Territory of New Guinea - A pink Bird of Paradise 1934

* The Territory of New Guinea 3½d pink Undated Bird of Paradise

SG194a, Wau, New Guinea, 23 August 1936

A stamp which unexpectedly caught my eye during a recent foray into the philatelic history of Papua New Guinea portrayed a bright pink Bird of Paradise, the island's spectacular national symbol, elsewhere stylised within its national emblem. I cannot recall ever seeing a stamp of this colour before, let alone one from the 1930s. It is, in fact, a colour more commonly encountered during the psychedelic era of the 1960s, when hallucinogenic drugs were all the rage and people were seeing bright, fluorescing colours whilst taking a Trip. Pink, juxtaposed with blue, was commonly used on the posters of the day, generating a vibrating image which caught the attention of passers by and those at concerts and venues such as Head Shops. I was therefore intrigued, to say the least.

The stamp I am referring to is the Territory of New Guinea 3½d 'Undated' Bird of Paradise issued on 14 September 1934 as a supplement to the 30 June 1932 definitive series of 15 stamps which ranged in value from ½d to £1. That series was itself a replacement for the 2 August 1931 'dated' series of near identical design, though with a banner bearing the dates 1921 - 1931. A copy on paper is illustrated above, postmarked at Wau on 23 August 1936. The stamp was recess printed in a single colour and sheets of 36[?] by John Ash of the Australian Note and Stamp Printing Branch, Melbourne, with a perforation of 11 and a colour variously known as aniline-carmine, carmine, magenta or, as I and others like to call it - pink. The stamp portrays - like the rest of the series - a Paradisaea raggiana, commonly known as the Raggiana Bird of Paradise. The bird sits on a branch amidst a landscape of palm trees and distant mountains, creating a very attractive image.

Upon release, a version was also issued with an Air Mail overprint applied in black ink, comprising those words and a drawing of a small biplane. Regular air mail services between Australia and New Guinea, and within the island, had commenced during 1934 and were to become one of the most common methods of dispersing local mail both within and outside of this rugged, mountainous island. An 'official stamp' OS overprint was also applied to the series around the time of initial release. The normal 3½d pink was allocated Stanley Gibbons catalogue number SG180a, whilst the Air Mail overprint was given SG194a and the OS overprint SGO47. There is one other significant variety. According to Mark Franklin in his Guide to the Stamps of Papua and New Guinea (1970), the stamp was overprinted - along with a cache of other Bird of Paradise denominations - by the Japanese occupying forces during Word War II, around 1942-3. Most of the stock was subsequently destroyed during an air raid, but apparently some examples survived. The overprint comprised the Japanese words for Greater Japan along with an anchor. As the original stamp was smallish in size, the large Japanese overprint tended to swamp the image. Therefore, the stamp exists in the following forms:

1) Original - no overprint - issue of 14 September 1934 - SG180a

2) Air Mail overprint 1934 - SG194a

3) OS overprint 1934 - SGO47

4) Greater Japan + Anchor overprint 1942-3 - uncatalogued

Illustrations of the four variants are reproduced below, with a rough mock-up only of the Japanese overprint as an actual copy has not been sighted by the author.

SG180a, original stamp, postmarked Salamaua, 28 October 1938

SG194a, with air mail overprint, postmarked Salamaua, [?] November 1936

SGO47, with OS overprint, issued 14 September 1934

Japanese overprint, used 1942-3 (rough mock-up only)

Print numbers were 60,000 each for the normal and air mail stamps, whilst 15,000 of the OS stamps were printed, making 135,000 all told. A new series of definitive stamps was subsequently issued on 13 March 1939, portraying a plane flying over the Bulolo goldfields. It is unclear whether the remaining Bird of Paradise stock was destroyed at this point, as had been the case with the previous 'dated' bird of paradise series, or gradually sold, though the existence of a 1948 cover (illustrated below) would suggest the latter. World War II intervened between 1939-45 and in most cases Australian, American and Japanese stamps were utilised, with the local stocks apparently put in storage, or otherwise out of circulation.

