Penny Universal

On 1 January 1901 Universal Penny Postage was introduced with the price for inland and overseas letters both being reduced to 1d. Reciprocal recognition of penny post throughout the British Empire, with the exception of Australia, was secured by the Government and although few foreign countries had been able to adopt a reciprocal penny rate, a large number agreed to deliver penny letters from New Zealand without any surcharge.

There was some concern at the time in Government circles that there would be a substantial fall in Post Office revenue, however postal volumes increased and by 1902 any losses had been more than made up.

As well as being supplied in sheets of 240 stamps, booklets of stamps were also produced in addition to special coils for an experimental 'slot' stamp vending machine trialled at the General Post Office in Wellington. These were the first such experiments in the world.

An extra 1/2d was charged on every stamp booklet sold to recover the cost of manufacturing the product.

The stamp was in production through until 1908 when a revised surfaced-printed version was introduced. The initial plate was manufactured by Waterlow & Sons, later plates were also produced by Royle & Sons and Waterlow Bros. & Layton.

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 Penny Universal

Image	Title	Description	Price
	Single Stamp	Single 1d 'Zealandia' gummed stamp. Female figure of 'Zealandia' representing New Zealand with a background image of a steamer (representing a mail boat) sailing past Mount Egmont (Taranaki).	1d
	Single Stamp	Single 1d 'Zealandia' gummed stamp. Female figure of 'Zealandia' representing New Zealand with a background image of a steamer (representing a mail boat) sailing past Mount Egmont (Taranaki). Overprinted with the word 'Official'.