2015 - The Spirit of ANZAC 1915

World War I Commemorative Book Series.

Back to 2014 For King and Empire - 1914.

Forward to 2016 Courage & Commitment - 1916.

        This issue follows on from the one issued in 2014 called "1914 For King and Empire." That first issue saw the beginning of World War I and the sending of troops to fight overseas. Now a year later we find the New Zealanders fighting in Gallipoli, along side soldiers from Australia. Over the next three years, there will be three more issues as we follow the story of New Zealand's involvement in the war.
        
         NZ Post says on their web site:
In 1915 New Zealand’s role in the First World War reached a new level. In near-impossible conditions, the New Zealand Expeditionary Force took part in the Gallipoli campaign alongside our Australian neighbours. The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was formed and the spirit of Anzac lives on today.

        That is where the word 'ANZAC' comes from, little known in other parts of the world but so famous in Australia and New Zealand. Ever since they fought together in Gillipoli there has been a close relationship between the two countries. More recently a closer bond has been formed with Turkey as well.  In 1998 New Zealand and Turkey did a joint issue '1998 Memorial Statues - Joint Issue with Turkey.' You can find this in our collection, Military/ANZAC Part One.

2004 - Landscapes of Middle-Earth.

         Following the success of three Lord of the Rings stamp issues celebrating the three movies, NZ Post decided to issue one further series in 2004 featuring landscapes of Middle-Earth. The set of eight stamps depicted 4 different landscapes each as they appeared in the trilogy and as they appear today.  The locations are given below the stamps.

        Three movies filmed at the same time then edited and released over the space of three years, This was an amazing achievement for New Zealand. Even more so was the exposure it gave our country. Many people saw scenes of New Zealand for the first time. Many saw how beautiful the country was and decided to see it for themselves. A sub-tourism industry has grown up around has grown up around locations where the filming took place. Of course, everyone immediately thinks of Hobbiton near Matamata but there are many other locations around New Zealand as well. These stamps only show four of them which hardly does justice to the subject.  

1981 Government Life Insurance Office Lighthouses.

   Back to 1969 Lighthouses.                Government Life Insurance - Summary. 

        Special stamps for use solely by the Government Life Insurance Office were first issued in 1891, a lighthouse being incorporated into each stamp design. Over the years other issues continued this theme with both symbolic and actual lighthouses being shown.

        The inclusion of a stylised lighthouse on the 1981 Government Life stamp issue continued this theme that had always appeared on Government Life stamps since their inception.

         This would prove to be the final stamps issued by the Government Life Office as their postage stamps were discontinued in 1987 when Government Life Insurance became Tower Corporation. The symbol of a tower (lighthouse) was continued by the new company by their postage stamps were dropped. As can be seen below, Tower Corporation retained a large collection of stamps and other items related to Government Life Stamps.

Special Posts.

        There are some posts within this blog that must be considered special either because:-
                   1)  They feature a special or unique subject or event.
                   2)  They contain a very rare or unusual item. 
                   3)  A lot of effort and work has gone into the post.

       We have decided to list (max 25) of these posts on this page so they can be easily found and viewed. To make it onto this list, a post must be selected by one of the five writers involved in creating this blog, then voted in by all five of us. Just because it makes the list does not mean it will always stay there either.
      They are numbered but not listed in any particular order other than when they were selected for this list. While most of these posts have been published by either Mary or Allan, that doesn't mean the work of other writers couldn't be selected too. It just reflects the fact that posts on most of the more challenging subjects are untaken by these two writers.

1969 Lighthouses - Centenary of Government Life Insurance

Government Life Insurance - Summary. 

Back to 1967 Lighthouses.                         Forward to 1981 Lighthouses.



          1969 was the centenary of the founding of the Government Life Insurance Office and a new series of stamps was issued to mark this occasion. Lighthouses, the symbol of the New Zealand Government Life Insurance Department, was again the subjects depicted on the stamps. You will be able to find all of these lighthouses on the map further down this page.

         Five of the stamps on the right, ½c; 2½c; 3c; 4; 15c; were issued at this time. Like the 1947 issue, the featured real lighthouses from the coasts around New Zealand. I have added photographs of each of these lighthouses and a map so you can find their locations

          Due to changes in postal demands, in 1976 the 8c and 10c were added to the set. Two years later, in 1978, the 2½c was overprinted with 25c.

2004 - 2006 Tourism Definitives.

Definitives Tour.

Back to 2003 Scenic Definitives                 Forward to 2007 Scenic Definitives.

       These two issues are included in the Scenic Definitive section of Campbell Patterson's Catalogue but to me they seem like they should be separate. They were put like that in the catalogue because they appear as a similar design to the definitives around that time, but I think that the fact they are marketed and named as stamps celebrating New Zealand Tourism means they should be treated as being different.
        So what I have decided to do is to include them in my Scenic Definitive Series but place them both in their own post. In this way I think I've covered both options.

2004 Tourism Issue.
Tourism is an important industry in New Zealand. I lot of money and effort is spent promoting this country as a tourist destination. Doing a set of stamps helps too, particularly when the stamps are sent overseas. This is the first of two issues, each showing six different scenes of tourist locations around New Zealand.


$1.50 - Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown.

2015 ICC Cricket World Cup.

         The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 is one of the world’s biggest international sporting events. In 2015 the tournament will be jointly hosted by New Zealand and Australia, and is expected to attract cricket fans from around the world. 

