NZ's first postage stamps go on sale

These adhesive, non-perforated stamps for the prepayment of postage were the famous ‘Chalon Head’ design showing Queen Victoria in her coronation robes.

New Zealand issued its first postage stamps 15 years after they appeared in Britain. The three stamps in the Full Face Queen set – one penny (1d), twopence (2d) and one shilling (1s) – were printed in Britain. Other values were added later.

The first stamp designed in New Zealand was a halfpenny (½d) stamp issued on 1 January 1873. This had a side view of Queen Victoria’s head and was known as the ‘Newspaper’ stamp because it was often used as payment for posting a newspaper.

New Zealand has long been a stamp trendsetter. In 1893 we became the first country in the world to put advertising on the back of stamps. (The Post Office soon withdrew these because people disliked licking the ink.) In April 1898 New Zealand was one of the first countries in the world to place images of the countryside, birds and animals on its stamps.

New Zealand was also one of the first countries to introduce a ‘penny universal’ stamp. The idea was that all countries would charge a standard amount for postage, making it easier to send letters internationally. New Zealand’s penny universal stamp was issued on New Year’s Day 1900, when post offices opened specially for an hour to sell it. (Its value was equivalent to about 75c in 2015). Although a number of other countries soon adopted the idea, Australian authorities threatened to return letters carrying only the penny stamp.

Image: New Zealand’s first stamps (NZ Post)