1974 Commonwealth Games

         After the Amsterdam Olympic Games in 1928 a Canadian proposal for an 'Empire Games' was put before the representatives of the Empire countries. It was unanimously accepted and eleven countries took part in the first Empire Games in 1930 at Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

         It was decided that the games be held every four years.  Later, at Jamaica in 1966, it was agreed that the term 'Empire' should be dropped and the games should in the future be known as the 'British Commonwealth Games'.  In 1974, forty four years after the first games, over thirty countries and approximately 2000 athletes took part in the 10th British Commonwealth Games at Christchurch, New Zealand. 

         The first Paraplegic Commonwealth Games were held in Perth, Western Australia, in 1962.  In 1974 the 4th Paraplegic Games were held in Dunedin, New Zealand.  To commemorate these two sporting events in New Zealand in 1974 five stamps were issued.

1973 Frances Hodgkins Paintings

           Frances Mary Hodgkins (28 April 1869 – 13 May 1947) was a painter chiefly of landscape and still life, and for a short period was a designer of textiles. She was born in New Zealand, but spent most of her working life in Britain. She is considered one of New Zealand's most prestigious and influential painters, although it is the work from her life in Europe, rather than her home country, on which her reputation rests.

           Born in Dunedin in 1869 Frances was encouraged to paint by her father.  She exhibited for the first time in Dunedin and Christchurch in 1890.  That same year she was elected a working member of the Otago Art Society.  Frances attended the Dunedin School of Art, subsequently gaining first class passes. During the period 1890 - 1900 she devoted most of her time to painting, exhibiting regularly. 

          In 1901 Frances left New Zealand to study and work in England and Europe although she returned home on several occasions to exhibit and to visit family.  She eventually settled permanently in England.  Frances Hodgkins died at Herrison House, Dorcester in 1947.  She was essentially an artist in the European tradition, and it is on her later work done in Europe that she is known for.

1972 Ross Dependency Pictorials

During the 1970s & 80s so New Zealand stamps reflected a very stylized, almost cartoon art design. The 1978 Agriculture / Lincoln College and 1981 Government Life Insurance Lighthouses are classic examples of this. A similar design form was used for the 1972 Ross Dependency Pictorial/Definitives.  

This issue replaced the 1967 Ross Dependency Decimal Pictorials as the new definitive set and remained in circulation until the 1982 Ross Dependency 25th Anniversary of Scott Base stamps were issued. Although not a commemorative issue, the stamps were issued on the 60th Anniversary of Scott's Polar Party reaching the South Pole on January 18th, 1912.

1994 Scenic Stamps.

The 1994 Scenic Issue of four stamps features the four seasons with each stamp showing a different scene in a different season. In a country like New Zealand, surrounded by oceans, it is often hard to define exactly when one season changes into another. I've known beautiful sunny weather in June and July which is said to be winter then starting the fire on Christmas Day in the middle of summer.
This is an interesting theme combined with an unusual design format to create what I think is one of the better scenic stamp issues.

2016 New Zealand Native Glowworms

This visually striking stamp issue features four gummed stamps as well as a $2.00 self-adhesive stamp. The stamps have been printed using glow-in-the-dark ink to replicate the effect of glowworms in the wild - simply expose them to sunlight and then step into a dark space to see the stamps light up. It works well too, the stamps look great.

1908 - 1910 Antarctica Expeditions.

This post is the first of a big project for me, a series on the stamps of Antarctica and the Ross Dependency. As we publish each post copies of their stamps will appear in our Antarctic Collection seen in links above.

During the early 1900s two expeditions left New Zealand heading for the Antarctic. Each was provided with stamps especially overprinted for their expeditions. The purpose of this post is to cover these two early issues that are usually included in a collection of Ross Dependency Stamps.

New Zealand Wine Post - Officials.

 
      When Mary finished her three large pages of stamps from the local postal agency New Zealand Wine Post there was some tidy up work needed to be done so the collection would be a lot easier to navigate around. I began putting in these links and added that small Index at the top of each page. Now I am listing each issue in our main Index pages too.
        Mary said that it might be of interest doing a thematic collection on the official stamps used for communication with the New Zealand Government. Since I also do many of the thematic collections for this blog I agreed to do this one as well. My intention here is to display these six stamps and four trials together so they can be enjoyed and compared. Most of the information found here has come from Mary's pages.

