Nice feature, Rob. It's always good to know the background to stamp issues (when that can be established, which is not always the case).
Thanks Ian. Whenever I find enough information I will add it to the stamps. Finding info for the "Smiling Boys" took many months. Hopefully I will be able to find the 1929 and 1930 stamps depicting a nurse, which is on my wish list.
I have seen many of the 1929 & 1930 issues but none in well centred to superb centring, eventually I will, I already have a story to write about them.
Rob
By the start of the great depression in 1929, the world went into a free-fall of financial ruin, felt right across the board, from banks to businesses to the public.
By 1931 New Zealand was affected by the world-wide financial depression and as a means of raising more revenue for public expenditure the Government increased postal rates on 26 June 1931, the universal letter rate being raised from 1d to 2d.
A printing plate for the new 1d +1d Health stamp had already been produced in England when the postage rates were increased. As there was insufficient time for a second 2d + 1d plate to be produced overseas, the new plate was produced locally by W.R. Bock.
The stamps were originally intended to help pay for the fight against tuberculosis, the anti-tuberculosis cross on the top left, and on its immediate left a small southern cross.
The sum raised for the Summer Health camps was a meagre £778, the lowest recorded from the sales of these special issues. The effects of the depression were such that the spending power of the public was greatly reduced, due to reduced incomes and increased taxation imposed by the Government.
Only 75,000 of the red boy and 112,000 of the blue boy were sold. The two stamps shown are in superb mint unhinged condition. A set of these stamps in this condition is rare.
Technical information
Date of issue:
31 October 1931
Designers:
L C Mitchell, Wellington
Printers:
Government Printing Office, New Zealand
Stamp size:
24mm x 40mm
Sheet size:
120 stamps per sheet
Process:
Surface printed - Typography
Perforation gauge:
14.5 x 14
Paper type:
Cowan chalk surfaced, NZ and star watermark
Period of sale:
These stamps remained on sale until 29 February 1932.
re: Short history of the troubled 1931 NZ Charity Stamp
Nice feature, Rob. It's always good to know the background to stamp issues (when that can be established, which is not always the case).
re: Short history of the troubled 1931 NZ Charity Stamp
Thanks Ian. Whenever I find enough information I will add it to the stamps. Finding info for the "Smiling Boys" took many months. Hopefully I will be able to find the 1929 and 1930 stamps depicting a nurse, which is on my wish list.
I have seen many of the 1929 & 1930 issues but none in well centred to superb centring, eventually I will, I already have a story to write about them.
Rob