King George V

Born on June 3, 1865, he pursued a naval career until the death, in 1892, of his older brother made him second in line to the throne of his grandmother, Queen Victoria.  In 1894 he married Princess Mary of Teck.

George V won popular affection by his visits to the troops during World War I and later by his Christmas radio broadcasts. During the war he changed the name of the Royal Family to Windsor. He died on 20 January 1936, and was succeeded by his oldest son, Edward VIII.

The Edwardian stamps had only been in use for six months when King George V ascended the throne. The Postmaster-General therefore agreed to wait before issuing new stamps so that the Edward VII stamps could be used up.

Stamps depicting George V were finally issued in 1915, the design depicting a side face portrait of the King. The stamp designs were influenced by the 1840 1d black stamp of Great Britain. The dies were engraved and plates prepared by Perkins, Bacon & Co, except for the 11/2d surface-printed 'local plate' which was prepared by W.R. Bock in Wellington.

For economic reasons several denominations of this issue were produced by the cheaper surface printing method (1 1/2d, 2d and 3d) as well as being recess printed. The 1/2d value was, however, never recess-printed. 

The surface-printed version of these stamps has the solid background colour broken up by fine white diagonal lines forming diamond shapes where as the recess-printed version has a background design made up of fine coloured lines giving an almost solid look - broken by tiny white dots.

This 'local plate' stamp differs from the other surface print stamps (whose plates were produced in London) in the shading of the face and neck on this stamp is made up of diagonal lines.

The stamps remained in production until 1935. 

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 George V

Image	Title	Description	Price
	Single Stamp	Single 1/2d 'Green George V (Surface)' gummed stamp.	1/2d
	Single Stamp	Single 1 1/2d 'Grey George V (Recess)' gummed stamp.	1 1/2d
	Single Stamp	Single 1 1/2d 'Grey/Black George V (Surface)' gummed stamp.	1 1/2d
	Single Stamp	Single 1 1/2d 'Orange/Brown George V (Surface)' gummed stamp.	1 1/2d
	Single Stamp	Single 1 1/2d 'Grey George V (Surface - 'local plate')' gummed stamp. First issued April 1916.	1 1/2d
	Single Stamp	Single 2d 'Violet George V (Recess)' gummed stamp.	2d
	Single Stamp	Single 2d 'Yellow George V (Recess) gummed stamp. First issued 15 January 1916.	2d
	Single Stamp	Single 2d 'Yellow George V (Surface)' gummed stamp. First issued 12 September 1916.	2d
	Single Stamp	Single 2 1/2d 'Blue George V (Recess)' gummed stamp.	2 1/2d
	Single Stamp	Single 3d 'Chocolate George V (Recess)' gummed stamp.	3d
	Single Stamp	Single 3d 'Chocolate George V (Surface)' gummed stamp. First issued May 1919.	3d
	Single Stamp	Single 4d 'Yellow George V (Recess)' gummed stamp.	4d
	Single Stamp	Single 4d 'Violet George V (Recess)' gummed stamp. First issued 7 April 1916.	4d
	Single Stamp	Single 4 1/2d 'Green George V (Recess)' gummed stamp.	4 1/2d
	Single Stamp	Single 5d 'Blue George V (Recess)' gummed stamp. First issued April 1922.	5d
	Single Stamp	Single 6d 'Red George V (Recess)' gummed stamp.	6d
	Single Stamp	Single 7 1/2d 'Brown George V (Recess)' gummed stamp.	7 1/2d
	Single Stamp	Single 8d 'Blue George V (Intaglio)' gummed stamp.	8d
	Single Stamp	Single 8d 'Brown George V (Recess)' gummed stamp.	8d
	Single Stamp	Single 9d 'Olive George V (Recess)' gummed stamp.	9d
	Single Stamp	Single 1s 'Vermilion George V (Recess)' gummed stamp.	1s