1915 General Grant Salvage Expedition Stamps.

                              

       A Set of two values issued for the Catling Expedition of 1915/16 to salvage the gold and cargo of the General Grant which had struck the cliffs of the Auckland Islands many years before. These stamps are a very sought after collector's items and can fetch high prices on the rare occasions when they come up for sale. (As of Mar 2016, the two stamps above would be worth approx. $140.00 NZ each)

1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Five.

 Definitive Tour.

Back to 1967 - 1968 Pictorial Definitives.                                Forward to 1975 Decimal Pictorials.

Other Items of Interest.

This page is intended as somewhere we can keep other items concerning the 1970 Pictorial/Definitives. It is incomplete at the moment because as items come to hand they will be added here.

          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part One.
                    Overview of the 7 issues of this series of stamps.
          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Two.
                    Looking at the designs and subjects of these stamps.
          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Three.
                    A collection of flaws & errors from the low values.
          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Four.
                    A collection of flaws & errors from the large values.
          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Five.
                    Some other items of interest including a collection of courier tags.

1970 Pictorial registered Mail Tags, smaller Mail Tags used for inter Bank parcels, sent from The National Bank of NZ in Jean Batten Place.

Reg. No 254 - Sent from Jean Batten Place. 3 Stamps valued at 69c. 

1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Four.

 Definitive Tour.

Back to 1967 - 1968 Pictorial Definitives.                                Forward to 1975 Decimal Pictorials.

Flaws & Errors - Larger Values.

This page is going to be a lot smaller than the previous page due to the fact there are less larger value stamps and we found a lot less errors on these stamps as well. This could partly be due to the fact that smaller quantities of many of these values were produced.

          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part One.
                    Overview of the 7 issues of this series of stamps.
          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Two.
                    Looking at the designs and subjects of these stamps.
          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Three.
                    A collection of flaws & errors from the low values.
          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Four.
                    A collection of flaws & errors from the large values.
          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Five.
                    Some other items of interest including a collection of courier tags.

10c Queen Elizabeth II & Coat of Arms - Normal Example.
A small collection of flaws found on the 10c value.
(Some of these images have come out dull due to the photographic process used, its not the stamps.)

           

1970 10c QEII Flaw on Queen's head.                                               1970 10c QEII Light blue ribbon colour shift.

Personalised Stamps

          Personalised Stamps have been issued in a number of formats since 2001. The basic idea is that you add your own photograph or logo to the one provided by NZ Post. Your personal stamps are then created and sent to you. While there is an extra cost involved you do get a postage stamp the is uniquely you.
          In this post, we intend to show you each issue listed by year on the one page. There is not much description needed and in many cases, the same design appears a number of times with different values. In some cases, the same stamp has appeared twice in the same issue with different values too. While this may not turn out to be the most popular post on this blog we all thought these issues need to be covered as they are genuine stamps able to be used for postage by their purchaser.
          Before Personalised Stamps, there was a series of four issues known as Greeting Stamps. These began in 1988 and went through until Personalised Stamps began in 2001. The first two issues of Personalised Stamps from 2001 and 2005 could also be considered as Greeting Stamps two so we have included them here and in our Greeting Stamp collection.

                

1970 Pictorial / Definitives - Part Three.

 Definitive Tour.

Back to 1967 - 1968 Pictorial Definitives.                                Forward to 1975 Decimal Pictorials.

Lower Value Flaws.

We found a large number of flaws in this issue, particularly through the lower values. This page displays many of them but in the end it came down to the question of just how many examples do we really want to crowd onto one page.

          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part One.
                    Overview of the 7 issues of this series of stamps.
          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Two.
                    Looking at the designs and subjects of these stamps.
          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Three.
                    A collection of flaws & errors from the low values.
          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Four.
                    A collection of flaws & errors from the large values.
          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Five.
                    Some other items of interest including a collection of courier tags.

                      

Below, on this page, are flaws and errors found in the lower values while Part Four has a collection of similar flaws found in the higher values.

1990 Scenic / 150th Anniversaries

       In 1990 the annual Scenic issue was combined with an Anniversary Issue. Each of the cities or locations were celebrating 150 year anniversaries.

80c - Akaroa
Captain Jean Langlois, a French whaler from Havre, first sailed into Akaroa Harbour in 1838.  He was most favourably impressed with what he saw and began negotiations with the Maori to purchase a portion of the peninsula.  This was the beginning of the French attempt to establish a colony in the area, only to discover that British sovereignty had been declared over the whole of the South Island.

