New Zealand Stamps. 1935 Pictorials

NZ 1935 Pictorials

This post is about a journey exploring New Zealand (NZ) stamps.  More accurately it is the pursuit of a particular issue, the 1935 Pictorials.

In the DigiClerk Stamp Collection there are already two sets of 1935 Pictorials. This photo shows two pages of stock book ‘011’ with a colour copy of one 1935 Pictorials set to the left and the makings of the set to the right. The aim is to find, amongst the many other albums, stock books and individual stamps, more stamps for this set. 

Stock book versus Album

We were baffled by the different nomenclature. Albums are for displaying collections and sets whilst stock books are better for sorting stamps for sale or prior to putting them in an album. Perhaps you could tell us different?

Along the way of this continuing journey we have found so many resources that we did not know existed.

Resource 1. Stamp Albums

The first resource is the detail from ‘The Premier New Zealand Stamp Album. An illustrated loose leaf album for the Stamps of New Zealand and her Antarctic Territories’.  Published by Philatelic Distributors Ltd, PO Box 863, New Plymouth, NZ.  We are not sure when this album was produced but Philatelic Distributors Ltd still exist.  Perhaps they could tell us!  Anyway, the text at the top of the page gives us some background to the stamps, their designers and printers

“1935 Pictorials. Issued on 1 May 1935. This issue was introduced to replace the George V definitives which had been on sale for nearly 20 years. A competition was held in 1931 to get designs for the series.  Designers: J Fitzgerald, 1/2d, 4d; CH & RG Collins, 1d; M Matthews 1 1/2d; HW Young, 2d; LC Mitchell, 2 1/2 d, 3 d, 8d, 1/-, 3/-; RE Tripe & WJ Cooch, 5d; TI Archer, 6d; IF Calder, 9d, IH Jenkins, 2/-.  Printers: De La Rue & Co, then Waterlow & Sons, then The Government Printer.”

It is perhaps unsurprising that these names keep reappearing across other sets.

Resource 2. Stamp catalogues.

The second resource we stumbled upon when visiting our local charity shop, Sue Ryder.

We found a a copy of ‘New Zealand Concise Stamp Catalogue’ published by Stanley Gibbons in 1990.

On page 15 you can find black and white images of the stamps and illustrates some of the errors and imperfections.

Page 16 lists the designers  which, thankfully, matches with those of Resource 1!  The stamps are listed with a catalogue number on the left.  The face value of the stamp is shown to the left of the colour of the stamp.

Sale prices or on the right in two columns.  The left hand column is the price for unused stamps and the right hand side column for used stamps.

Before you comment please note these are the sale price of Stanley Gibbons stamps from 1990.  To find a more up to date value for the stamps take a look at the Stanley Gibbons website.  £150 for 2d Maori House over stamped with ‘Official’!

Resource 3. Websites

The websites of stamp sellers and auctioneers are an excellent resource. They sources of information but also, what you all want to know, give current sale prices for stamps.

Empire Philatelists

The DigiClerk collection is based mainly around New Zealand and Australia so, a natural source, is Empire Philatelists. The set we are examining was first printed in 1935 so we will look at New Zealand stamps of this era (George V). Also DigiClerk stamps are mainly used so we will look at the used page first and, I bet you will, sort them highest to lowest price.  See the page here.

There are many other stamps of that era but we need to focus on those from the pictorial set.  The one and only stamp that appears is the 6d agriculture stamp valued at £4.  This is a bit disappointing.  The set ran for a while so we can look at the George VI ear but nothing appears there.  If we switch over to searching for mint stamps many more appear of greater value.  No surprise there.  There is a mint 6d agriculture stamp worth £13.

Commonwealth Stamp Store

Another online source of information is the Commonwealth Stamp Store.  We will look at the New Zealand King George V page.  Delightfully the first stamp up is a fine mint Maori House stamp. Error reverse print worth £178.  Then we start to find 4d Mitre Peaks for £80.  There are many more from the 1935 pictorial set on this site.

Stamps New Zealand

Another, more functional, resource is Stamps NZ and the 1935 Pictorials Page  Look at the detail and sale prices here.

Armed with the resources we will now go and seek all the other New Zealand stamps from this 1935 pictorial set.  We will then go through and see which ones we will sell.  Watch this space for more!