Queen Victoria Fiscal Stamps - Part Three.

Back to QV Fiscal Stamps - Part Two.               Forward to QV Fiscal Stamps - Part Four.

1880 QV Long-type Fiscal Stamps - The Complete Set. 

      In my first post on the Queen Victoria Fiscal Stamps, we looked at a series of issues leading up to the famous 1880 Revenue/Postage stamps. In my second post, we looked at the 1880 set itself. Included in that post was a set of the stamps most commonly used for postage after these stamps were authorised for postal use in 1882.

       Now we come to the question - What about all the other stamps from this series? Well, there is a large number of them, around 60 approx., it is hard to tell as some values appear in different colour shades so I'm unsure if they are varieties or separate stamps. I now think I have all the values except for one and in time I hope to fill in this gap too. The main purpose of this post will be to show all of them, as in this way you can get an idea of the actual size of this important issue.

       As you go through the collection on this page you will notice some appear to be mint while others have been cancelled in various ways, using date strikes, punch marks and handwritten dates. As I said above, I have also included some more obvious colour varieties too.

      Also, notice how the design changes as you go down the page. It is particularly noticeable in the frame around Queen Victoria's head. This is very similar to what happened in the Side-face postal issues as well. The design retains the words 'New Zealand' at the top and 'Stamp Duty' further down but the frame around Queen Victoria's portrait goes from a circle to part circle top and bottom. It then becomes a square, a hexagon and finally to an elliptical circle.     

1878 QV 1d Lilac and Blue.

  

1d - Lilac.                          1d - Blue. 
    (15th June 1878.)            (14th December 1878)

I am almost inclined to treat these two 1d stamps as a separate issue considering they were issued two years before the rest of the set below but they have to be put somewhere I suppose. 

1880 QV Long-type Fiscals - The Lower Values.

  

4d - Orange.                         6d - Red/Brown.                         8d - Green.

In 1882, once revenue stamps could be used for postage and postage stamps used for revenue purposes, these lower values were withdrawn from sale as their place could be filled with lower value postage stamps.

1880 QV Long-type Fiscals - The Shilling Values.

The next section of this issue are the shilling stamps, the ones most likely to have been used for postage purposes. They started at one shilling (commonly written 1/-) and went up to fifteen shillings, twenty shillings being one pound (commonly written £1). Where pennies were included in the value it was commonly written 2.6 for two shillings and 6 pennies.

     

          1/- Pink.                                 2/- Blue.                              2/6 - Brown.                              3/- Mauve.                      4/- Orange/Red.

   

5/- Green.                              6/- Rose.                              7/- Blue.                              7/6 Grey.

    

8/- Blue.                              9/- Orange.                              10/- Red.                              12/6 Purple                              15/- Green.

1880 QV Long-type Fiscals - Lower Pound Values.

Now we get to the pound stamps. Notice the value on three of the stamps below is still expressed in shillings. This seems to have been common up to the 2 pound, or 40 shillings.



  

£1 - Rose                         25/- Blue.                         30/- Brown.

.

     

   35/- Yellow.                         £2 Violet.                           £2 10/- Rose/Lake.                 £2 10/- Venetian/Red.             £2 10/- Red. 

Above are three different shades of red for the £2 10/-.  In an issue as large as this, reprinted a number of times over a long period, colour varieties were common. I have included a few of the more obvious ones such as the ones here. 

This row above also shows a handwritten cancel on the 35/- Yellow, a punch cancel on the £2 10/- Red.  There is also a specimen stamp, which could have been a colour trial, a perf trial or some other reason why the stamp was never intended for sale and use.  

   

£3 Green.                    £3 10/- Claret.                    £3 10/- Rose.                    £4 Blue.

  

£4 10/- Bronze/Grey.                   £5 Blue.                      £6 Orange.

    

£7 Red.                               £7 Maroon.                               £8 Green.                               £9 Red.                          £10 Blue. 

                                     

                                      

£15 Brown (fifteen 12.5mm)                   £15 Brown (fifteen 16mm).                   £15 Brown (fifteen 9mm)

The measurement in the captions above refers to the size of the word 'fifteen'.

1880 QV Long-type Fiscals - Larger Pound Values.

    

£20 - Yellow.                      £25 - Mauve.                      £30 - Brown/Lake.                      £30 - Red/Brown.                      £35 - Green.

                          

£40 - Rose (11mm forty).                            £40 - Pink (7mm forty).

The obvious difference in these two stamps is the colour but something else is different as well. Look at word 'FORTY' in the top panel. They are two different sizes and fonts (or typeface as it was known back then). The Rose stamp is known as the '11mm forty' while the pink stamp is known as the '7mm forty', referring to the size of the word 'forty'. You will be able to see similar varieties in the  £50 - Bronze stamps below.

                  

               £45 - Blue.                  £50 - Bronze (fifty small).        £50 - Bronze (fifty 6mm).        £50 - Bronze (fifty 10mm).

 

£75 - Yellow.

Now the values are jumping up quickly. The stamp above is blank because I do not have an image for this stamp. In fact, it is so rare the many question whether it actually existed. 

It is thought to have been printed with one of the 'NZ over Star' watermarks.

1880 QV Long-type Fiscals - Hundreds of Pounds Values.

Below we come to the final section of this issue, the stamps with face values of hundreds of pounds.

 

£100 - Mauve.                        £200 - Green.

   

      £300 - Brown.                        £400 - Rose.                       £500 - Blue.                        £600 - Orange/Brown

   

£700 - Maroon.              £800 - Bronze/Green.               $900 - Orange/Yellow. 

£1,000 - Rose.

There she is, the £1,000 - Rose, in this case, used for stamp duty and issued in Christchurch/Canterbury. Isn't she a beauty? I've enlarged her so you can better view the fine workmanship that went into these stamps.

Stamps used on this page came from the web site NZ Revenues.