Welcome to New Zealand Stamp Images, a site on New Zealand philately: postage stamps, airmails and postal history.

Search site for items of interest.

We have articles on topics such as New Zealand first flight covers, blitz perfs and the classic Queen Victoria stamps, the Chalon heads.

Each article illustrates a particular point and sometimes raises questions. In addition, we describe New Zealand's early air mail history through examples of commercial airmail covers, not just first flight covers.

The pages in each article are linked by arrows with other links to enable you to access more information or to follow the article in an order of your choosing.

Site map of New Zealand stamps, postal history, early airmail history

The starting page of each article is in bold. Dates refer to creation or last major revision (e.g. new scans). Most recent are marked . Minor revisions are made continually.

The full face queens (FFQ, Chalon heads)

• London and Richardson prints 1855-1861 17 Dec 12
• Davies imperforate issues 1862-1864 17 Dec 12
• Provisional papers and perforations 1862-1864 16 Sep 11
• Perforated issues 1864-1871
• New colours 1871-1873
• Postal history: letters to/from Great Britain 29 Jun 10
• Hausburg and Jolliffe reprints 29 Apr 10

Queen Victoria first sideface, 1874

• Halfpenny newspaper stamp 1873
• Postal history: letters NZ to England, 1876, 1879 1 May 09

Queen Victoria second sideface, 1882

• Recut dies of 1d, 2d and 6d
• Major flaws
• Postal history: letters to/from United Kingdom 13 Jan 09
• Adverts on back, 1893

1898 first pictorials, London prints

• Local issues, 1899
• Reduced size, 1907
• Fiscal cancellations

Penny Universal plates

• Waterlow trial plates
• Penny Dominion 22 Dec 12

King Edward VII definitives 27 May 13

• Christchurch & Auckland Exhibitions

King George V recess printed definitives 27 May 13

• Recess printed officials 20 Dec 12
• Fourpence 20 Dec 12
• Fivepence 20 Dec 12
• Surface printed
• Booklets 27 May 13
• 1920's Commemoratives
• 1930's Commemoratives 31 Jan 13, ANZAC plates 13 Dec 08

1929-30 Health issues 30 Jan 13

• 1931 Health issue (Smiling boys) 30 Jan 13
• 1932-1933 Health issues 30 Jan 13
• 1934 Health issue 30 Jan 13
• 1935-1937 Health issues 30 Jan 13
• 1938 Health issue 30 Jan 13
• 1939-1942 Health issues
• 1943 Health issue 5 Apr 13

1935 second pictorials

• Blitz perforations 8 Jan 10
  • Blitz plates 8 Jan 10
• ½d 11 Jan 10
• 1d dies and plates 3 Mar 10
  • Booklets 3 Mar 10
• 1½d 10 Jan 10, 2d 20 Feb 10,
• 2½d 9 Mar 10, 3d, 4d 29 Oct 09
• 5d 9 Jan 10, 6d 11 Jan 10, 8d 12 Jan 10, 9d
• 1/- 14 Jan 10, 2/-, 3/- 8 Jan 10

King George VI Definitives 9 Dec 08

• Pence plates 23 Apr 10, Shilling plates 9 Dec 08
• GVI Coronation 1937 14 Dec 08
• 1940 Centennial issue 10 Sep 09
• 1946 Peace issue 1 Jan 09
• 1948 Otago and 1950 Canterbury Centennial 29 Dec 08

Early airmail history

New Zealand airmail stamps:the first issue,1931

• Highfield cover, 9 Nov 1931
• The 1935 issue
• Airmail Booklets 9 Apr 10

Experimental internal airmails, 1930-1932 16 Dec 12

• Christchurch - Dunedin, 6 Nov 1930
• Dominion Airlines, 1930-31
• Christchurch - Timaru: 10th Anniversary, January 1931
• Hawkes Bay Earthquake Emergency Flights, Feb 1931 19 Dec 09
• Gisborne Air Transport, 1931-32 10 May 10
• Kaitaia Aero Club service to Auckland, 1931
• Nov 12 Christmas flight (and return), 1931
• Christmas Eve flights, 1931
• Auckland - Gisborne, 10 Dec 1931 20 Aug 11
• Wellington - West Coast, 20 Jan 1932
• Air Pageants: Invercargill and Timaru, 1932
• Wellington - Dannevirke, 16 March 1932
• Auckland - North Auckland, 30 April 1932
• Hokitika - Okuru, September 1932
• Christmas Eve flights, 1932

Regular internal airmails 1934 - 1938

• South Westland, 1934 20 Oct 10
• East Coast Airways, 1935
• Union & Cook Strait Airways, March 1936
• Experimental Union extension to Invercargill, 1936
• Cook Strait extension to Hokitika, 1937 8 Sep 09
• Union Airways Auckland service, 1937
• East Coast extension, 1937
• Emergency Flights, June 1940

