Design Origin
The Birth of NZ Postage Stamps
1831-1850
Pre-stamp Postal System
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With the increase of the immigrant population in Kororareka, the Postmaster-General of New South Wales commissioned an old friend, William Powditch, to establish the first New Zealand mail centre at his store in Te Wahapu in 1831. His role was the receipt of inward mail for distribution and the collection of mail for despatch by outgoing ships.
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NZ was not yet a Dominion of Great Britain. That changed when Captain William Hobson became Lieutenant-Governor of NZ in 1840 and legislation was enacted extending all Laws and Regulations of NSW to cover NZ. This included postage.
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In 1852 a proposal was developed by the British Post-Master General for the prepayment of mail between London and New South Wales. The authorities of NSW extended an invitation to the other colonies to partner in this endeavour. This letter was most likely the initiation of the introduction of postage stamps in Van Diemen’s Land (1853), Western Australia (1 august 1854), South Australia (1 January 1855) and New Zealand (1 July 1855).
Toulmin packet service to London. JY 19 1848 outer letter sheet to London with a red PAID AT AUCKLAND crown circle and a hand drawn red ‘4’ showing sender has paid their fee and hand drawn black ‘1/-‘ identifying fee to be collected on delivery. The 13 Dec 1848 receipt stamp on back identifies just under 5 months in transit.
The Birth of NZ Postage Stamps
1840
Penny Black
In 1837, British postal rates were high, complex, and irregular. At the time it was normal for the recipient to pay postage on delivery, charged by the sheet and on distance travelled.
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On 13 February 1837, Sir Rowland Hill proposed both the idea of a pre-paid stamp and a pre-paid envelope, a separate sheet folded to form an enclosure for carrying letters. Hill was given a two-year contract to run the new system, and together with Henry Cole he announced a competition to design the stamps. However, out of some 2,600 entries, none was considered suitable, so a rough design endorsed by Hill was chosen instead, featuring an easily recognisable profile of Queen Victoria. Hill believed this would be difficult to forge.
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The portrait of Victoria was engraved by Charles Heath and his son Frederick, based on a sketch provided by Henry Corbould. This portrait of Victoria remained on British stamps until her death in 1901. All British stamps still bear a portrait or silhouette of the monarch somewhere on the design
(a) 1840 1d Black on piece - SG 1
The Penny Black would allow letters of up to ½ ounce to be delivered at a flat rate of one penny, regardless of distance. As the name suggests, the stamp was printed in black ink. The Penny Black was issued on 1 May 1840, but was not authorised for use until 6 May 1840.
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The word "POSTAGE" at the top of the design distinguishes it from a revenue stamp which had long been used in the UK, and “ONE PENNY." at the bottom indicates the amount pre-paid for postage of the stamped letter.
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The first stamps did not need to show the issuing country, so no country name was included on them. The UK remains the only country in the world to omit its name on postage stamps; the monarch's image signifies the UK as the country of origin.
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The background to the portrait consists of finely engraved engine turnings. The two upper corners hold Maltese crosses with radiant solar discs at their centres; the lower corner letters show the position of the stamp in the printed sheet, from "A A" at top left to "T L" at bottom right. The sheets, printed by Perkins Bacon, consisted of 240 stamps in 20 rows of 12 columns. One full sheet cost 240 pence or one pound; one row of 12 stamps cost a shilling.
The Birth of NZ Postage Stamps
1840
2d Blue & 1d Red
A two-penny stamp (b) printed in blue and covering the double-letter rate (up to 1 oz or 28g) was issued two days later on 8 May 1840. An anomaly as such of the Stanley Gibbons catalogue numbers is that even though this stamp was the second ever issued stamp, it carries the number SG 5 as the various plates of the Penny Black are numbered 1 - 4.
(b) 1840 2d Blue - SG 5
However, the Penny Black lasted less than a year. A red cancellation was difficult to see on the black design, and the red ink was easy to remove; both made it possible to reuse cancelled stamps. In February 1841, the treasury switched to (c) the Penny Red and began using black ink for cancellations instead, which was easier to see and more difficult to remove.
(c) 1841 1d Red - SG 8 used on cover
Full Face Queens
1855
Genesis of a Design
In 1852 a proposal was developed by the British Post-Master General for the prepayment of mail between London and New South Wales. The authorities of NSW extended an invitation to the other colonies to partner in this endeavour. This letter was most likely the initiation of the introduction of postage stamps in Van Diemen’s Land (1853), Western Australia (1 august 1854), South Australia (1 January 1855) and New Zealand (1 July 1855).
