On stamps on stamps

In December of 1864, a 1d rate was imposed on the delivery of newspapers in New Zealand. Throughout the following decade, the rate was removed, replaced and changed several times, until finally a rate of ½d was introduced on 1 January 1873. In conjunction with the reduction in price, a special newspaper stamp was issued for the payment of this fee.

The stamp was the first where the design and printing plate production and preparation and printing plates themselves were completed in New Zealand. It was designed by John Davies, the Government Printer, based on that of a contemporary English ½d stamp of Great Britain and with a side view of a young Queen Victoria’s head. Across the top are the words ‘New Zealand’, and down each side is the value, with ‘Newspaper Postage’ printed across the bottom.

So that the stamp would be ready for issue in January 1873, 717,600 were printed in 1872. The stamps were surface printed in Wellington. The last printing was in 1892, and the stamp remained in use until 1895 when it was superseded by the ½d black Second Sideface issue.

To showcase the design of the original stamp, the 1873 Newspaper Stamp issue has a ‘stamp on stamp’ treatment. In the past century, NZ Post has issued several commemoratives in this style.

The 2009 Children's Health80th Anniversary stamp issue commemorated the 80th anniversary of Te Puna Whaiora - the New Zealand Foundation for Child and Family Health and Development. The stamps in this issue featured reproductions of

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1873

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1873 Newspaper Stamp miniature sheet first day cover. 2 2009 Children's Health - 80th Anniversary 50c stamp.

3 Christmas 2010 $2.90 stamp. 4 historical Children’s Health stamps, which were partly funded through annual sales of health stamps and covers. Issued between 1929 and 2016, the popular stamps and their accompanying posters were also used to promote a vision of New Zealand as +a healthy, humanitarian country.

150 Years of Stamps 1905-1955 $1.35 stamp.

In 2010 NZ Post commemorated the 50th anniversary of the issue of Christmas stamps. Printed with metallic silver, the stamps featured images of stamp sheets from popular Christmas issues of the previous halfcentury.

The 60c Christmas 1960 gummed stamp, New Zealand’s very first Christmas stamp, depicted Rembrandt’s painting ‘The Adoration of the Shepherds’. The $1.20 1970 3c gummed stamp showcased a stamp featuring the window from the First Presbyterian Church in Invercargill. The $2.40 stamp featured the 1983 Christmas 45c stamp, which depicted the Southern Cross and the Star of Bethlehem. Finally, the $2.90 stamp looked back at a Mary and Baby Jesus stamp issued in the year 2000.

Christmas stamps are still issued by NZ Post annually, and are the most popular recurring stamp issues.

In 2005 we celebrated the 150th anniversary of New Zealand’s first stamps with a superb 'collector's collection' - 15 stamps that together represented some of the country's landmark issues as judged by nominees from the New Zealand Philatelic Federation. In 2005 the stamps were released in three instalments: March (1855 - 1905), April (1905 - 1955) and June (1955 - 2005).

You can find more examples of historical stamps, including those with stamp-on-stamp reproductions, in the historical stamps section of our website.