3d - Road Safety.
This special stamp issue was made in support of National Accident Free Day as part of a road safety campaign. The stamp depicts a map of New Zealand with a road, divided by a dotted white line, from Bluff to the North Cape, symbolic of State Highway 1. On the left of the stamp a driver's hand firmly grasps a steering wheel.
Unfortunately this design required the blue and yellow to match exactly all around the coast of the North Island. In many cases this didn't happen as can be seen in the two examples below. Over the years there have been many of these cases involving stamps that required exact printing like this. Then in the interests of cost saving, cheaper printing methods are chosen with the resulting higher number of errors. Good for stamp collectors though!
Unfortunately this design required the blue and yellow to match exactly all around the coast of the North Island. In many cases this didn't happen as can be seen in the two examples below. Over the years there have been many of these cases involving stamps that required exact printing like this. Then in the interests of cost saving, cheaper printing methods are chosen with the resulting higher number of errors. Good for stamp collectors though!
Left-hand Stamp - 1964 3d Road Safety stamp showing yellow shift upwards. This can best be seen around the top of the island where the yellow overlays the blue creating a green strip.
Right-hand Stamp - 1964 Road Safety stamp showing a blue shift, notice white surf around the top of New Zealand.
On the left is a 3d Road Safety with the Apostrophe Flaw, a mark that appears between the two words that make up 'New Zealand'.
The flaw is harder to see since it is a used example, so on the right we have shown a detail from an unused stamp.
1964 3d Road Safety, a double error, apostrophe Flaw plus perforation shift.
This FDC cover, posted in Mount Albert, Auckland shows one of the special covers
designed for this issue which appeared on the 1st of May.
The second First Day Cover show a similar design to that shown on the stamp.
This cover almost didn't make it onto this page, my concern, the date is impossible
to read. My first question was, "Is this really a FDC."
Now we move to the first cover again and view a cover sent to Zurich Switzerland. Again the cancelations are a concern as they appear very faint. I have included enlarged views as proof that this is in fact a First Day Cover.
Technical Information:-
Date of Issue:
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1 May 1964
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|---|---|
Designers:
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L C Mitchell, Wellington
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Printers:
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Harrison and Sons, England
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Stamp Size:
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41mm x 24.5mm
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Sheet Size:
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120 stamps per sheet
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Process:
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Photogravure
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| Perforation Gauge: |
14.75 x 14.25
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Paper Type:
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Guard Bridge, chalk surfaced, multiple NZ and star watermark
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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/
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