NEW POSTAGE STAMPS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22087, 17 April 1935, Page 15

NEW POSTAGE STAMPS

PICTORIAL SERIES first issue on may i TYPICAL DOMINION DESIGNS A complete transformation in New Zealand's postage stamps will be seen on May 1, when the new pictorial issue, representative of characteristic features of the Dominion, will bo on sale at all post offices. Fourteen different stamps comprise the series, the denominations ranging from a halfpenny to 3s. It is nearly four years since the Postal Department announced that prizes would be offered for the best designs, which were judged by a well-qualified committee in New Zealand. The plates for printing were prepared in England, where the first impressions have been carried out. An initial experiment in which the photogravure process of reproduction was used did not come up to expectations, and the intaglio or line-engrav-ing process was finally adopted for all but one of the designs. The 9d denomination, representing a typical Maori carving, is reproduced in the shades always used by the Maori —red and black. It was found that lithography , was the best method of printing in this i case. : Description ol Series 1 A description of the series is as fol- » lows: —Halfpenny: The leading feature J a pied fantail (tiwakawaka) with the 1 tail feathers expanded, with a surrounding of clematis. The designer y Mr. James Fitzgerald, Christcb]} er j n . and the colour is bottle green. e j ng con _ A kiwi appearing against a backjj men _ of typical New Zealand scenery, ro i an( j ing the ti, or cabbage tree; wh re( i f ro m Southern Cross, Maori carvinj, 0 jmmetree fern sprays are also sliqtrated the designers are Miss C. H. prinMr. R. J. G. Collins, of Chjal-producing and the colour is guards. eve 0 n this Penny-halfpenny: A Maori ocesses denative costume lowering a ked inevitably into a boiling stream for cooi a t, present, designer is Mr. M. and ington, and the colour is cop Two-penny: A Maori cament of all in surroundings of tree fso very rapid," bage tree. The artist i: l 7 s > ™hich have Young, Auckland, and * n e p J? aS k . ~ ™ , , I a new era. marigold. Tv\o-penn\-hal jp o rt has been a bolder in vitrix blue streamMount Cook ranunculus is zieeds of 100 Mount Cook is printed in L silent _ and in the centre. The designer jiPrmetically C. Mitchell, Wellington. Thrf 1 * The head of a Maori girl anc j t j lo huia feather and a tiki, and to the top corner carved faces kno'ast, comkoruru. The artist is Mr. Mi tehees. the colour is chocolate. Fourpe Mitre Peak, Milford Sound, with »f the Imperial crown and the manuka in tiort, design. The designer is Mr. Fitzgeraloon and the colours are black and broivP'd tnsRe l )ia - ress Swordflsh and Tuatara Fivepeuny: A striped marlin fish broaching off Piercy Island, designers are Messrs. W. J. Cooch R. E. Tripe, Wellington, and the colour 1 is vivd Royal blue. Sixpenny: A har- , vesting scene with borders suggesting | Maori motifs. The stamp is the only i one of the series designed by an artist ' living outside the Dominion, Mr. T. I. Archer, of Nasik, India, and the colour ( is bright cherry. Eightpenny: The' , tuatara lizard, with Maori spiral de- • sign at the corners. Mr. Mitchell is j the designer, and the colour is brazil nut. ] Ninepenny: Maori carved ornamenta- ' tion. The artist is Mr. I. F. Calder, ! Wellington, and the colours are red and black. One shilling: The tui, against a bush background. The artist is Mr. Mitchell, and the colour is bottle-green Two shillings: The landing of Captain Cook at Poverty Bay in 1769. The artist is Mr. T. H. Jenkins, of Jnvercargill, and the colour is Cyprus green. Three shillings: Mount Egmont and Fanthain's Peak, with Maori motifs in the border. The designer is Mr. Mitchell, and the colours are golden brown and nigger brown. Collectors are to be catered for by the issue of a selection of six first-day envelopes bearing typical New Zealand views. They will be free, and available at the principal post offices. They will l>e withdrawn after the first day of the issue of the new stamps.