Connections via Australia and India 1911-1941 15 Dec 12

• Coronation Aerial Post to New Zealand, 1911 16 March 10
• Imperial Airways Eastern route 1927-1940 14 Dec 12
  • Baghdad-Cairo, 1921-27
  • Basra-Cairo, 1927
  • Imperial Airways: First London-Karachi, 1929
  • Imperial Airways: Later London-Karachi, 1929 23 Jun 10
  • Northerly Route and extension to Delhi, 1929 23 Jul 09
  • via Salonica, April 1930 17 Jul 09
  • Route via Italy 1931 - 1932 16 Jan 13
  • Competition from KLM, 1931-38
  • Extension to Calcutta,Rangoon,Singapore
  • Extension to Hong Kong, 1936-40
• NZ via Karachi 1929 - 34 27 Feb 12
• NZ via Adelaide-Perth 1929 - 4 Mar 13
• NZ connections with ANA and New England Airways 1930-34 18 Feb 12
• Experimental UK-Australia airmail, 1931 1 May 13
• Dutch flight to Australia, 1931 1 May 13
• Christmas airmail to UK, Kingsford Smith and Scotty Allan, 1931 and return 16 Dec 09
• NZ - Tasmania, 1931 - 1934 16 Dec 09
• NZ Airmail to Africa, 1932 4 Mar 12
• NZ Airmail to Persia, 1932
• Bega - Sydney - NZ, 1934
• Regular airmail Australia - UK, Dec 1934 7 Sep 10
  • Crashes: Scipio 1936, Cygnus, 1937, Calpurnia 1938, Belfast 1954 6 Dec 09
• Imperial Airways Eastern Route (- NZ), 1935 - February 1937 27 May 13
• Imperial Airways Eastern Route (- NZ), February 1937 - July 1938 30 Oct 11
• Empire airmail scheme, 1938-39 28 Mar 11
• US - NZ via Trans-Atlantic Airmail, 1939 20 Jan 12
• Early World War II: September 1939 - April 1940 21 Dec 10
• Survey flights between New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga, 1939 4 Mar 09
• First Regular Tasman airmail (TEAL) April 1940 9 Feb 10
• Entry of Italy to WW 2, June 1940 16 Apr 13
• Early Horseshoe Route, June - August 1940 9 Jun 12
• Horseshoe Route to / from New Zealand 19 Aug 11
• Forces Mail, 1940-45 16 Apr 13
• End of the Horseshoe Route 18 Dec 12
• Air Mail Across Indian Ocean, 1944-45 16 Nov 10

Experimental Trans-Tasman airmails 1934 - 1938

• 1st official trans-Tasman airmail, Feb 1934
  • Ulm flight to NZ, Dec 1933 4 May 09
  • Auckland-Invercargill, December 1933
• Kingsford Smith airmail, March 1934
• 1st airmail from Australia & rtn, April 1934
• Goodwill airmail May 1934
• First airmail to New Guinea, 1933, July 1934 and 1938 3 Oct 09
• MacRobertson Air Race, October 1934
• Attempted Jubilee airmail 1935
  • Cancelled New Zealand - Australia flight, 1935
• Clouston-Ricketts record flight, 1938

New Zealand - US and Canada 1926-40 11 Feb 13

• US to NZ via Hawaii, Philippines, Hong Kong and Macau, 1935 and 1937 15 May 12
• Pan American Airways to USA 1938 14 Jan 10
• First Regular US-NZ Airmail, July 1940 3 May 10
• First Regular NZ-US Airmail, July 1940 12 Nov 11
• NZ - US Pan Am Airmails: August 1940 - Oct 1941 5 Dec 12
• Other Airmail Services: New Zealand-US-UK, 1940-41 31 Jan 11
• Addition of Fiji to FAM 19, Nov 1941 3 May 2010
• End of Pan American Service, December 1941 10 May 11
• New Zealand - US - UK: 1942-44 5 Apr 13
• New Zealand Prisoner of War Mail 20 Jan 2012
• US Military Post Offices in New Zealand 6 Jan 11
• Airgraph Service 8 Jun 11

'Back of the book'

1867 revenues 22 Dec 11

• Law Courts & Land and Deeds: 1876-1881
• Penny Revenue: 1878
• Queen Victoria Longtype: 1880-1931
• Counterpart, Denoting, Fine, Indemnity
• Life Insurance: 1891-1947
• Railway Newspaper Stamps: 1890-1925
• Railway Charges Stamps: 1925

Many sites dealing with New Zealand philately are listed in the links page.
My philatelic publications are listed here.
I can be contacted at nzsgb1 AT googlemail.com (Replace AT with the usual @.)

New Zealand Society of Great Britain

This page is not part of the official site of the New Zealand Society of Great Britain although it is maintained by the same person. The Society's site includes a membership application form and a table of contents of its journal The Kiwi.

Another link is the support site for the third edition of my book, but be warned that it has nothing to do with stamps!

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Visits since 20 Feb 2008

All scans were made by the author. Copyright © 2013 Robert Clark. For personal, non-commercial, charitable and educational use only.