The New Zealand Wine Post began Official operations on the 8th of December 1990 with the Burgundy WineBird issue. The Wine Post was born as one of the first independent posts of New Zealand. The Wine Post also included the continuous option for non-winery mail that could be posted at the only winery post office which was the winery itself. The reach of the wine post was not just local but abroad - and even Antarctica. Unlike other such posts, the Wine Post has always printed beautiful perforated stamps on gummed paper with a variety of interesting topics for the mail. But don't be fooled, it's not always wine topics. And there are First Day Covers, Presentation Cards and other related material. The Wine Post also issues proof material derived from a stamp design and printing process archive which gives rise to topics such as unissued stamps, alternative designs, and rejected designs. Link to Stamp Metro articles and lavish illustrations to read and see some of the history. Wine Post articles for collectors
1990 - 1994
1990
WINEBIRD
WP#1.
Dec 8, 1990
$25 USD
1991
DODGE DELIVERY
WP#2.
$25 USD
1992
GUERNSEY LADY
WP#3.
$15 USD
1992
DUNEDIN AIRSHOW
WP#4.
$15 USD
Initially only the Winebird stamp was printed as a definitive, intended to be for local mail. Printed in sheets of 24 but including mini sheets. Two mini-sheets were printed underneath the main sheet and when perforated, cut from the Press sheet. It was planned that it would take some time before higher values would be needed and the design would stay the same with the value and the color changing. But demand was higher than expected. The time came to change the value of the Wine Bird stamp but instead it was found easier and faster to design a new stamp. So the Dodge Delivery stamp was added followed by Guernsey Lady for world wide postage and finally the Dunedin Airshow was added which was first issued at the Dunedin Airshow in a Vintage Sopwith Camel bi-plane flying in with the mail to promote the stamps and the winery.
Prices are for mint never hinged. (MNH)- mint never hinged.
1992
WINES & FLOWERS
1993
GUERNSEY LADY OFFICIALS
Over Prints
1994
AIR EXPORT CALIFORNIA
WP#5. -a,b,c.d
The topics for the first multi-color issue was the winery flowers and the wines with a new range of different values to meet all the demands to replace the previous issues. Although they could still be used. It was a bold issue being se-tenant as well.
WP#3-a,b.
The Guernsey Lady over prints were a hurried response for secure Official mail to Government Departments. Existing stocks were overprinted with two destinations for these special postings.
WP#6.
Late in 1994 it was decided to recognize the emergence of heavy, bulky and expensive Special Air Export wine to California. This provisional design was for a specific destination whose costs were above that which the Wine Post stamps at the time catered for. Printed in single stamp sheetlets and sheets of ten. It was a provisional issue before a series could be printed the following year of several other destinations.
POSTAGE HISTORY
ORANGE WINEBIRD
WP#0.
While the new winery was being built in 1990, it was decided to operate the mail with it's own postage stamp for its New Zealand and foreign mail and non-winery postage. The winery would also serve as the official Post Office. The winery had the special position of being the World's Most Southern Winery so this gave the winery and the Wine Post special significance.This was a natural evolution from the previous postage that operated in the first winery of a different location in the 1980's. The Orange Wine Bird was the final development phase in the evolution of the stamp design and production. It was first used from October to November but probably first issued on Oct 10. The Wine Post holds in it's archive a few rare mint, gummed Orange Wine Bird sheets that include the mini-sheets still attached. These stamps were used for actual postage at the same time as trial postage.
Printer: Southern Security Print.
Paper Type: unwatermarked, wetable gum.
Oct 16, 1990
Examples of the Orange Winebird are available for sale on request and pricing.
1985
1980- 1989. These were the Forerunner years to the Wine Post in the eighties. They were known as Wine Revenue stamps or Weston's Wine Postage. They were first used for the first winery at Berwick St. They were produced gummed and were roulette perforated for wine, postage delivery, non-winery postage such as Xmas cards, and for fiscal reasons. But these were instantly collected with the wine labels.
This is a very valuable and interesting area of collecting that gave rise to the Wine Post. The very first Forerunner stamp was the red Weston's Wine Postage 12 cent stamp which commemorated the first winner of the Purakanui Regatta which had been revived by the winery and friends. This was always held on New Zealand Day. This was issued in the days when the winery was a popular amateur operation.
Weston's Winery ran occasional special posts of wine, news letters and non-winery postage in an old vintage Dodge truck and various other vehicles to Purakanui. The Regatta was a regular event and those stamps were used in invites to the Regatta committee dinner at the winery where the course was agreed. For collectors this is an interesting field containing early stamps, wine labels and artworks found in the Orange Wine Bird page that has been created.
The Wine Bird Signergraph or Glyphic first appeared on the Wine Bird wine in 1983 and on the stamps soon after and remains for Weston winery and the Wine Post today. The first wines appeared in 1981.
Mint and gummed examples of the Halley's Comet stamp are available for sale on request and pricing.
COLLECTABLE PHILATELIC ITEMS
Stamps, overprints, specimen overprints, Presentation cards, Covers, First Day Covers, postmarks, proofs, imperforate stamps, flaws, errors, color shifts, missing colors, trial printings, stamp sheets, sheetlets, artwork, Antarctica Post stamps.
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