On October 3rd New Zealand issued the Christmas set of postage stamps for 2012. Since 1960 there has been a Christmas issue every year. Very attractive stamps, I am particularly pleased with them.
This year there are five stamps and three adhesives, each depicting a scene from the story of the birth of Christ. I like the design of these stamps. They have "Merry Christmas" with the name "New Zealand" at the top. Then down each side of the centre picture are leaves and flowers from the native tree, the pohutukawa, New Zealand's Christmas Tree, which produces bright scarlet flowers at Christmas time. Below the picture is the value and a silver fern. A very New Zealand stamp! I like that.
In the two stamps below are the wise men from the East who have travelled far, following a bright star until they found the baby Jesus and brought Him precious gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
This year there are five stamps and three adhesives, each depicting a scene from the story of the birth of Christ. I like the design of these stamps. They have "Merry Christmas" with the name "New Zealand" at the top. Then down each side of the centre picture are leaves and flowers from the native tree, the pohutukawa, New Zealand's Christmas Tree, which produces bright scarlet flowers at Christmas time. Below the picture is the value and a silver fern. A very New Zealand stamp! I like that.
70c - Mary and Joseph with Jesus. $1.40 - The Shepherds. $1.90 - The Angel of the Lord.
In the two stamps below are the wise men from the East who have travelled far, following a bright star until they found the baby Jesus and brought Him precious gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
$2.40 - The Three Wise Men Bring Gifts. $2.90 - The Three Wise Men Travelling.
Below are these five stamps on the official First Day Cover. Notice the cover and the official date stamp both feature the pohutukawa flower (New Zealand's Christmas Tree.)
Three Adhesive Stamps.
70c - Mary and Joseph with Jesus. $2.40 - The Three Wise Men Bring Gifts.
$1.90 - The Angel of the Lord.
Technical information
Date of issue:
| 3 October, 2012. |
|---|---|
Number of stamps:
| Five gummed and three self-adhesive stamps |
Denominations:
| Gummed: 70c, $1.40, $1.90, $2.40 and $2.90. Self-adhesive: 70c, $1.90 and $2.40. |
Stamps designed by:
| Donna McKenna, Wellington |
Printer and process:
| Gummed stamps and dispenser box stamps: Southern Colour Print Ltd by offset lithography. Booklets: Australia Post, Sprintpack, Australia. |
Number of colours:
| Four process colours (self-adhesive tagged with red phosphor). |
Stamp size and format:
| Gummed: 30mm x 40mm (vertical). Self-adhesive: 25mm x 30mm (vertical) |
Paper type:
| Gummed: Tullis Russell 104gsm red phosphor gummed stamp paper. Dispenser box stamps: Avery Dennison B90 Kraft Black WLK5 Adhesive 210gsm. Booklets: B100 self-adhesive stamp paper. |
Stamps per sheet:
| 25 |
Perforation gauge:
| Gummed: 14. Self-adhesive: die cut |
Special blocks:
| Plate/Imprint blocks may be obtained by purchasing at least six stamps from a sheet. Barcode blocks are available in both A and B formats |
Period of sale:
| Unless stocks are exhausted earlier, these stamps will remain on sale until 2 October 2013 |
Some of the images in this post were used with permission from the illustrated catalogue of StampsNZ
You can visit their website and Online Catalogue at, http://stampsnz.com/
Information for this post came from.
Glad you like these Allan! Like all stamp issues it's a challenge to create a pleasing composition without looking cluttered. All seems simple but each issue starts with a blank 'canvas'. The brief required five different elements-country, subtitle 'merry christmas', denomination, fern symbol plus the main image which has a different composition in itself for each stamp. And of course the stamps to visually fit together as a 'family' unit. The sixth element- the pohutukawa was an additional decorative element and to give cohesion and distinguish the stamps as Kiwi Christmas. Donna
ReplyDeleteThank you Donna.
DeleteI am Mary one of the co-authors of this blog. I've sent Allan an email telling him about your comment here. I'm sure he will reply soon.
Really nice to have one of the stamp designers comment here. I think what attracts me about your designs is that although there are a lot of elements as you said above, they do not appear cluttered. The background colours standout well too, provides a difference to each value but still shows they are all a family.
Thanks again
Mary
Well this is a nice surprise.
DeleteThank you Donna for your comment above. We are pleased you like what we have done here.
It was interesting how you described designing this set, balancing the various elements to achieve the design you wanted. As I said above I like your designs here.
Since one of this blog's goals is to look at the designs of stamps I been thinking about doing a series of posts on various designers of New Zealand stamps. Now I would like to find out more about how you design stamps and maybe feature you in a post. Please contact me via a comment that we won't publish or via E-mail.
Thanks Allan.