1925 Dunedin Exhibition - New Zealand & South Seas

Recognize this guy?



He is in the corners of the 1925 New Zealand commemorative set for the NZ and South Seas Exhibition in 1925-26, a world's fair that drew 3 million in paid attendance in a country of 1.25 million people.



The design depicts the view down the Grand Court toward Festival Hall.

The stamps were printed by the Government Printing Office in New Zealand using typography on Cowan chalk-surfaced paper, with each stamp being a different color, and printed on a different paper.



These are SG 463-465, Scott 179-181.

In looking for some information on the exhibition, I saw quite a bit of ephemera online.

Very nice stamps. Kind of a nasty depiction of a Maori warrior though. Guess 1925 wasn't the acme of native awareness.

According to NZ Post's website, "The outside frame was copied from a Maori taniko pattern." That might mean that the depiction was also copied from the native design?

Beautiful stamps!
expensive?

Not in the grand scheme of things. £32 Mint, £85 used

Almost all of the value is in the high value.

There is also a "POSTAGF" error in the high value, and inverted watermarks in the other two.

Hmmmm not in the grand scheme perhaps,
but looks like I shan't own them :(

I'll keep a watch at local auctions for these.

The poking out of the tonge, is part of the "Haka"
I believe, a native custom, see wiki...

Various actions are employed in the course of a performance, including facial contortions such as showing the whites of the eyes and the poking out of the tongue, and a wide variety of vigorous body actions such as slapping the hands against the body and stamping of the feet. As well as chanted words, a variety of cries and grunts are used. Haka may be understood as a kind of symphony in which the different parts of the body represent many instruments. The hands, arms, legs, feet, voice, eyes, tongue and the body as a whole combine to express courage, annoyance, joy or other feelings relevant to the purpose of the occasion.

See the Haka, New Zealand v Tonga for some idea....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eGCsEQ15L4