Akaroa never developed into a town or city of any size because it quickly became over shadowed the Littleton Port and Christchurch City but it has remained an peaceful farming town while in more recent years large cruise ships have started using the harbour to provide their passengers with something different while saving the high port fees of Littleton.

1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Two

Definitive Tour.
Back to 1967 - 1968 Pictorial Definitives.                           Forward to 1975 Decimal Pictorials.  

The Designs.

Unlike Page One, this page is laid out by value rather than issue date. Our purpose here is to look at the design and subject of each stamp.

          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part One.
                    Overview of the 7 issues of this series of stamps.
          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Two.
                    Looking at the designs and subjects of these stamps.
          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Three.
                    A collection of flaws & errors from the low values.
          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Four.
                    A collection of flaws & errors from the large values.
          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Five.
                    Some other items of interest including a collection of courier tags.

Butterflies and Moths.

The first group of six stamps showing three native butterflies and three native moths. They are all the same small vertical format, in each case showing a topside, opened wing view. The designs use a strong background colour to achieve what is actually quite a striking appearance.

                             

½c - Glade Copper Butterfly.                        1c - Red Admiral Butterfly.

1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part One.

 Definitive Tour.

Back to 1967 - 1968 Pictorial Definitives.                                Forward to 1975 Decimal Pictorials.

Overview of this Definitive Issue. 

          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part One.

                    Overview of the 7 issues of this series of stamps.

          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Two.

                    Looking at the designs and subjects of these stamps.

          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Three.

                    A collection of flaws & errors from the low values.

          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Four.

                    A collection of flaws & errors from the large values.

          1970 Definitive / Pictorials - Part Five.

                    Some other items of interest including a collection of courier tags.

Brief History.        

         Planning for the 1970 Definitives began in 1968 with a two stage competition to select a group of designers who were then commissioned to complete full designs for the issue, with the final stamps being picked from that selection.

         The half, one and two cent abstract moths were designed by Miss Enid Hunter. The rest of the moths and the fish stamps up to the seven cent stamp by Miss Eileen Mayo. D.B. Stevenson designed the 7½ and 8 cent stamps.

                                   

1991 - 1993 Scenic Stamps.

1991 Scenic Rock Formations.

For hundreds of millions of years the enormous pressure created by the movement of the continental plates has been shaping and changing New Zealand's landscape, creating spectacular indicators of the turmoil beneath the earth's crust. These astonishing rock formations were the subject of the 1991 'Scenic Wonders' issue.

                  

40c - Punakaiki Rocks.                                                60c - Moeraki Boulders.

2016 - RSA: 100 Years of Service

2016 marks 100 years since the formation of the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association (RSA). Since it was founded, the RSA has been an integral part of New Zealand communities and NZ Post paid tribute to the important role it plays with this special stamp issue.

This commemorative issue consists of six gummed stamps that portray the RSA’s identity and history. The designs incorporate the new RSA ‘heart’ logo, which reflects the RSA’s ambition to be at the heart of New Zealand’s communities.

1972 Alpine Flowers

       This stamp issue was a very hard one to place. Many catalogues place it in the scenic series but since there was already a scenic issue for 1972 we've decided just to treat it as a one off issue. 
        This set of stamps depicts four of New Zealand's alpine plants. Alpine plants are able to survive the harsh conditions of their mountain environment. In many cases the plant survives under thick snow to burst forth in summer to quickly grow flower and prepare for another long winter.
        I like these four stamps, their bright colours and flowers as their subjects.

1971 Special Events.

        The commemorative issues of 1971 were divided into a list of smaller issued that appeared over the whole year. I've tried to tidy them up by issuing them in three posts. The first is on the Anniversaries & Centennaries of 1971. The second is on Special Events of 1971. The third is on Three City Centennaries. 
         This is the 1971 Special Events post featuring three stamps issues, 1971 One Ton Cup in New Zealand; 1971 First Satellite Station in New Zealand; 1971  First World Rose Convention in New Zealand. Three interesting issues commemorating important events in the development of our country.

  

Maori Definitive Stamps

       As Mary and Allan have worked their way through the major issues of pictorial definitive stamps, they have come across many with Maori themes. This page is another of my thematic collections, gathering all these Maori stamps together in one place so they can be linked into our other collections of Maori stamps.
       I do not claim to have any knowledge of things Maori, my task is just to gather these stamps together so they can be viewed and enjoyed. Any information concerning these stamps has been provided by Allan or copied from his other pages in this blog.

