1974 Anniversaries

The next Anniversaries Issue features three vertical format stamps. I've mentioned before that this is one aspect that I like about these issues is that each year the stamps seem to have a similar appearance although they celebrate widely different events/organisations. 

In 1974, one stamp celebrated the Centenary of Napier
and two stamps celebrated the Centenary of the Universal Postal Union.

Centenary of Napier.


4c - Spirit of Napier.

          This stamp depicts the fountain "Spirit of Napier" at the southern end of Napier's Marine Parade.  Napier is the ninth largest city in New Zealand, with a population of just over 61, 000. The city is sited on the shoreline of Hawke Bay and is the main port for Hawke's Bay province.  The first European visitors to the Napier area were whalers, who operated seasonally from a base at Ahuriri during the 1830s and 1840s. A mission station was established there in 1844 by William Colenso.


Centenary of the Universal Postal Union.
The Universal Postal Union is a unique organisation which creates a single world postal territory without frontiers, and enables freedom of transit for mail anywhere.  Seventy thousand million overseas letters annually criss-cross over one hundred and forty nine postal administrations throughout the world.

                         
5c - Clock Tower in Berne.                                   8c - Emblem of the Postal Union.


5c - This stamp features the Clock Tower in Berne. 
8c - The emblem of the Universal Postal Union.
The first International Postal Congress opened at Berne, Switzerland in September 1874.  The Congress held fourteen meetings, in the course of which a draft convention prepared by Dr Von Stephan was discussed, amended and completed.  On 9 October 1874,  "a treaty concerning the establishment of a General Postal Union to be effective from 1 July 1875" was signed.



First Day Covers.
Centenary of Napier FDC
Notice the picture shows the famous statue Pania of the Reef.
See our post - Pania of the Reef.

 The UPU First Day Cover.
The two globes convey the idea of the UPU covering the world.

 First Day Cover for the 1974 Anniversaries.

Technical information

                              Date of Issue:
3 April 1974
                              Designers:
V Jepsen, Christchurch
                              Printers:
Courvoisier. Switzerland
                              Stamp Size:
26mm x 41mm
                              Sheet Size:
100 stamps per sheet
                              Process:
Photogravure
                              Perforation Gauge:   
11.5
                              Paper Type:
Granite, unwatermarked


Some of the images in this post were used with permission from the illustrated catalogue of StampsNZ
You can visit their web site and On-line Catalogue at, http://stampsnz.com/


Information for this post came from.