Lord Howe Island
Postal Services
1999 Marine Park Issue
Finally after all the legal issues were over, the long awaited new release came out on October 11, 1999.
It was the Marine Park issue in full colour, printed by Southern Colour Print, New Zealand. Designed by Margaret Murray, it featured four $1.80 perforated labels of seabirds and marine life. There were 100,000 labels printed in sheets of 40 (10 x 4), 2,500 sheets. Of these 2,500 sheets, 24 were overprinted "Specimen".
A booklet was also designed for the issue. The original proof had the booklet folding at the top and the inside had the four stamps printed directly onto the card, with the label descriptions printed around the labels. There were only four of these proof booklets produced.
The released version, of which there were 5,000, used labels from the left of the sheet, to use the selvedge to adhere them to the card. The label descriptions covered the entire face of the card and the labels covered this description. All booklets that I have seen, just use the left selvedge. It is possible that some may still have the top or bottom selvedge attached as well, but it it likely that this was removed at time of adhering. There were 24 booklets overprinted "Specimen" in Black and the labels also had "Specimen" on them. A further 10 had "Specimen" printed in red on the cover, but the labels were normal.
There were 1,000 first day covers produced. 200 on these, Type 1, were used with the rectangular hand stamp showing First Day Of Issue and of these, 10 were signed by the NSW Governor, Sir Gordon Samuels. The remaining 800 covers were returned to the printers and an additional line was printed on them in orange saying :First Day Of Issue". These are known as Type 2.
Type 1
Type 1 signed by NSW Governor, Sir Gordon Samuels
Type 2
100 First Day Covers of Type 1 were carried by the yacht "Taranaki" from Lord Howe Island on October 13, 1999 to Sydney, arriving October 16, 1999. There were severe storms on the journey and the covers were slightly damaged by sea water in transit. The covers were signed by the four crew members. They also had the "Damaged" hand stamp applied in red , along with a "Paquebot" hand stamp in green. Details of the trip and crew were applied on the reverse. Of the 100 covers, 15 were presented to the crew and dignitaries, with the remaining 85 available for sale. I have covers numbered 054, 055 & 056 and have seen evidence of numbers 003, 023, 031, 036 & 088.
Type 2 overprinted "Specimen" and using "Specimen" labels.