SG161

In investigating the 3½d pink, I initially came across references to the 2 August 1931 dated 10/- Bird of Paradise which in some instances was listed as pink, though on investigation it was more of a dull light rose or red, as can be seen from the illustration opposite. The stamp was of similar design to the 3½d apart from the split banner in the lower section bearing the dates 1921 and 1931 in celebration of the official introduction of Australian administration of New Guinea following the cessation of World War I. The banner was removed for the updated printing of the Bird of Paradise series released on 30 June 1932, though apart from that the two designs are identical.

Pink birds on covers

Envelopes, or postage covers, bearing the 3½d pink are not common, and neither are pre-World War II covers generally for the rather isolated colonial outpost that was the Territory of New Guinea at that time. Research by the author has located seventeen covers from the period 1935 through to 1948 which include the stamp, taken from recent philatelic auction and online sales sites. No covers have been found for 1934 during the first 3 months of the stamp's release.

1) 1935 - The earliest cover seen was postmarked Madang, 6 February 1935, and addressed to a solicitor in Sydney, Australia via aerial mail from Salamaua (19 February) to Port Moresby and then on to Sydney (6 March). The cover was offered for sale on 4 April 2017 by Mossgreen Auctions and sold for $340. It bore the blue 3d SG180 and pink 3½d SG180a.

2) 1935 - Another cover, this time dispatched via the ship SS Neptune - was postmarked at Wau and dated 28 March 1935. It was addressed to Vienna, Austria, via Australia and England, with three Bird of Paradise stamps attached to the value of 1/-, 6d and 3½d. The cover was offered for sale on eBay in November 2021 for US$132. Note the sideways placement of two of the stamps on the cover due to the limited space available amidst the address details.

3) 1935/6 - A strangely postmarked cover containing nine different bird of paradise stamps and addressed to Johore, Malaysia, via the SS Marella and Singapore, is known. Each stamp has a black blob of ink on it as a postmark, almost as though it was painted on with a small brush. Therefore we do not know where and when it was posted. The rear stamp is dated Johore, 31 March 1936.

4 - 6) 1935 - First flight covers are known from Port Moresby to Wau and then Madang bearing the 3½d pink air mail overprinted stamp and tied to a Wau / New Guinea postmark dated 15 August 1935, with Madang arrival on the rear side back-stamped on the 17th due to bad weather and a delayed departure from Wau. Only 70 covers were flown from Wau to Madang in the Fox Moth VH-UQR flight piloted by Orme Denny. The first cover illustrated below was offered for sale by Steve Drewett during November 2021 for £180; the second is part of the Brian Peace collection; and the third was offered for sale on eBay during November 2021 for Aus$84, though it was not identified as a first flight cover therein.

7) 1935 - A cover is known addressed to Dresden, Germany and dated Wau, 20 November 1935. It bears the 3½d pink air mail overprinted stamp tied alongside the 1d green 'Silver Jubilee' SG206, with two Wau / New Guinea circular date stamps. It was offered for sale by Steve Drewett during November 2021 for £450.

8) A cover is known posted at Rabaul on an indeterminate date and bearing a registration stamp, as opposed to a registration label. The cover features SG180a alongside the green 1d SG177 and 2½d SG179a. The price of registered post to Australia at that time was obviously 7d.

9) 1936 - A registered cover postmarked Rabaul, 5 February 1936, is known, addressed to Belfast, Ireland. It bears the green 2½d, the pink 3½d and the brown 6d Bird of Paradise. The cover was offered for sale on eBay during November 2021 for Aus$90.

10) 1936 - A cover postmarked Wau, 16 April 1936, and bearing a blue air mail label is stamped with the 3½d pink SG194a and a 2d Australian stamp. Australian stamps were able to be used in New Guinea at this time and in the immediate period following World War II, prior to 1952 when a new set of Papua New Guinea definitive stamps were released. The cover was offered for sale on eBay during November 2021 for Aus$325.

