Government Life Insurance - Summary.

Asami here.  (Nov 2017)
           As part of the current building of many parts of this blog, this summary of the Lighthouse Life Insurance series has been moved from its page in the top bar to a normal post. This means it can be now be found via our labels in the sidebar or via the Index/Groups of Posts page.

Hi, Asami here.  (Feb 2015)
           For my next project, I will be doing this job for Mary. Currently, she is doing a series on the stamps issued by the Government Life Insurance Department/Office. I have been asked to lay out a page of all the lighthouse issues, with links to and from each issue. At the same time, I will be adding forward and back navigation links so you can move between the various posts/issues.

Here is Mary's opening to her first Lighthouse post:-
         The New Zealand Government Life Insurance Department was opened in 1869 and started issuing its own stamps in 1891.  Up until that time The Insurance Office, in common with other Government services, had enjoyed franking privileges, paying an annual amount to the Post and Telegraph Department to cover the cost of postage on its correspondence. 
         The decision to issue the stamps was the result of a dispute between the two Departments regarding the calculation of postage costs. The matter was referred to an arbitrator but the Insurance Department insisted on paying future postage costs by the purchase of postage stamps. 
         To ensure that these stamps were only used for their intended purpose, they had to have a very distinctive design. Since the symbol of the Insurance Department was a lighthouse, all Government Life Insurance Department stamp designs have featured lighthouses. So actually this was more like a personalised stamp, being printed and issued by the Post Office but only used by the Insurance Office.

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.

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.

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.

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.

1913 Government Life Insurance (Without 'VR')

Government life Insurance - Summary.

Back to 1891 Lighthouses.           Forward to 1947 Lighthouses.

       When I came to write about the early lighthouse sets I was under the impression that they were two simple sets, issued in 1891 and 1905. But then a study of the Campbell Patterson Catalogue revealed they were far more complex than I ever imagined. There were the 1891 issue and another in 1913. Between these were two stamps that didn't seem to fit with either group.

        My stamp collection, which was started by my grandfather and continued by my father had these stamps arranged in two groups as most simple catalogues would show them. My father did a major re-arranging and re-mounting of the collection about 40 years ago. This is mostly how the older stamps are today, although I intend to redo them at some point. I still have the much older albums from my grandfather so I had a look in those. Of course, there were no stamps but you could see where he had laid out the stamps by date and his handwritten notes on each one. He had also placed the 1905 & 1906 stamps as a separate group. For the 1905 2d Chestnut there were locations for three examples in my grandfather's album while in my father's album there is only one.

         It was at this point that I made an amazing discovery. I have a copy of the 1905 2d Chestnut. Campbell Patterson values this stamp at $8,750 for unhinged mint and $5,000 for hinged mint. I found I had a hinged mint copy in my album. I went to the set of stock books where a large number of surplus stamps were kept and discovered that I had two more copies of this stamp, one mint and one used. Gently lifting the mint one out revealed it to be fine unhinged mint. Wow, that was amazing.

         So according to his notes, my grandfather considered the 1905 2d chestnut and the 1906 1d blue to be separate from the other groups for two reasons. First, they didn't fit into the 1891 group because they have no 'VR". Secondly, they didn't fit into the 1913 group because they were issued and used before Government Life Insurance stopped using their own stamps for the period 1907 to 1913.  (See below) That is how I have laid them out here. They were at the end of my first post and I have also included them here, at the beginning of this post, but I consider the 1905 - 1906 stamps to be a separate issue.   

1891 Government Life Insurance (With VR)

Government Life Insurance - Summary.         Forward to 1913 Lighthouses.

         The New Zealand Government Life Insurance Department was opened in 1869 and started issuing its own stamps in 1891.  Up until that time The Insurance Office, in common with other Government services, had enjoyed franking privileges, paying an annual amount to the Post and Telegraph Department to cover the cost of postage on its correspondence. 

         The decision to issue the stamps was the result of a dispute between the two Departments regarding the calculation of postage costs. The matter was referred to an arbitrator but the Insurance Department insisted on paying future postage costs by the purchase of postage stamps. 

         To ensure that these stamps were only used for their intended purpose, they had to have a very distinctive design. Since the symbol of the Insurance Department was a lighthouse, all Government Life Insurance Department stamp designs have featured lighthouses. In the rays of the lighthouse are the words "State Security" and the letters "V R" are shown in the background, behind the lighthouse. So actually this was more like a personalised stamp, being issued by the Post Office but only used by the Insurance Office.

         The stamps were designed by WB Hudson (Life Insurance Department) and J F Rogers (Government Printing Office) and engraved by A E Cousins. The plates were then made at the Government Printing Office. The following values were issued: ½d, 1d, 2d, 3d, 6d and 1/- (1s). 

         The first issue was perf 12 x 11½ and was issued on rather poor quality paper in which the watermark has a 4mm gap between the NZ and star. This paper was also used for the Second Side-face Issue and often collectors referrer to it as the insurance paper. You will notice the poor quality of these stamps below with faults like colour variance, poorly centred stamps and ragged perforations.