1905 New Zealand Government Life Insurance Lighthouses Without V.R.
|
|
Cat. |
Mint Unhinged |
Mint Hinged |
Fine Used |
½d |
Green |
18a |
$10.80 |
|
$5.40 |
|
$2.70 |
|
1d |
Red |
18b |
$10.80 |
|
$4.50 |
|
$1.80 |
|
|
(i) Blue |
18b1 |
$1,575.00 |
|
$675.00 |
|
$54.00 |
|
1½d |
Brown |
18c |
$10.80 |
|
$6.30 |
|
$4.50 |
|
|
(i) Black |
18c1 |
$112.50 |
|
$54.00 |
|
$18.00 |
|
2d |
Yellow |
18d |
$18.00 |
|
$9.00 |
|
$4.50 |
|
|
(i) Chestnut |
18d1 |
$9,000.00 |
|
$4,950.00 |
|
$324.00 |
|
|
(ii) Purple |
18d2 |
$130.50 |
|
$63.00 |
|
$45.00 |
|
3d |
Chocolate Brown |
18e |
$45.00 |
|
$27.00 |
|
$22.50 |
|
|
(i) Light Brown |
18e1 |
$144.00 |
|
$67.50 |
|
$45.00 |
|
6d |
Pink |
18f |
$45.00 |
|
$18.00 |
|
$45.00 |
|
|
|
|
Set of 6 |
18g |
$133.40 |
|
$66.70 |
|
$76.95 |
|
Early colonial life in New Zealand was risky. Shipwrecks
and fires at sea were common and the predominantly wooden early colonial
towns often caught fire. Accidents and deaths in the workplace were common
so there was considerable demand for life insurance.
The early
private life insurance companies were mutual funds which were owned by
their policy-holders. They usually sold whole-of-life policies, with the
sum assured paid out on the death of the insured person. Selling life
insurance was both fiercely competitive and highly prejudicial with agents
charging more to insure Maoris, Chinese or 'other men of colour'.
Special conditions also applied to persons connected in any way with the
manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquors.
Many could not afford
the high premiums and the financial stability of the early insurance
companies could not be guaranteed. So in 1869 the New Zealand Government
Life Insurance department was formed to offer low-cost life insurance to
gold miners with policies guaranteed by the New Zealand Government. The
business grew rapidly and by 1877 Government Life was larger than the
combined total of its competitors.
In common with other Government
departments, the life insurance department enjoyed franking privileges,
paying an annual amount to the Post and Telegraph Department to cover the
cost of postage on its correspondence. However there was a dispute between
the two departments regarding the calculation of postage costs. The matter
was referred to arbitration but the Insurance Department insisted on paying
future postage costs by the purchase of postage stamps. In 1890 the New
Zealand Government authorised a special set of stamps to be produced for
use by the New Zealand Government Life Insurance Department. The 1891
stamps were designed by the Secretary of the New Zealand Government Life
Insurance Department (Mr W. B. Hudson) in consultation with Mr J. F. Rogers
of the Government Printing Office. He chose the Eddystone Lighthouse from
Plymouth, England(*) which had recently been rebuilt as the departments
symbol for strength and security under adverse conditions. This was the
first postal stamp in the world to feature a
lighthouse.
----
(*) Whilst there is no official record that
the stamp design is of the Eddystone Lighthouse, when the stamps were
redesigned in 1947 by Mr James Berry (1947 New
Zealand Government Life Insurance Lighthouses), the then Government
Commissioner, Mr J. W. Macdonald, asked for one of the stamps to represent
Eddystone because it was so well-known and was used by the office as a
symbol of strength and security. The 3d Eddystone Lighthouse stamp from
that issue is the only stamp with twin rays of light which mirror the
design of the original stamps while none of the other lighthouses are
lit.
This quote is from the Government Life Insurance
Department's booklet for the 1947 issue:
"When the
department was founded in 1869, financial storms had proved too much for
many Life Assurance offices and New Zealand statesmen felt that "what
was required was an impregnable foundation and an immovable structure that
for all time would send out a message of hope to those distressed by the
storms of adversity". Hence the selection of the lighthouse as the
Department's symbol."
'Collecting New Zealand
Stamps' by Robin Gwynn FRPSL FRPSNZ (1988 - ISBN 0 7900 0020 2) page
127 (re the 1947 issue):
"An intriguing feature of the designs
was the inclusion of Great Britain's Eddystone lighthouse, on the 3d
value. Berry was originally instructed to submit six designs, and the then
Government Commissioner, Mr J. W. Macdonald, specifically asked for one of
these to represent Eddystone because it was so well-known and was used by
the office as a symbol of strength and security."
In a 2010 New
Zealand Post publication - 'It's in the post. The stories behind
New Zealand stamps' by Richard Wolfe (ISBN 978 1 877517 28 0) on page
149:
"The original design of Government Life's first stamp
was drawn by departmental secretary W. B. Hudson. For a motif he decided on
a symbolic lighthouse and may have been inspired by the best-known of all
such structures, the Eddystone Light on the Cornish Coast near Plymouth,
England. It had been completed only eight years earlier, at a time when New
Zealand was beginning to weather the effects of a lengthy economic
downturn. Eddystone stood on a solid foundation which could resist waves
raised by the fiercest of gales and so was an eminently suitable symbol for
insurance purposes. It represented an immovable structure and, extending
the metaphor, sent out a message of hope to those battered by the storms of
economic uncertainty."
Bibliography
The Postage Stamps of New Zealand (Volume I)
Edited by R. J. G. Collins and H. T. M. Fathers B.A. B.Sc.
Published 1938 by The Philatelic Society of New Zealand Incorporated
The Postage Stamps of New Zealand Volume II
Edited by R. J. G. Collins FRPSNZ and C. W. Watts FRPSNZ
Published 1950 by The Royal Philatelic Society of New Zealand Incorporated
The Postage Stamps of New Zealand Volume VI
Edited by D. E. G. Naish FRPSNZ and K. J. McNaught FRPSNZ FRPSL
Publsihed 1975 by The Royal Philatelic Society of New Zealand Incorporated
The Postage Stamps of New Zealand Volume VIII
Edited by B. G. Vincent FRPSNZ
Published 1998 by The Royal Philatelic Society of New Zealand Incorporated (ISSN 0-9597883-1-X)
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This page was last updated on 15 Oct 2024
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