First Stamp of New Zealand

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New Zealand’s first postal stamps were issued on 18 July 1855. These stamps were called “Full Face Queens” as the design shows Alfred Chalon’s portrait of Queen Victoria on her coronation in 1837. The portrait of the queen is facing straight. The stamps were designed by William Humphrys and were printed by Perkins, Bacon & Co. of London. Stamps in three denominations - 1 penny , 2 penny and 1 shilling were printed, with more denominations added later, as well as printed in New Zealand with plates made in England. The stamps were printed without perforations, in 20 rows of 12 stamps, producing a sheet of 240 stamps.

1855 Full Face Queens New Zealand
Queen Victoria series issued between 1855 and 1872 by New Zealand. There are a huge number of varieties as there are different watermarks, perferation counts, etc. They are all pretty high value, the minimum I see in my old catalog is $40 and they go up to $1000+.

The first stamp that was designed in New Zealand was called “Newspaper stamp” as it was primarily used for newspaper that were sent by post. These stamps were issued on 1st January 1873. This stamp shows the side view of Queen Victoria.

New Zealand’s newspaper stamp

Image credit: Paul Fraser Collectibles, NZ post, Reddit

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