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1915 King George V Recess Print

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1915 King George V Recess Print
Cat. Mint Unhinged Mint Hinged Fine Used
1½d Grey (Simplified) 27a $13.50
$7.20
$2.70
(i) Perf 14 x 13¼ on Cowan paper 27a1 $13.50
$7.20
(ii) Perf 14 x 14¼ on Cowan paper 27a2 $13.50
$7.20
(iii) Perf 14 x 13¼ on thinner paper (wartime shortage) with watermark 27a3 $13.50
$7.20
(iv) Perf 14 x 14¼ on thinner paper (wartime shortage) with watermark 27a4 $13.50
$7.20
(v) Perf 14 x 13¼ on thinner paper (wartime shortage) with no watermark 27a5 $18.00
$18.00
(vi) Perf 14 x 14¼ on thinner paper (wartime shortage) with no watermark 27a6 $18.00
$18.00
2d Violet (Simplified) 27b $36.00
$18.00
$38.25
(i) Perf 14 x 13¼ 27b1 $36.00
$18.00
(ii) Perf 14 x 14¼ 27b2 $36.00
$18.00
2d Yellow (from 1916) (Simplified) 27c $27.00
$12.60
$38.25
(i) Perf 14 x 13¼ 27c1 $27.00
$13.50
(ii) Perf 14 x 14¼ 27c2 $27.00
$13.50
(iii) Perf 14 on thinner paper (wartime shortage) with sideways watermark 27c3 $27.00
$12.75
(iv) Perf 14 on thinner paper (wartime shortage) with no watermark 27c4 $270.00
$450.00
2½d Blue (Simplified) 27d $45.00
$18.00
$13.50
(i) Perf 14 x 13¼ 27d1 $49.50
$18.00
(ii) Perf 14 x 14¼ 27d2 $108.00
$31.50
3d Brown / Chocolate (Simplified) 27e $54.00
$21.60
$4.50
(i) Perf 14 x 13¼ 27e1 $72.00
$27.00
(ii) Perf 14 x 14¼ 27e2 $63.00
$27.00
(iii) Perf 14 on thinner paper (wartime shortage) with sideways watermark 27e3 $54.00
$18.00
(iv) Perf 14 on thinner paper (wartime shortage) with no watermark 27e4 $135.00
$252.00
4d Yellow (Simplified) 27f $27.00
$13.50
$81.00
(i) Perf 14 x 13¼ 27f1 $27.00
$13.50
(ii) Perf 14 x 14¼ 27f2 $27.00
$13.50
4d Violet (from 1916) (Simplified) 27g $45.00
$18.00
$4.50
(i) Perf 14 x 13¼ 27g1 $67.50
$22.50
(ii) Perf 14 x 14¼ 27g2 $72.00
$21.25
4½d Green (Simplified) 27h $76.50
$40.50
$40.50
(i) Perf 14 x 13¼ 27h1 $81.00
$40.50
(ii) Perf 14 x 14¼ 27h2 $81.00
$40.50
5d Blue (from 1922) (Simplified) 27i $54.00
$27.00
$3.60
(i) Perf 14 x 13¼ 27i1 $72.00
$27.00
(ii) Perf 14 x 14¼ 27i2 $157.50
$54.00
6d Red / Carmine (Simplified) 27j $36.00
$18.00
$2.70
(i) Perf 14 x 13¼ 27j1 $45.00
$18.00
(ii) Perf 14 x 14¼ 27j2 $225.00
$112.50
(iii) Perf 14 on thinner paper (wartime shortage) with sideways watermark 27j3 $40.50
$18.00
(iv) Perf 14 on thinner paper (wartime shortage) with no watermark 27j4 $315.00
$522.00
7½d Brown (Simplified) 27k $54.00
$34.20
$38.25
(i) Perf 14 x 13¼ 27k1 $58.50
$36.00
(ii) Perf 14 x 14¼ 27k2 $58.50
$36.00
8d Blue (from 1921) (Simplified) 27l $52.20
$31.50
$67.50
(i) Perf 14 x 13¼ 27l1 $54.00
$31.50
(ii) Perf 14 x 14¼ 27l2 $54.00
$31.50
8d Brown (from 1922) 27m $112.50
$63.00
$6.75
9d Olive Green (Simplified) 27n $81.00
$40.50
$9.00
(i) Perf 14 x 13¼ 27n1 $85.50
$43.20
(ii) Perf 14 x 14¼ 27n2 $180.00
$67.50
1/- Orange / Vermilion (Simplified) 27o $85.50
$43.20
$4.50
(i) Perf 14 x 13¼ 27o1 $126.00
$45.00
(ii) Perf 14 x 14¼ 27o2 $90.00
$49.50
Set of 15 27p $759.25
$386.45
$337.75
Vertical Se-tenant Pair of two 1½d stamps - Perf 14 x 13¼ and Perf 14 x 14¼ 27q
… Two Stamps : 1½d (27a1), 1½d (27a2)
(i) Vertical Se-tenant Pair of two 1½d stamps on Cowan paper 27q1 $135.00
$67.50
… Two Stamps : 1½d (27a1), 1½d (27a2)
(ii) Vertical Se-tenant Pair of two 1½d stamps on thinner paper (wartime shortage) with watermark 27q2 $112.50
$45.00
… Two Stamps : 1½d (27a3), 1½d (27a4)
(iii) Vertical Se-tenant Pair of two 1½d stamps on thinner paper (wartime shortage) with no watermark 27q3 $270.00
$405.00
… Two Stamps : 1½d (27a5), 1½d (27a6)
Violet Vertical Se-tenant Pair of two 2d stamps - Perf 14 x 13¼ and Perf 14 x 14¼ 27r $180.00
$63.00
… Two Stamps : 2d (27b1), 2d (27b2)
Yellow Vertical Se-tenant Pair of two 2d stamps - Perf 14 x 13¼ and Perf 14 x 14¼ 27s $180.00
$63.00
… Two Stamps : 2d (27c1), 2d (27c2)
Blue Vertical Se-tenant Pair of two 2½d stamps - Perf 14 x 13¼ and Perf 14 x 14¼ 27t $405.00
$135.00
… Two Stamps : 2½d (27d1), 2½d (27d2)
Brown / Chocolate Vertical Se-tenant Pair of two 3d stamps - Perf 14 x 13¼ and Perf 14 x 14¼ 27u $450.00
$180.00
… Two Stamps : 3d (27e1), 3d (27e2)
Yellow Vertical Se-tenant Pair of two 4d stamps - Perf 14 x 13¼ and Perf 14 x 14¼ 27v $72.00
$36.00
… Two Stamps : 4d (27f1), 4d (27f2)
Violet Vertical Se-tenant Pair of two 4d stamps - Perf 14 x 13¼ and Perf 14 x 14¼ 27w $495.00
$180.00
… Two Stamps : 4d (27g1), 4d (27g2)
Green Vertical Se-tenant Pair of two 4½d stamps - Perf 14 x 13¼ and Perf 14 x 14¼ 27x $540.00
$225.00
… Two Stamps : 4½d (27h1), 4½d (27h2)
Blue Vertical Se-tenant Pair of two 5d stamps - Perf 14 x 13¼ and Perf 14 x 14¼ 27y $450.00
$157.50
… Two Stamps : 5d (27i1), 5d (27i2)
Red Vertical Se-tenant Pair of two 6d stamps - Perf 14 x 13¼ and Perf 14 x 14¼ 27za $360.00
$180.00
… Two Stamps : 6d (27j1), 6d (27j2)
Brown Vertical Se-tenant Pair of two 7½d stamps - Perf 14 x 13¼ and Perf 14 x 14¼ 27zb $202.50
$99.00
… Two Stamps : 7½d (27k1), 7½d (27k2)
Blue Vertical Se-tenant Pair of two 8d stamps - Perf 14 x 13¼ and Perf 14 x 14¼ 27zc $90.00
$67.50
… Two Stamps : 8d (27l1), 8d (27l2)
Olive Green Vertical Se-tenant Pair of two 9d stamps - Perf 14 x 13¼ and Perf 14 x 14¼ 27zd $630.00
$247.50
… Two Stamps : 9d (27n1), 9d (27n2)
Orange / Vermilion Vertical Se-tenant Pair of two 1/- stamps - Perf 14 x 13¼ and Perf 14 x 14¼ 27ze $855.00
$405.00
… Two Stamps : 1/- (27o1), 1/- (27o2)
The King Edward VII stamps had only been on issue for six months when he died in 1910 and King George V ascended the throne. It was quickly decided that a new set of stamps should replace the Edward VII stamps, but it was five years before the new set was issued. There were various reasons for the five year delay - difficulty finding a designer, difficulty sourcing appropriate inks, and the perfectionist nature of the then Postmaster-General Sir Heaton Rhodes, himself a keen philatelist. Rhodes was keen to return to the simplicity of the 1855 Chalon Heads and the English 1840 penny black and twopence blue stamps.