Return to New Zealand Maori Index.

1898 Pictorials.

1898 The First Pictorial Issue.

8d - Maori War Canoe.

The 8d stamp contains a graphic eight with a Maori war canoe on the lower circle of the eight and a crown in the upper circle. Tree Ferns are drawn to the left of the eight and Cabbage Trees on the right.

2015 Ross Dependency.

Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914–17), also known as the Endurance Expedition, is considered the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent. After the conquest of the South Pole by Roald Amundsen in 1911, this crossing from sea to sea remained, in Shackleton's words, the "one great main object of Antarctic journeyings". The expedition failed to accomplish this objective, but became recognised instead as an epic feat of endurance.

NZ Post looks back about one hundred years to this heroic expedition  made up of two teams on opposite sides of the continent — one's tale heralded as the ‘greatest survival story ever told’, the other's as ‘the greatest survival story never told’. These are six stamps of scenes selected to tell these two stories along with the usual special collectors items.

1971 Three City Centennaries.

         Three city centenaries were commemorated in this 1971 commemorative stamp issue: Palmerston North - centenary of its founding; Auckland - centenary as a city; and Invercargill - centenary of local government.

Centenary of Palmerston North - 3c
The design incorporates the city's coat of arms.  Palmerston North, NZ's second largest provincial city, with about 84 000 people, is situated alongside the Manawatu River 140 kilometres north of Wellington. The site of the town was part of a block bought by the Government from the Maori owners in 1864.  The town was laid out the following year, and settlement began in 1866. 

Today (2015) Palmerston North is the major commercial centre for the south/central region of the North Island, servicing a large, highly productive farming area. It is home to more than 70 major educational and research institutions, including New Zealand's fastest expanding university, Massey University. 

1971 Anniversaries & Centennaries

        The commemorative issues of 1971 were divided into a list of smaller issues that appeared over the whole year. I've tried to tidy them up by arranging them into three posts. The first is on the Anniversaries & Centennaries of 1971. The second is on Special Events of 1971. The third is on Three City Centennaries of 1971. 

1971 - CWI/Rotary.

        The first two commemorative stamps were issued in February 1971, one for Rotary and the other for the Country Women's Institutes.

50th Anniversary Country Women's Institute

4c - 50th Anniversary of the New Zealand Country Women's Institutes.

The Country Women's Institutes have as their prime objective "assisting women to take an effective part in rural life and development".  The organisation actively fosters culture, friendship and handcrafts.  The Dominion Federation of New Zealand Country Women's Institutes is affiliated to the Association of Country Women of the World.

I am a member of our local group. It is a great organisation that does some good work in the community. When the house burnt down up the valley from us. The ladies did a great job helping that young couple get established again. I've also made some very good friends with ladies I have met at the meetings.

2004/2016 Year of the Monkey

Monkey Lantern - Auckland.

         The monkey is the ninth animal in the Chinese zodiac and is considered clever and cheeky. People born in the Year of the Monkey are witty and intelligent with magnetic personalities and tend to be fast learners and astute opportunists. Personality traits such as mischievousness and curiosity mean that people often perceive monkeys as ‘naughty’.

Return to our Chinese New Year Collection.

1987 - 1989 Scenic Stamps.

         In this post we have decided to combine three stamp issues on to one page. Although all three sets differ from each other in subject and appearance, they are all part of the Scenic Stamps Series. What I did find interesting is how all three issues have miniature sheets where the design of one stamp appears as part of a bigger illustrations.
        You can view all the stamps from this series in our collection Scenic Stamps Series - Part One.

1987 National Parks.
         The 1987 Scenic Issue commemorated the centennial of the National Parks movement in New Zealand. In 1887, Te Heuheu Tukino IV, paramount chief of the Ngati Tuwharetoa with the consent of many other chiefs, gifted to the people of New Zealand the tribally-owned land within a radius of one mile of the three volcanic peaks of Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu.  The land was given on the understanding that it would be kept sacred under the protection of Queen Victoria and on the condition that it would be preserved as a national park.  Originally 2630 hectares in area, today the park has grown to almost 80,000 hectares. 
        Tongariro National Park remained the only national park until the turn of the century when the Egmont National Park was established in October 1900.
        This issue shows four of our more famous National Parks. Two of these were also featured in our post 2015 - UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

          

70c - Urewera National Park.

80c - Mount Cook National Park.