11) 1936 - An OHMS cover dated Kieta, 26 August 1936 is known, addressed to Armidale, Australia. It was offered for sale by Steve Drewett during November 2021 for £60. It is on a brown, kraft paper envelope.

12) 1936 - A first flight cover on a standard envelope records the journey of the Melbourne Cup charter flight #P108 between Wau, Port Moresby and Melbourne, Australia by a Guinea Airways Lockheed Electra. It is dated Wau, 27 October 1936 and Melbourne, 30 October 1936. The cover bears two copies of SG180a, and one of the Air Mail overprinted 2d orange stamp SG193. The cover was offered for sale on 4 April 2017 by Mossgreen Auctions, along with two other envelopes from the flight, and sold for $460.

13) 1936 - A Bank of New South Wales cover, dated Wau, 14 November 1936, and with six Birds of Paradise air mail overprinted stamps, including two SG194a, was addressed to Rotzo, Vincenza, Italy. It bears eight stamps, varying from ½d through to 6d with or without the air mail overprint. The cover was offered for sale on 11 December 2019 by Leski Auctions and sold for $300. It arrived in Italy on 3 December 1936 and has a number of related postmarks from that country, including one of Bologna, Venezia. It was carried by ship to Australia, then Qantas and Imperial airlines to Italy via Brisbane and Vincenza Ferrovia.

14) 1936 - A large, multi-stamped cover dated Lae, 22 November 1936, was carried on a flight by a Guinea Airways Limited Lockheed Electra VH-UXH to Australia, with pilots Tommy O'Dea and Les Ross. It bears eight Bird of Paradise stamps, varying from ½d through to 6d and with or without the air mail overprint. The cover was offered for sale on 11 December 2019 by Leski Auctions with a catalogue value of $425. During November 2021 it was offered for sale via eBay.

15) 1937 - A simple cover from Wau to Tasmania, postmarked 23 July 1937, included both the orange ½d and pink 3½d air mail overprints. It was offered for sale on eBay during November 2021. through an American dealer.

16) 1938 - A spectacular air mail cover to England postmarked Rabaul, 2 February 1938, bears the 3½d stamp SG180a along with eight others from the series, plus an air mail label and registration stamp. The Bird of Paradise stamps do not bear the air mail overprint. The cover - on a brown, kraft paper envelope - was offered for sale on eBay during November 2021.

17) 1938 - An air mail cover postmarked Rabaul, 1 June 1938, and described as flown on the 'Inaugural Air Mail Service Australia - New Guinea' points to the various claims to 'first' in regard to early PNG air mail services. This may in fact be the correct label, as earlier flights had Papua, on the southern part of the island, as their primary destination.

18) 1948 - A post World War II cover featuring four OS overprinted stamps is known. It was postmarked Talasea, 1 July 1948 and addressed to New York. Whether this was a pure philatelic cover or official mail is unknown. Australian stamps were primarily used between 1945-52 in New Guinea. This cover was offered for sale on eBay during November 2021 for UK£110.

Judging by these covers, it would appear that the 3½d pink, in its various forms, was in general use between 1934-38, and perhaps even official use as late as 1948. As such, it is very much a pre World War II stamp. The study of the covers reveals the links between the colonial outpost that was the Territory of New Guinea at the time and the rest of the world. Of course the majority of the covers that are known to have survived are of a philatelic nature - such as flight covers - or official. Ordinary use of the stamp and others from the Bird of Paradise series within the Territory is therefore something of a mystery, with most such covers destroyed over time. As the stamps were issued in their tens of thousands, it is likely they were heavily made use of by the local natives and European administrators, land owners and business people. The covers therefore only tell a very small part of the story of the Territory of New Guinea during the 1930s.

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Last updated: 2 January 2023

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Territory of New Guinea - A pink Bird of Paradise 1934

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