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The selection of the design for the first adhesive postage stamps for New Zealand was arranged between the representatives of the New Zealand Government in London and Perkins, Bacon. With the constraints of time and distance between the two countries, no confirmation that the design was acceptable was obtained from the New Zealand Government.
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Queen Victoria was to be the focus and the most popular portrait of her was the one where she was portrayed in her state robes, making her first visit to the House of Lords in the Houses of Parliament. Victoria Regina was painted by the leading portrait painter of the day Alfred Edward Chalon (1780 – 1860).
An image of the painting commissioned at the Queen’s command as a gift for her mother the Duchess of Kent, who later presented it to her son-in-law Prince Albert the Prince Consort. Chalon was later appointed ‘painter in water colours to the Queen’.**
The Chalon portrait was first copied as an engraving (mezzotint) by Samuel Cousins (1801 – 1887), at the age of 37. He was an Associate Member of the Royal Academy and later became the first Academician Engraver. The engraving was used by publisher Francis Graham Moon of Threadneedle St. London, for prints 75cm x 50cm, (the same size as the original painting). Printings were produced by Dixon and Ross in February and June 1838.
A zoomed in view of the original Cousins 1838 engraving print focusing on the area used for the design of NZ's first stamps. The original size is 75 x 50 and I have a copy in 'The Collection".
The prints were so popular that Cousins was commissioned to make a second smaller engraving, 60cm x 40cm, examples were produced in October 1838 and May 1839 with total of 1,100 copies printed.
It has been suggested that another leading engraver of the day, William Humphrys, based his 1848 engravings (immediately below and (a) in next section below) on the Cousins portrait. His vignettes were used by Perkins, Bacon initially for banknotes, but the beauty of his work soon had Perkins, Bacon using them for their stamp design.
Bank note or stamp essay or proof, exactly the same as the one in the Royal collection, which is attributed by JB Marriot to the engraver Jeens. This proof has signifiantly more detail than bank notes of the time plus other variations.
Full Face Queens
1855
Borrowing Design Elements
The various elements that were combined by Perkins, Bacon to make the final image for the FFQ issues was the product of efforts made for other countries’ stamps and bank notes.
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The engraving of the head was first used by (b) Nova Scotia (Canada) for its first stamp issued in 1851. The rose engine-turned design behind the head and the spandrels on the outside of the medallion were first used in (c) the 1853 first issue Chilean stamp and can also be seen clearly in (d) the first issue for South Australia, issued in January 1855.
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Hence there were no engraving costs incurred by NZ as it was all pre-existing. Take note of the beautiful clarity of the 1d Black Plate proof. It is exquisite.
(a) 1854 Humphries Essay Die Proof
mounted on card for Perkins, Bacon.
(e) 1855 Perkins, Bacon London Queen Victoria Black plate proof for 1d*
(c) 1853 Chile 5 centavos red brown used SG 1
(b) 1851 Nova Scotia 1d Red brown used - SG 1*
(d) 1855 South Australia 1d Green proof SG 1
* Please note that a star * after the stamps descriptor indicates and expert's certificate is held for the item.
1855 2d Black Queen Victoria Plate Proof block of 4*
Full Face Queens
1855
London Proofs
Proofs are a necessary process to ensure that the initial design is successful in meeting the needs of the designer, the customer, and the printer. Proofs are a feedback mechanism for all three groups to make alterations to the design, the die and/or plates and/or the process.
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There are two types of proofs. Die proofs are printed to check the design of the image before the dies are then used to create the plates. Any design issues need to be addressed at this stage as it would be impossible to 'fix' any design aspects once the plate is made - you would need to start the process again - not an inexpensive option.
Plate proofs are then printed to ensure the plates are giving an excellent reproduction of all images. In the case of the Chalons of NZ there were 240 images per plate - 20 rows of 12. Conveniently this means a sheet of 1d stamps is £1 while a row is 1/-.
Plate proofs produced by Perkins, Bacon for the 1d, 2d and 1/- are shown below. Look how clean and crisp the design is. Perhaps one of the things overlooked by the three groups was the proximity of the individual prints to each other on the sheet, ensuring that separating the stamps by any method was going to be a challenge, but more on separations later.
1855 1d Black Queen Victoria Plate Proof block of 4*
1855 2d Black Queen Victoria Plate Proof block of 4*
1855 1/- Black Queen Victoria Plate Proofs (2)*