HI From New Zealand

Many years ago (too many really) I was given a shoe box full of stamps. What I did not realise at that moment was that all the stamps were the same....... or were they?

The box was full of the 1901 New Zealand Penny Universals. For many years they stayed in the box because "what was the use of a box of stamps that all looked the same".

Then a very good friend of mine who collected stamps as a hobby suggested that maybe they were notall the same because he had seen in a catalogue somewhere where there were different prints, well so he thought.

So I picked out a couple of these Universals and tried to spot any differences. As far as I could tell there were none so I tossed them back in the box.

Another couple of years went by when I met another collector who also had a Philatelic shop and he suggested that I let him have a look at the box to see if there were any interesting varieties amongst them. After a few minutes he had several piles in front of him and claimed them to be different prints from different plates.

Well this intrigued me because for the life of me I still could not see any differences between these red pieces of paper.

My new found friend then spent many patient hours pointing out the differences and from there the Penny Universal has been a life long study for me.

The same can be said for the NZ Penny Dominion, the 1898 1d Lake Taupo, all of the 1898 Pictorial series.

Now I specialise in Plate reconstructions.

Apart from that I am married with two children who are both grown and married and with two children of their own.

I work in Radio and TV Broadcasting with one of the largest Broadcasters here in New Zealand heading up a Technical team that looks after all the IT and Technical aspects of the company.

Cheers to all

Roly

Hi Roly! Good to have you here at last.

Cheers
Dave

Hi Roly,

Welcome to the SCF.

Steve

Welcome to SCF Roly

Dianne

Hi Roly:

There are lots of friendly and knowledgeable folks here -- sounds like you'll fit right in

KirkS

Welcome Roly! Very nice story and how far that box of "identical" stamps took you.

Nice website too - (a couple of broken links)

I have quite a few of those 1d Dominion stamps overprinted Rarotonga, some with positional varieties:

That is an interesting story for how one became a collector.

BeeSee,

If you email me a 600dpi copy of your image above I am sure I could plate that one exactly for you :)

Cheers

Roly

Thanks Roly, I will email it to you when I get home.

Welcome Kiwi... You've got more patience than I.

BeeGee

Love it when a plan comes together :)

Your two stamps shown above are

Plate 12, Row 6, 21 & 22

Real nice clean copies and nice ones to have.

Perhaps a dedicated Forum should be set up for the Penny Universals and the Penny Dominions where folks can post what they have and I will do my best to plate them ??

Cheers

Roly

WElcome Roly !



Sounds like a good idea.
Start your own thread for the Penny Universals and Dominions, sure it will be a hot topic.

Enjoy the group, it's friendly and DTE.

Londonbus1.....Not yet a NZ collector.

Welcome Roly, you can share your knowledge here and no one will throw rotten fruit

Thanks Roly! Yes, start a thread on the stamps, I have more from Rarotonga that need to be plated.

Oh now I remember:
"Staying alive...oh oh oh oh....staying alive..."

Welcome, Roly. Great stuff! I'm looking forward to reading more.

Collin