EDWARD VIII STAMPS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19128, 24 September 1936, Page 6

EDWARD VIII STAMPS

SIMPLE DESIGN CHOSEN THE HEAD THE FEATURE Although the first postage stamps of the new reign are now "on trial" in Britain, they are to be. supplied as n matter of course only for a limited time. After that tho issue of 'King George V stamps will continue, until -stocks are exhausted and the Edward Till stamps will be, sold only if asked for. The new stamps are of the same size and the same rich colour as the existing issue. The head of the King—the dominating feature of the stamps—is displayed on a shaded background, the tone of 'which deepens toward the left, to which the King's head is looking. The denomination is indicated in plain white, figures in the top left-band corner and balanced on the. right-hand top corner by a. drown in a tone corresponding to tho deep shading on the left of the background. The word "Postage" is in plain, lettering horizontally across the bottom of the stamp. The head is reproduced from a. photograph, An expert, philatelist said the extreme simplicity of the design—it might almost bo called an absence, of design—was much in fashion now with postage stamps. Thei new issue could only have philatelic value if it were withdrawn under criticism. Even thou it was unlikely that it would be valuable unless an error occurred in some of the printing. -It was regrettable that no artist, had been consulted for the design, but Britain's stamps never had been inspired so much by artists, as were those of tho United States or of the Dominions.

The great oddity of the new stamps was the. absence of the word "Revenue,"

which might cause confusion and raise questions whether they we're only \alict for postage and whether there were to be other stamps for deeds find documents bearing "revenue" stamps. He believed it was the first time that both "postage" and "revenue" had not been written on British stamps.

Tho new stamps have already reached Gisborne, being attached to air mail.