New Zealand took painstaking measures to produce the $20 definitive-its highest value stamp ever-which was issued Friday. “We believe that on all fronts the new $20 stamp is a masterpiece in philatelic terms and, as such, it will not be replaced for quite some time,” New Zealand Post stated when it announced the release.
The design illustrates popular images of New Zealand: Mt. Cook, the islands’ highest peak; native ferns; flowers of the kowhai tree; a Maori rafter pattern; and the nation’s flag.
Production of the stamp involved three nations and a competition among four designers. New Zealand Post asked the four designers to submit representations and then selected Heather Arnold’s submission.
Arnold’s design was shipped to Sweden, where Czeslaw Slania, perhaps the most renowned of all stamp engravers, transferred the artwork onto a small steel block.
The next stop was Britain, where a banknote company converted Slania’s engraved image into a printing plate. The plate was returned to Australia, where a Melbourne printer used three printing processes to produce the stamp.
In the first pass through the printing machine, a security pattern, detectable under black light, was applied. In the second pass, a gold foil was applied both to the Maori rafter pattern across the top and to a straight line across the bottom. In the final pass, the stamp’s blue design was printed.
The definitive was issued in response to demand by customers who mail documents and parcels.
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Germany has issued four semipostals to benefit sports and a commemorative observing the 1,200th anniversary of Frankfurt on Main.
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The semipostals depict action scenes of various sports and promote the Winter Olympics, the 1994 World Soccer Cup that will be held in the United States, the centennial of the International Olympic Committee and the winter paralympics. The values are 80+40, 100+50, 100+50 and 200+80 pfennigs. The second numeral in the denominations indicates the portion earmarked for the national foundation that promotes sports in Germany.
An 80-pfennig commemorative depicts a stylized view of Frankfurt’s skyline. The city traces its roots to 794, when it was a meeting place for Charlemagne’s imperial diet.
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The Royal Mail, as the British post office is called, recently issued four definitives each for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Prior to 1973, such stamps were known as regional issues, which also included the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Since then the territories have become postally independent and the stamps are now called country issues.
The designs feature a cameo portrait of Queen Elizabeth II with the name of each country. The colors also are standard-olive green for the 19-pence stamp, salmon for 25 pence, sage for 30 pence and stone for 41 pence.