A follow-up impressive medallion

The 2013 Centenary of Commonwealth Postage Stamps PNC commemorated the very first Australian designed postage stamps. Those stamps featured the very Australian design of a kangaroo on a map of Australia.

The Kangaroo and Map stamp issue, introduced in 1913, was considered by many not to be sufficiently respectful of Britain. It was replaced by a design featuring King George V, which was first issued as a basic letter-rate red stamp design in a limited-edition intaglio version on 9 December 1913. The letterpress 1d version was issued on 17 July 1914. The stamps were issued in several colours and denominations and not completely withdrawn until 25 years later. (Text from reverse of PNC)

From the Australia Post Collectibles site from 2014: “A century ago, Labor Postmaster-General Charles Frazer developed the Kangaroo and Map design as “an effective advertisement” for Australia. A few months later, his successor as Postmaster-General, the Liberal’s Agar Wynne, made plans to scrap the kangaroo in favour of stamps featuring the monarch, King George V.

Together with the King’s profile, the new stamp design also featured a kangaroo, emu, sprig of wattle and the crown. Addressing a meeting of the Australian Women’s National League in Melbourne, Agar Wynne was quoted in the press as saying the design “would make a very good stamp, being emblematic of Australia, and also of our loyalty to the empire”

The PNC was limited to 3,500, with an issue price of $24.95.

Similar to the Kangaroo and Map medallion, I really like the use of lines, and the gold, silver and brown colours to bring out the design here.

Also similar to the earlier PNC, I followed up by purchasing some original King George V stamps. Once again my thanks to eBay seller drmagoomba who was very helpful in providing the stamps and the display pages. This week, I also need to thank John (drmagoomba) who clarified that “kangaroo stamps were only replaced by the KGV heads in certain values, some values continuing to be issued until the 1930’s; and the KGV heads were withdrawn for the same reason the Queen is no longer on the coins”. Thanks John! Here are some more of the very nice KGV stamps:

(And my apologies to drmagoomba that I evidently can’t even position a stamp straight in the page – that’s all on me!)

Do let us know in the comments what your favourite Numismatic / Philatelic tie-in piece or set is? Or a piece with really effective use of lines the way these medallions do.