        To mark this big event, NZ Post issued a special miniature sheet featuring fourteen adhesive stamps and two First Day Covers, showing seven stamps each.

        This set of stamps consists of fourteen, cricket ball-shaped, self-adhesive stamps – one for each team competing in the ICC Cricket World Cup: New Zealand, Sri Lanka, England, Australia, Scotland, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, South Africa, Zimbabwe, India, Pakistan, West Indies, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates. Each stamp features team colours and imagery, as well as the official ICC Cricket World Cup logo.
        
       All these stamps show the office flag of their country except one. The reason a shamrock is shown on the Ireland ICC Cricket World Cup stamp rather than the Irish Tricolour flag is that the Ireland team was a joint team comprising players from the Republic of Eire and Northern Ireland.

1967 Government Life Insurance Decimal Overprints

   Government Life Insurance - Summary.

Back to 1947 Lighthouses.                         Forward to 1969 Lighthouses.

           Due to the change to decimal currency on 10 July 1967, a quantity of the 1947 Government Life stamp issue was overprinted by the New Zealand Government Printer with decimal values to ensure there would be enough stock to last through until 1969 when a new set of stamps was planned. Additional supplies were also ordered from Bradbury Wilkinson and Co.

           Only six of the original set were overprinted, with either a block spot or bars to cover the old value, with the new decimal value being added elsewhere in the design. I think this left a rather scruffy appearance, made even worse by a large number of printing errors that have been found.

           This set was one of the reasons why we have taken so long to include the lighthouse stamps in this blog because we struggled to find images good enough to be used. Even these below are not as good as we would have liked but they will do until we find better to use. Anyway, the history of the Government Life Insurance stamps is an important part of New Zealand's postal heritage so they need to be included in this blog.

2003 Scenic Definitives.

Definitives Tour.

Back to 2000 Scenic Definitives.                     Forward to 2004 - 2006 Tourism Definitives.

       The 2003 Scenic Definitive issue consisted five gummed stamps and one in adhesive format. They were an add-on to those issued in 2000. Again scenes were selected were from various parts of New Zealand. The issue included a limited edition with silver foil in the NZ Post silver fern logo. Lower down under 2004 we have two further designs and three changed to adhesives.

          

50c - Ailsa Mountains.                                   $1.00 - Coromandel.

1947 Government Life Insurance Lighthouses

Government Life Insurance - Summary.

Back to 1913 Lighthouses.                         Forward to 1967 Lighthouses.

                

    1891 with 'VR.'                                                 1913 without 'VR.'

          When special stamps for use by the Government Life Insurance Office were first issued in 1891, a lighthouse was incorporated into the original design, the lighthouse being the emblem of the Life Insurance Office. The original design also carried the letters "V R" after the reigning Queen Victoria. Later issues of this design had the VR removed. Examples of these plus links to my pages on each of these are shown above.

         In 1947 the old style Government Life Insurance stamps were replaced with a new series showing actual lighthouses. There were eventually eight stamps in this set. Seven were issued in 1947 and another one issued in 1963. These stamps used an effective two colour design to produce an attractive, and for its day, very modern appearance. Some of them also showed that light beam as had been a feature of the earlier Life Insurance stamps.

        These first stamps were issued in the name of the Government Life Insurance Department, but under provisions of the Government Life Insurance Act, 1953, the name was altered to Government Life Insurance Office.  The first stamp appearing under the new name was the 2 1/2d "Cape Campbell" issued on 4 November 1963.

1968 - Trade Definitives.

         This is the third of a series of three that I am doing on the Agriculture Industries of New Zealand. In the first one, the 1936 Chamber of Commerce, we looking at the four major export industries of the 1930s. Of course these were primary industries, mainly farming of sheep and cattle.

1936 Chamber of Commerce.

1968 - 1969 Trade Definitives.

        Now I find this set of Trade Definitives has a lot in common with that earlier set. The wool, the meat and dairy are back again. So is the apples and the general theme of export industries. But now fishing and timber has been added too. I have included both sets above for comparison.
        Of course these stamps have a more modern appearance, using colour and photographs to deliver their message. The idea of the insert is there again too, but this time a lot bigger, taking almost a third of the stamp.

Mitre Peak, Milford Sound.

Hi! My name is Asami.
        You may not have noticed but I have been doing a lot of work on this blog. I maintain the Health Stamp pages above because they contain internal links that can get rewritten by BlogSpot. I have also created that large index system that many of you are now using. Now I have been asked to do some thematic collections, collections of stamps with a similar theme.

        Recently Allan wrote that he thought there were five stamps showing that famous landmark, Mitre Peak, Milford Sound. I actually found 10 stamps so today I will be putting them into this collection for you.

First the subject of this post - Mitre Peak.
       Part of the reason for its being so famous is its location. Sitting across from the main Milford Sound tourist centres, it is a stunning sight rising near vertically to 5,560 feet (1,690 m), i.e. just over a mile, from the water of the sound. It is said to extend further under the water making the mountain much higher than its officially recorded height. The peak is actually a closely grouped set of five peaks, although from most easily accessible viewpoints it appears as a single point.
       The distinctive shape of the peak gives the mountain its name, after the mitre headwear of Christian bishops. It was named by Captain John Lort Stokes of the HMS Acheron. The Māori name for the peak is Rahotu.