| | Cat. |
Mint Unhinged |
Fine Used |
4c |
Captain James Cook |
163a |
$0.45 |
|
$0.45 |
|
6c |
Sir Joseph Banks |
163b |
$2.70 |
|
$2.70 |
|
18c |
Doctor Daniel Solander |
163c |
$3.80 |
|
$3.80 |
|
28c |
1769 Chart of New Zealand |
163d |
$7.40 |
|
$7.40 |
|
|
Set of 4 |
163e |
$13.65 |
|
$13.65 |
|
56c |
Miniature Sheet with one 4 cent, one 6 cent, one 18 cent and one 28 cent stamp |
163f |
$21.60 |
|
$25.20 |
|
| ... Four Stamps : 4c (163a), 6c (163b), 18c (163c), 28c (163d) |
56c |
Miniature Sheet with one 4 cent, one 6 cent, one 18 cent and one 28 cent stamp - Tarapex Cachet |
163g |
$90.00 |
|
| ... Four Stamps : 4c (163a), 6c (163b), 18c (163c), 28c (163d) |
|
First Day Cover - 9 October 1969 |
163h |
|
|
$18.00 |
|
| ... 4c (163a), 6c (163b), 18c (163c), 28c (163d) |
|
Miniature Sheet First Day Cover - 9 October 1969 |
163i |
|
|
$31.50 |
|
| ... 56c (163f) |
|
Tarapex Cachet Miniature Sheet First Day Cover - 9 October 1969 |
163j |
|
|
$112.50 |
|
| ... 56c (163g) |
This issue commemorates the bi-centenary of Captain Cook's first voyage
to New Zealand.
In 1766, the Royal Society hired Lieutenant James
Cook to observe and record the 1769 transit of Venus across the Sun from
the Pacific Ocean with several other observations to be made from different
locations. However, a more pragmatic reason was relayed to Cook by the
Admiralty - to search the southern Pacific for signs of the unknown
southern land.
Other notable members on the expedition were
naturalists Sir Joseph Banks, Dr. Herman Spöring, Daniel Solander and
astronomer Charles Green.
The voyage departed Plymouth on August 26,
1768 reaching Tahiti, where she remained for the next three months while
preparations were made for observing the transit of Venus.
Her
ostensible mission now completed, she continued with her
"unannounced" tasks of charting the Southern Hemisphere. The
Endeavour sailed from Tahiti to New Zealand, where she spent the next six
months surveying and mapping the coast making only a few minor errors,
while under some harassment from the MÄori population. He made the first
recorded landing by Europeans in New Zealand at Poverty Bay near
Gisborne.
The Captain Cook Bicentenary issue marked two firsts.
For the first time in New Zealand, the set appeared in miniature sheet form
with the values
se-tenant. It
is also the first time that embossing was used on a New Zealand stamp to
make the head on each stamp stand out.
The four cent stamp has an
embossed side portrait of Captain James Cook with the transit of Venus
across the Sun and an Octant (reflecting quadrant) - a measuring instrument
used primarily in navigation.
The six cent stamp has an embossed
portrait of Sir Joseph Banks, the noted naturalist and an outline of HM
Bark Endeavour.
The eighteen cent stamp has an embossed portrait of
Doctor Daniel Solander, the botanist aboard the 'Endeavour' and an
outline of Matata (Rhaboothamnus Solandri), a native plant bearing his
name.
The twenty eight cent stamp has an embossed portrait of Queen
Elizabeth II and Captain Cooks chart of New Zealand.