
![]() 1905 New Zealand Government Life Insurance Lighthouses Without V.R. "The original design of Government Life's first stamp was drawn by departmental secretary W. B. Hudson. For a motif he decided on a symbolic lighthouse and may have been inspired by the best-known of all such structures, the Eddystone Light on the Cornish Coast near Plymouth, England. It had been completed only eight years earlier, at a time when New Zealand was beginning to weather the effects of a lengthy economic downturn. Eddystone stood on a solid foundation which could resist waves raised by the fiercest of gales and so was an eminently suitable symbol for insurance purposes. It represented an immovable structure and, extending the metaphor, sent out a message of hope to those battered by the storms of economic uncertainty." Read more ... ![]() 1973 Steam Locomotives The 4 cent stamp has an "X" Class Locomotive which were among the first four cylinder compound locomotives built in the world. Read more ... 1962 Telegraph Centenary Did you know that interestingly, during the Second World War Siemens and Halske produced the T52 German teleprinter cipher machine codenamed Sturgeon by British cryptanalysts? Read more ... | |||||||||||||