The Chalon Heads (also known as the Full Face Queens)
were the first postage stamps issued in New Zealand.
These classic stamps were first issued in 1855 and were not
replaced until 1874.
The first printing of the 1d, 2d and 1/- values was in London
and the stamps were issued in New Zealand in 1855.
All subsequent printings were in New Zealand.
The 6d was first issued in 1859, the 3d in 1863 and the 4d in 1865.
The stamps
Early issues were imperforate.
Stamps with semi-official perforations (perf 13) appeared in 1863 while stamps with official perforations (perf 12½) were
issued in 1864.
A second plate of the 2d blue was produced in 1865.
The fourpence was not issued until 1865.
Its colour was changed from rose to yellow
shortly after issue.
The colour of the penny, twopence and sixpence
was changed in 1871.
By this time, the penny plate was very worn.
The number of Chalons printed was relatively small. As a comparison, the
number of Penny Blacks sold in London on the first day (1st May 1840)
was 600,000 which is approximately the same as the total number
of 1/- Chalons printed
in the 15 years from 1855 to 1870!
The design and the plates
The plates were produced by Perkins, Bacon & Co. in London.
The design is taken from an 1838 portrait of Queen Victoria by
Alfred Chalon.
(Hence these stamps are often referred to as the
Chalon heads.)
Edward Corbould made a water-colour sketch of part of the portrait
and this was used by the engraver, William Humphrys.
The background was produced using the Perkins Rose-engine which
had earlier been
used to produce the background for the Penny Black.
The stamps were laid down in 20 rows of 12.
With the exception of the twopence, which had a new plate
produced in 1865,
only one plate was used for each value throughout the 19
years of use.
The watermarks
Large star and NZ watermarks
Most of the stamps were on paper with large star
watermark.
Exceptions are the Richardson prints from 1855 to 1861
on unwatermarked paper and
the brief use of NZ watermarked paper in 1864.
Several unwatermarked provisional papers were used in
the periods 1863-64 and in the final years.
next
The above information is taken from The Postage Stamps of
New Zealand Vol 1, published by the
Royal Philatelic Society of New Zealand in 1938.
All scans were made by the author.