The New Zealand Penny Dominion - Up Close And Personal

Excellent presentation Roly. All my NZ 1d Dominions are overprinted Rarotonga (Cook Islands), some with margins. You already identified a pair I have as coming from Plate 12, R6, 21-22. I have posted it here again as it belongs in this thread.



This brings up a question: were all the Rarotonga overprints done on plate 12?

Also, you do not list the position of some of the varieties above - does that mean they are of unknown location or not constant.

For those wondering, TAI PENE means "One Penny" in Rarotongan (a Polynesian language). It is pronounced TAH-EE PAY-NAY.

Great thread Roly !

A few questions if I may being a total dunce about this and other NZ stamps.

The catalogue value of the stamp is low. So why do small varieties like the ones you have shown, suddenly make them expensive?

Constant and Non-constant varieties on a similar scale from other countries barely gain in value. Is it just supply and demand or is it because it is NZ? Sorry for the dumb question but it's something that has often intrigued me.

And how expensive are the varieties ?

Londonbus1

Beautiful posting, Roly.

It obviously took you a while to scan and post all that info. But probably not as long as it took to acquire all those varieties

We appreciate you sharing.
Kirk

Hi Roly

I really enjoyed this thread and found it quite interesting.

I also really appreciate the fact that people such as yourself are more than willing to share their expertise on any particular topic.

Thanks a lot.

Bujutsu

Hi Roly

I really enjoyed this thread and found it quite interesting.

I also really appreciate the fact that people such as yourself are more than willing to share their expertise on any particular topic.

Thanks a lot.

Bujutsu

Londonbus1

The flood gates open

So that this lot does not get oo complex I have confined this small study to only Plate 12 and Plate 13. There were other plates used for the Booklet series of this stamp but that is a very complex study in itself.

The first 7 flaws shown above are the "recognised" major flaws in this series. The other flaws to do with the left and right shields are constant flaws but recognised as being major I guess

The nice thing is that nearly ALL the 240 stamps which make up a full sheet have individual characteristics thus making it relatively easy to reconstruct full sheets from used examples.

When I qualify for privelege to link to another site I can show full sheets which I have reconstructed on my personal site dedicated to this and it's close cousin, the Penny Universal.

Certainly it is easy to tell if an example is from Plate 12 or Plate 13 (I will show scans this evening) and with about 95% certainty I can plate an example exacly if it is from Plate 12, and I am happy to do so provide I can view scans of at least 600dpi

Cheers

Roly

Roly, you will be up to 50 posts before you know it. Too bad I can't tell anyone your website is listed in your profile.

Very well done Roly,did enjoy your thread,
Thanks for posting mate.
Your neighbour across the pond

Quite interesting. I applaud your persistence and energy for digging so deep into one issue!

Very informative, Roly. It's neat when someone who is a specialist in a definitive issue of their own country lets the rest of us know about it. Too often we do not realize about these varieties; it's nice to learn about them. Something more to look for, which is always a good thing.

Were these issues surface printed? The flaws resemble the types of flaws on the surface printed issues of GB, the KGV and KGVI issues.

Roly, can you plate this single? I notice what could be a constant flaw, a dot between the globe at the bottom and the right shield.

BeeGee

Congrats on the nice clear scans, it certainly helps a lot in the Plating process.
The easy thing is to tell you that your last offering is Plate 12, Row 9/9.

However the far more interesting thing is to know how this conclusion was reached, right?

First off it is neccessay to determine if it is Plate 12 or Plate 13.

The secret lays in the bottom left hand scroll work where there is a slight flaw to look for.

So first off PLATE 12:



Note there is NO flaw in the decorative spiral.

Next up is PLATE 13:



Note the flaw in the decorative spiral. It can be quite difficult to pickup on worn stamps and of course if the postmark obliterates it

Next comes a series of flaws from the Transfer Plate.

These flaws were accumulative and so a stamp exhibiting say flaw 5 would also exhibit flaws 1 - 4.

A stamp exhibiting say flaw 3 would also exhibit flaws 1 - 2.

The flaws occured due to damage to the transfer roller and occur as constant flaws.

So lets start:

Flaw 1

The cross bar in the letter "A" of New Zealand appears to be at an angle sloping down left to right and is often misshapen.