1971 Anniversaries & Centennaries

        The commemorative issues of 1971 were divided into a list of smaller issues that appeared over the whole year. I've tried to tidy them up by arranging them into three posts. The first is on the Anniversaries & Centennaries of 1971. The second is on Special Events of 1971. The third is on Three City Centennaries of 1971. 

1971 - CWI/Rotary.
        The first two commemorative stamps were issued in February 1971, one for Rotary and the other for the Country Women's Institutes.

50th Anniversary Country Women's Institute
4c - 50th Anniversary of the New Zealand Country Women's Institutes.

The Country Women's Institutes have as their prime objective "assisting women to take an effective part in rural life and development".  The organisation actively fosters culture, friendship and handcrafts.  The Dominion Federation of New Zealand Country Women's Institutes is affiliated to the Association of Country Women of the World.
I am a member of our local group. It is a great organisation that does some good work in the community. When the house burnt down up the valley from us. The ladies did a great job helping that young couple get established again. I've also made some very good friends with ladies I have met at the meetings.

50th Anniversary Rotary New Zealand
10c - 50th Anniversary of Rotary in New Zealand.


New Zealand was the first Rotary District in the Southern Hemisphere and the Rotary stamp commemorated the 50th Anniversary of Rotary in New Zealand.  Rotary International is an organisation of business and professional people.The world wide organisation of Rotary International has as its motto "service above self - he profits most who serves best".  New Zealand had the first Rotary District in the Southern Hemisphere and its accomplishments have been outstanding, not only in the world of Rotary but in its service to the community.


Two First Day Covers can be seen below. The first is a special printed cover for this issue.

The second is a cover designed by the Post Office for use with any stamp issue.


1971 - Antarctic/UNICEF.
           This 1971 Commemorative Stamp Issue marked the 10th Anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty and the 25th Anniversary of the United Nations Children's Fund.

Antarctic Treaty 10th Anniversary
6c - The 10th Anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty.

The symbolic design is based on an impression of the constant high winds and swirling movement of the landscape - mountains, snowdrifts, storm-whipped seas and the transparent blues and greens which abound in Antarctica. The globe in the centre shows a map of Antarctica.
A very stylized stamp design. The meaning didn't occur to me until I found the explanation above. But now I kind of like it. 

United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) 25th Anniversary
7c - 25th Anniversary of the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund.

UNICEF was established in 1946 with the object of protecting children all over the world against hunger, disease and ignorance.  The stamp design features a child on a swing symbolising the celebration of what has been achieved.

Antarctic/UNICEF - First Day Cover.


1971 Lord Rutherford.
To commemorate the centenary of the birth of Lord Rutherford,
two commemorative stamps were issued.

Lord Rutherford Centenary of Birth.


1c - Alpha Particle Trace / Structure of the Atom.

7c - Nuclear Reaction Equation / Conversion of Nitrogen into Oxygen.


           Lord Ernest Rutherford (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937) was a New Zealand born scientist who graduated with a B.Sc. in chemistry and geology from Canterbury College (now the University of Canterbury). After also gaining a BA and MA, and doing two years research into electrical technology, he travelled to England for postgraduate study at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. During the investigation of radioactivity he coined the terms alpha and beta to describe the two distinct types of emitted radiation.

           In 1898 Rutherford was appointed to the chair of physics at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. His work there earned him the 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. From 1900 to 1903, Frederick Soddy and Rutherford collaborated on research into the transmutation of elements. Ernest Rutherford had demonstrated that radioactivity was the spontaneous disintegration of atoms. He noticed that a radioactive sample invariably took the same time for half the sample to decay — its "half-life". He created a practical application for this phenomenon, using this constant rate of decay as a clock to help determine the actual age of the Earth. His estimates showed that the Earth was much older than most scientists at that time believed.

            In 1907 Rutherford worked with Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden. It was his interpretation of these experiments that led him to the Rutherford model of the atom having a very small positively charged nucleus orbited by electrons. He became the first person to transmute one element into another when he converted nitrogen into oxygen.

            His research, along with that of his protégé Sir Mark Oliphant, was instrumental in the convening of the Manhattan Project to develop the first nuclear weapons.

            He is famously quoted as saying: "In science there is only physics; all the rest is stamp collecting."




Lord Rutherford - First Day Cover.


Technical information - CWI/Rotary.

                              Date of Issue:
10 February 1971
                              Designers:
L C Mitchell, Wellington
                              Printers:
Japanese Government Printing Bureau, Japan
                              Stamp Size:
42mm x 25mm
                              Sheet Size:
100 stamps per sheet
                              Process:
Photogravure
                              Perforation Gauge:   
13 x 13.5
                              Paper Type:
Chalk surfaced, unwatermarked

Technical information - Antarctic/UNICEF.

                              Date of Issue:
9 June 1971
                              Designers:
E Mayo, Christchurch
                              Printers:
Japanese Government Printing Bureau, Japan
                              Stamp Size:
25.5mm x 43mm
                              Sheet Size:
100 stamps per sheet
                              Process:
Photogravure
                              Perforation Gauge:    
6c : 13.5 x 13;  7c : 13 x 13.5
                              Paper Type:
Chalk surfaced, unwatermarked

Technical information - Lord Rutherford.

                              Date of Issue:
1 December 1971
                              Designers:
M Cleverley, Auckland
                              Printers:
Bradbury Wilkinson, England
                              Stamp Size:
40mm x 24mm
                              Sheet Size:
100 stamps per sheet
                              Process:
Lithography
                              Perforation Gauge:    
14
                              Paper Type:
Chalk surfaced, unwatermarked


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

Information for this post came from.

Comments