. He turned out to be a very sickly man and died young, leaving the throne to his elder daughter Elizabeth.
        Now history is repeating itself again, with Queen Elizabeth II reign continuing her eldest son, Charles getting older. It is looking like, after a short reign by Charles, his son William is set for a longer reign. 

       Now we get to the Silver Jubilee Issue of 1935. Since the older George V Definitives (1915) needed replacing, a special Silver Jubilee Definitive Issue was considered but dropped in favour of a more popular pictorial issue (See 1935 Pictorials.)  
       It was still considered important that the Royal Jubilee was celebrated in some way so the well known designer, Mr James Berry was originally invited to complete a design which incorporated sketches of the Royal couple together with the Southern Cross.  The final design however depicted an image of the King and Queen taken from a series of photographs taken to commemorate the Jubilee.  His Majesty personally approved the proof and requested that the original working drawing should be mounted in his collection. This item can still be found in the Royal Stamp Collection today.
       The recess printed stamps commemorating the Silver Jubilee of King George V were issued on 7 May 1935. They show George V and Queen Mary. The plates were produced by Bradbury Wilkinson who also printed the stamps in London.

  

Silver Jubilee - 1d Red.                                              Silver Jubilee - 6d Orange.

Silver Jubilee - ½d Green.

The Silver Jubilee First Day Cover - 7th May, 1935.

This is a very poor example, being dirty and stained with the lower portion covered by a mounting strip. It was sent locally in Wellington

via Registered Mail, note the R Sticker bottom centre.

1935 Silver Jubilee small First Day Cover, used Auckland 7/5/1935. Notice the typed address. I believe this is unusual because most covers I've seen have hand written address which are often almost impossible to read.

1935 Silver Jubilee Reg Cover, a lovely example but not a First Day Cover. The hand written address can be easily read, the Reg sticker is clearly seen but the postal cancels could have been clearer. It was sent from Wellington to Lower Hutt on 5/6/1935.

        Not long after this issue, King George V died on 20th January, 1936. His elder son Edward VIII came to the throne for a short reign before abdicating in favour of his younger brother George VI.
        New Zealand never issued any Edward VIII stamps although other countries in the British Empire did. Only the 1936 ANZAC and 1936 Commerce were issued during the short reign of Edward VIII.

Technical information:

Date of Issue:	7 May 1935
Designers:	J Berry, Wellington
Printers:	Bradbury Wilkinson, England
Stamp Size:	40mm x 22mm
Sheet Size:	120 stamps per sheet
Process:	Recess printed - Intaglio
Perforation Gauge:	11 x 11.5
Paper Type:	Wiggins Teape 'Esparto',  NZ and star watermark

The total numbers issued were:  ½d: 4,800,000
                                                         1d: 8,400,000
                                                         6d: 320,000
     

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

You can visit their web site and On-line Catalogue at, http://stampsnz.com/