Unlike previous issues, recess and surface printings were issued from the start, the surface printings used to reduce printing costs of lower value stamps.

The initial issue contained the 1½d, 2d violet, 2½d, 3d, 4d yellow, 4½d, 6d, 7½d, 9d and 1/- stamps. The 1½d, 4½d and 7½d stamps were new values introduced for parcel post and it was not thought necessary to have 5d and 8d values. All the careful planning came unstuck when a halfpenny tax was imposed on all mail other than newspapers during the First World War. As the new issue did not have 5d or 8d stamps, the Edward VII issue stamps continued in use until 1922 when 5d and 8d recess print stamps were finally introduced. However, within a week of issue of the 8d blue it was realised that the colour was too easily confused with the 2½d stamp, so the stamp was reprinted brown as the 7½d brown stamp had been withdrawn by that stage. This ought to have made the 8d blue stamp very rare, but pressure from stamp collectors forced the post office to continue selling the stamps.

In 1915 the tax on receipts was increased to 2d. The 2d violet stamp was too dark for pen cancellations to show up, and so the colours of the 2d violet and 4d yellow were swapped in 1916. Many used copies of the 4d yellow were cancelled after it was withdrawn and 1915 cancellations are hard to find.



The recess print stamps have a different design to the surface and local print stamps which are listed separately. The recess print stamps (left image) have diagonal shading on George V's face and neck, while the surface print stamps (middle image) have horizontal shading. The background on the surface prints has a clear diagonal pattern, while the recess print stamps have a very fine and complex pattern of alternating arcs with a criss-cross hatching over the top giving the appearance of almost solid shading. The local print (right image) is very coarsely drawn with a diagonal pattern very similar to the surface print stamps, but with rather poorly spaced diagonal shading lines on the face and neck.

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
Pages 293 - 321
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
Pages 311 - 314
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
Pages 22 - 24, 358
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)
Pages 710, 749, 750
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