1901 Penny Universal
|
|
Cat. |
Mint Unhinged |
Mint Hinged |
Fine Used |
1d |
Zealandia |
14a |
$22.50 |
|
$11.25 |
|
$1.80 |
|
|
|
|
First Day Cover - 1 January 1901 |
14b |
|
|
|
|
$630.00 |
|
|
… 1d (14a) |
Postmaster-General (and later Prime Minister) Joseph Ward
had a plan to place New Zealand in the forefront of civilised countries in
the world, by reducing postage charges for letters to one penny from New
Zealand to almost any country in the world - Australia, the United States,
France and Germany were among those countries who would not accept such
letters, fearful of having to reduce their own postal charges to match.
Most of the countries who would accept the letters did so without offering
reciprocal postal rates. This also halved the cost of mailing letters
within New Zealand.
On New Years Day 1901, the first day of the
20th century and normally a bank holiday in New Zealand, Post Offices
around the country were open for the initial launch and within half an hour
of opening, the Wellington Post Office had sold around ten thousand of the
stamps.
Concern was raised in Government circles that Post Office
revenues would fall substantially with the reduction in postage rates, but
mail volumes increased sharply and 13 million more letters were sent in
1901 than in 1900. This increase in mail volume meant that by 1902 any
loses had been recovered.
The stamp was recess printed until 1908
when it was replaced by the surface printed Redrawn Pictorials. As well as
the sheets of 240 stamps, stamp booklets were manufactured and sold for the
first time containing 12, 24 or 30 stamps in panes of six with a halfpenny
surcharge to cover the extra production costs. Special coils of stamps for
a prototype stamp vending machine installed at the General Post Office in
Wellington were printed - these were a world first.
The stamp bears
the female figure of 'Zealandia', intended to become a figure of
national personification representing New Zealand in much the same way as
'Britannia' represents the United Kingdom. In the background a mail
boat is shown steaming past Mount Egmont / Taranaki.
There are three
different designs of the penny universal postage stamps which are easily
confused. The 1901 Penny Universal
(top left) has vertical shading on the globe. The wake at the bow of the
steamer is also far more impressive on the 1901 Penny Universal than later
designs. The 1909 King Edward VII
'penny dominion' (bottom) has a similar design to the 1907 Redrawn Pictorials penny (top
right) with 'Dominion of' added at the top of the stamp and
'universal postage' appearing on a scroll at the bottom of the
stamp. Both the 1909 King Edward
VII dominion and 1907 Redrawn
Pictorials penny stamps have diagonal shading lines on the globe behind
the figure of Zealandia.
Bibliography
The Postage Stamps of New Zealand (Volume I)
Edited by R. J. G. Collins and H. T. M. Fathers B.A. B.Sc.
Published 1938 by The Philatelic Society of New Zealand Incorporated
Pages 209 - 248, 572 - 573
The Postage Stamps of New Zealand Volume II
Edited by R. J. G. Collins FRPSNZ and C. W. Watts FRPSNZ
Published 1950 by The Royal Philatelic Society of New Zealand Incorporated
The Postage Stamps of New Zealand Volume IV
Edited by R. J. G. Collins FRPSNZ and C.W. Watts FRPSNZ
Published 1960 by The Royal Philatelic Society of New Zealand Incorporated
The Postage Stamps of New Zealand Volume VI
Edited by D. E. G. Naish FRPSNZ and K. J. McNaught FRPSNZ FRPSL
Publsihed 1975 by The Royal Philatelic Society of New Zealand Incorporated
The Postage Stamps of New Zealand Volume VIII
Edited by B. G. Vincent FRPSNZ
Published 1998 by The Royal Philatelic Society of New Zealand Incorporated (ISSN 0-9597883-1-X)
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