This stamp was used by the Shackleton Antarctic Expedition of 1908. The 1d Penny Universal stamp was overprinted 'King Edward VII Land' by Coulls, Culling & Co.
Issue information
Lieutenant E H Shackleton, R.N.R. (later Sir Ernest Shackleton), had intended making his base camp in King Edward VII Land in the Antarctic but on failing to find a suitable landing place he made his base at McMurdo Sound, which was in fact in Victoria Land.
The Expedition left England in the Nimrod on 7 August 1907. Its last port of call en route to Antarctica was Lyttleton, New Zealand, where final departure for the southern continent was made on 1 January 1908.
Lieutenant Shackleton was appointed to be a Postmaster by the New Zealand Government and was provided with a special date stamp - the date stamp read "Brit. Antarctic Expedition" in a circle with 'NZ', time and date in four lines in the centre.
Acknowledgments
New Zealand Post would like to acknowledge the following for their assistance and guidance in bringing together this stamp issue:
Historical information included on this page sourced from The Postage Stamps of New Zealand published by the Royal Philatelic Society of NZ. Their web site offers further information useful to those interested in the stamps and postal history of New Zealand. Link: https://www.rpsnz.org.nz/
Product Listing for King Edward VII Land
| Image | Title | Description | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Single Stamp |
Single 1d 'Zealandia (Penny Universal)' gummed stamp. Overprinted with 'King Edward VII Land' |
1d |
Technical information
| Date of issue: | 1 January 1908 |
|---|---|
| Designers: | Guido Bach |
| Printers: | Government Printing Office, New Zealand and Coulls, Culling, New Zealand |
| Stamp size: | 20mm x 24mm |
| Sheet size: | Panes of 60 (sheets of 240 were split into panes before overprinting) |
| Process: | Surface printed - Typography |
| Perforation gauge: | 14 |
| Paper type: | Cowan chalk surfaced, NZ and star watermark. |
