Stamp Configurations Saved by Collectors

        "Stamp configurations saved by collectors", what does that mean? Basely this post is going to take all the items and various packs on sale by NZ Post, for the 2014 New Zealand Native Seaweed Issue, and see how they would be added to a collection. A lot of the comments in this post is my personal opinion and I realise that many stamp collectors will disagree with my likes and dislikes.

          The 2014 NZ Seaweed Issue consisted of five values each featuring a seaweed found in New Zealand waters. They were, of course, sold as single stamps and so many collectors will purchase individual stamps for storage in a stock book or for mounting in an album or other display.

1940 Centennial Pictorials

         As 1940 approached, New Zealand Government Officials were considering ways in which The Dominion could celebrate its first centenary. A great exhibition was planned in Wellington.

         I remember my father telling us that as a boy most of his small country school travelled by train from their little community in Northland, all the way to Wellington. They slept in the classrooms of a local school while visiting the Great Centennial Exhibition and taking in the sights of the capital before returning to Northland on another special train.  
         Word spread ahead that this special train was passing through the various town and cities on the route and my mother told us that as a young girl she stood at the trackside in Avondale, Auckland, watching it go by. Little did she know that one day she would marry one of those 'country kids' hanging out the windows waving madly.
         I remember their surprise that day as they realised that they could have looked at each other, all those years before they would eventually meet and get married when my father moved to Auckland.

2013 New Zealand Native Ferns

           On the 7th February New Zealand issued a set of five stamps depicting native ferns.

           New Zealand's climate is just right for the many types of fern found in our native forests. I live in a country area myself and the bottom half of my property has been allowed to return to native bush. First the gorse and scrub reclaimed the once cleared land, then larger trees like manuka began to appear. These larger trees killed off the scrub underneath making way for many other native species including our native ferns. I was down there today and in some places the ferns are now so thick it impossible to walk through.

The Stamps
        I like the design of these stamps. They have a pleasant appearance, are simple, well laid out and not cluttered. The fern is depicted in bold coloured diagrams with other detail drawings in grey. The ferns common and scientific names appear under 'New Zealand' and the demonization appears as a symbolic post mark. Nice design, well done.   

           

Hen & Chickens Fern.                                                Kidney Fern.

          (Asplenium bulbiferum)                                       (Cardiomanes reniforme)