An Official Post.

    

        The first 'OFFICIAL' stamps, stamps designed for use by Government Departments, was issued in 1882. In January 1907, the New Zealand government decided that all public service mail should use these special stamps overprinted with the word Official. It was not until 1913 that mint official stamps could be sold to the public.
         As this post will only show Official Stamps, that appeared in a number issues, particularly definitive issues, we have provided links to take you to full, more detailed posts on each issue.
                                                                            

1935 Pictorials

Definitive Tour.

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The 1935 Pictorial Issue.

         By 1931 several of the plates for the King George V definitive stamps were noticeably worn. Given that the design of the 1926 Admirals issue had been severely criticised, the authorities decided to try the same approach which had worked so well in 1898 - a design competition for a new set of pictorial stamps.

         Entries were divided into New Zealand subject groups: fauna, scenery, Maori art, agricultural, history and sport, then examples were chosen for the stamps being issued. Over 1,500 entries were received and designs from eleven contributors were included in the final set. Some unsuccessful entries can be seen at the bottom of this post.

         The stamps suffered a series of delays though - printing by photogravure was abandoned in favour of line etching with the exception of the ninepenny stamp which was the first New Zealand stamp printed by offset lithography. There were also issues with paper quality and the shilling stamp design was changed again just before issue. Finally, in 1935 the set was ready to be issued.

1915 King George V

Definitive Tour.
Back to Edward VI Definitives.                              Forward to 1935 Pictorials.

1915 -  King George V

Definitive Issue.

The King Edward VII stamps had only been on issue for six months when he died in 1910 and his son King George V ascended to the throne. It was quickly decided that a new set of stamps should replace the Edward VII stamps, but it would be five years before the new set was issued. There were various reasons for the five year delay - difficulty finding a designer, difficulty sourcing appropriate inks, and the perfectionist nature of the then Postmaster-General Sir Heaton Rhodes, himself a keen philatelist. Rhodes was keen to return to the simplicity of the 1855 Chalon Heads and the English 1840 penny black and two pence blue stamps. If you compare the George V stamp on the left with the English 1d Black on the right, you can see how closely they resemble each other.

The initial issue contained the 1½d, 2d violet, 2½d, 3d, 4d yellow, 4½d, 6d, 7½d, 9d and 1/- stamps. The 1½d, 4½d and 7½d stamps were new values introduced for parcel post and it was not thought necessary to have 5d and 8d values. All this careful planning came unstuck when World War I began and a halfpenny tax was imposed on all mail other than newspapers. As the new issue did not have 5d or 8d stamps, the Edward VII issue stamps continued in use until 1922 when 5d and 8d recess print stamps were finally introduced. However, within a week of issue of the 8d blue it was realised that the colour was too easily confused with the 2½d stamp, so the stamp was reprinted brown as the 7½d brown stamp had been withdrawn by that stage. This ought to have made the 8d blue stamp very rare, but pressure from stamp collectors forced the post office to continue selling the stamps.

In 1915 the tax on receipts was increased to 2d. The 2d violet stamp was too dark for pen cancellations to show up, and so the colours of the 2d violet and 4d yellow were swapped in 1916. Many used copies of the 4d yellow were cancelled after it was withdrawn and 1915 cancellations are hard to find.

1909 Edward VII Definitives.

 Definitive Tour.

Back to Universal / Dominion.                                 Forward to George V Definitives.

          King Edward VII (b.9th November 1841 – d.6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom, the British Dominions and Emperor of India from the 22nd of January 1901 until his death on the 6th of May 1910. Before finally becoming King, Edward held the title of Prince of Wales, and has the dubious distinction of being heir apparent to the throne longer than anyone else in British history. He was caught in a similar situation to the current Prince of Wales, having a mother as queen, lasting well into her 80s. Like Prince Charles will be today. Edward was an older man himself before he became King.
           Because the 1898 Pictorials had only just been issued when he ascended to the throne, New Zealand stamps bearing the King's head were not issued until November 1909, and even then they were not distributed widely until stocks of the pictorials had been exhausted. In the end the stamps bearing his image were only on sale for six months before he died. Once issued, most values remained on sale until 1915, and the five penny and eight penny stamps were still in use in 1920, ten years after King Edward's death. The one penny dominion was still in use until 1926.

           The Imperial Conference of 1907 granted the self-governing colonies of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Newfoundland the status of Dominion. This recognized these territories as autonomous communities within the British Empire, and established them as equals to the United Kingdom, making them essentially independent members of the Commonwealth of Nations. In many ways, this issue was a celebration of New Zealand's new-found independence and "Dominion of New Zealand' appears proudly at the top of each stamp.

1898 The First Pictorial Issue.

Definitive Tour.

Back to Sideface Issues.                          Forward to Universal / Dominion.

       This fascinating stamp issue holds a special interest for stamp collectors as it was among the world's earliest pictorial definitive issues. The issue followed the lead of New South Wales where a similar pictorial issue had just been released. 

        The decision to break away from featuring stamps with Queen Victoria's portrait was a bold one and not without some risk of offending public opinion. A design competition was held that attracted over 2,400 entries. The selection criteria - 'to include a representation of characteristic or notable New Zealand scenery in the design and a stamp issue symbolic of the land.'

           The quality of the winning designs was so great that a decision was made to print the issue using the more expensive recess printing method, with the anticipation that costs would be covered many times over by sales to stamp collectors. The stamps were engraved in England along with initial printings and subsequently printed in New Zealand from new plates supplied from England. The issue featured the same denominations as the Second Side-faces with a new 9d stamp added for overseas parcels, and two and five shilling stamps added for parcels, fiscals and telegrams.

King George VI

Definitive Tour.
Back to 1935 Pictorials.          Forward to Elizabeth II Definitives.

King George VI Coronation.

     King George VI was the second son of King George V and his wife, Queen Mary, was youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne.
          In 1936 following the abdication from the throne of his elder brother (King Edward VIII), the Duke of York became King George VI.  The coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth took place at Westminster Abbey the following year. To mark this event New Zealand issued this set of three values.

   

Queen Elizabeth - A Younge Queen.

 Definitive Tour.
Back to George VI Definitives.                                              Forward to 1960 Pictorials.

Queen Elizabeth II

      

         After researching for the 60th Anniversary Issue post in this blog I have become more interested in stamps featuring Queen Elizabeth II. I have decided to do a few more posts looking at her life in greater detail through the stamps of New Zealand. This post covers her early life and photos on stamps, her coronation, then the first 1953 - 1955 definitive issues. For extra interest, I've included a few Postal History items as well.