Great Barrier Pigeongram:
VP 6 - "Marotiri Red"
Great Barrier Pigeon Post
1898 - 1904
VP 6 - The 'Marotiri' Red
Marotiri Mining Syndicate
For many this is the iconic Pigeon Post stamp, and it's not even from Great Barrier! It's iconic because of its bright colour and the fact that used on piece it is the most rare of all Pigeon Post stamps. In fact there is only one known. And it's not in my collection. 🥹 If you have it let me know. 😉
Mr. Bolitho asked Mr. Richardson to develop a new design and this is what he came up with. A flying pigeon with a letter in its beak. The production process was similar with a wooden block created, wax impressions made and copper electrolytes manufactured. The sheets were 2 x 6 with a 111/2-12 perf.
100 sheets were printed - I know you can do the maths. That's 600 stamps. These are catalogued at a ridiculously low price mint. The stamps were issued on 15 September 1899 and were only used a few times. The copper syndicate didn't really hit their payload on Marotiri and so the pigeon post service was ceased in early 1900. No-one knows the exact date.
The Collection
'The Collection' has multiple mint copies of these as shown below, and one used copy with certificate - a very rare stamp indeed. There multiple singles, pairs, blocks of four and a couple of complete sheets of six but with no bottom selvedge, and one complete sheet with all selvedges. The number of complete sheets is unknown but it is considered that there are only about 3-4 with complete selvedge (I've seen it written that there are only two but I've seen three so I know that's not quite right - but they are scarce). Of added interest is the complete off-set on the full sheet. As can be seen by looking at the backs of the other copies, this is not normal. Is it unique? I don't know - if you have some copies of this stamp let me know if you have an off-set.
The collection also has the only two coloured proofs known to exist. Please scroll down to view and more information.
Please note, the images are good quality, and no your eyes are not playing tricks after a few whiskies last night - the top two stamps appear to have a double strike and so make the image blurry. However there was only one strike in the printing. It is thought that there was a double strike on the wax when the plates were made and so every sheet looks the same. The top two stamps below are a clearer print from bottom of sheet, while the bottom two stamps show the 'blur'.
A complete sheet of six with three margins. There are very complete sheets with four margins. Note the dull offset of the red colour on the back.
Two blocks of 4 stamps. Multiples are quite rare. When one considers that there were only 100 sheets of six printed. However it appears very few were used as there is only one used copy on flimsy, and unfortunately it's not in this collection! 😁
Great Barrier Pigeon Post
1898 - 1904
VP 6 - The 'Marotiri' Red
1/- Red Marotiri Used
VP6 Marotiri Bright Red used. Extremely rare – in fact one of the rarest New Zealand stamps ever with only a handful of copies known. Has certificate and Provenance from Oded Eliashar Collection. It has been repaired since being in Oded’s collection
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1/- Red Marotiri Proofs
These were originally a pair (as sold at Robson Lowe’s auction 13 December 1967) but have since been separated. Up until this auction there had been no known proofs and since then no others have surfaced.
There are only four proofs known – two in colour (below) and two in black ink. These are the only two proofs in colour, reunited and positioned as if a horizontal pair.
The proofs are printed on thinner paper than the issued stamps.
Counterfeits
VP6 Marotiri Bright Red used. Extremely rare, which is why there are a number of counterfeits in the market. The below being one of those counterfeits – the round Type 3 cancellation was never used on these stamps, but in any case this cancellation is a poor copy of the original. The stamp itself is also a counterfeit with the obvious difference being the lack of clouds in the centre background and the complete lack of detail in the Māori motifs.
