1970 Commemorative Issues

         Through the late 1960s and early 1970s there were a number of commemorative issues but during that time period the practice was to issue them as separate times. It was only later during the 1970s that these smaller issues began to get combined into one larger issue. Three of these smaller issues can been seen here where we have decided to feature them in this one post.

1970 Cardigan Bay.
This stamp was issued to commemorate the return to New Zealand of Cardigan Bay, the first standard bred light-harness horse in racing history to win $1,000,000 in stake money.

10c - Cardigan Bay Trotting.
Cardigan Bay is possibly the most well known racehorse ever to come from New Zealand. Bred in Southland and affectionately known as "Cardy", he was the first Standardbred Harness racing horse to win $US 1 million in prize money in North America, and the ninth horse to do so worldwide (the first eight were Thoroughbreds).

Cardigan Bay won 80 races in all. Much of his racing career was based in the United States where he teamed up with reinsman Stanley Dancer in his many appearances at Yonkers Raceway near New York. He was the only horse to have defeated the three Hall of Fame USA horses of that era - Overtrick, Bret Hanover and Meadow Skipper. In the United States he won Pacer of the Year in both 1965 and 1968. He became a bit of a celebrity there and even appeared on the Ed Sullivan show as the "million dollar horse".

After reaching the one million dollar target he was retired and brought back home to New Zealand, and this stamp was issued to commemorate his return. Cardigan Bay was an inaugural inductee into the New Zealand Trotting Hall of Fame.



The Cardigan Bay First Day Cover showing a view of Cardigan Bay set in the frame of a horse shoe.





1970 Expo 70
These three stamps were issued as part of New Zealand's participation in Expo 70 in Japan. One of the main attractions of the New Zealand pavilion was the Geyser Restaurant.  The pavilion itself was an interesting building comprising of five inter-connected units.  A striking exhibit was "the bush walk" which featured on the 18c stamp.

7c - The Geyser Restaurant at the New Zealand pavilion.

8c - The New Zealand Pavilion.

18c - "The Bush Walk" - a striking and unusual exhibit.


Two examples of Expo 70 First Day Covers sent from places in New Zealand.


This cover was released on the 25th August, 1970 to mark the 50th Anniversary of the first flight across Cock Strait. Of course the stamp used came from the Expo 70 set.
(See below under the United Nations Issue)


1970 United Nations 25th Anniversary.
The United Nations was established to keep the peace of the world. It was founded at the end of World War II with its first meeting taking place in San Francisco on 25 April 1945. Two stamps were issued to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the organisation - the theme adopted by the United Nations for the celebrations was "Peace and Progress".  R M Conly designed the 3c stamp and L C Mitchell the 10c stamp.

                         

3c - United Nations Building, New York.
10c - Peace and Progress - Agriculture / Tractor.


1970 3c United Nations “Moon” (or perhaps a UFO) flaw, The large white spot in the
bottom-right hand stamp that partly covers the value and the building. Leaving moons and UFOs to get back down to earth, this flaw is actually a drop of solvent on the printing plate.

The First Day Cover showing a view of the UN building, similar to the one shown on the 3c value.

This cover was released on the 25th August, 1970 to mark the 50th Anniversary of the first flight across Cock Strait. In this case one of the stamps used came from the United Nations Issue.
(See above under the Expo 70 Issue)

Technical information - Cardigan Bay.

                              Date of Issue:
28 January 1970
                              Designers:
L C Mitchell, Wellington
                              Printers:
Courvoisier, Switzerland
                              Stamp Size:
41mm x 26mm
                              Sheet Size:
100 stamps per sheet
                              Process:
Photogravure
                              Perforation Gauge:    
11.5
                              Paper Type:
Granite, unwatermarked

Technical information - Expo 70.

                              Date of Issue:
8 April 1970
                              Designers:
M Cleverley, Auckland
                              Printers:
Japanese Government Printing Bureau, Japan
                              Stamp Size:
43mm x 25.5mm
                              Sheet Size:
50 stamps per sheet
                              Process:
Photogravure
                              Perforation Gauge:    
13 x 13.25
                              Paper Type:
Chalk surfaced, unwatermarked


Technical information - United Nations.

                              Date of Issue:
24 June 1970
                              Designers:
R M Conly, Christchurch and L C Mitchell, Wellington
                              Printers:
Thomas De La Rue, England
                              Stamp Size:
25mm x 42mm
                              Sheet Size:
100 stamps per sheet
                              Process:
Delacryl
                              Perforation Gauge:    
13.5
                              Paper Type:
Chalk surfaced, unwatermarked


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/

Information for this post came from.

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