King Edward VII Land

These stamps were used by the Shackleton Antarctic Expedition of 1908.  The 1 penny universal stamp was overprinted 'King Edward VII Land' by Coulls, Culling & Co.

Lieutenant E H Shackleton, R.N.R. (later Sir Ernest Shackleton), had intended making his base camp in King Edward VII Land in the Antarctic but on failing to find a suitable landing place he made his base at McMurdo Sound, which was in fact in Victoria Land.  The Expedition left England in the 'Nimrod' on 7 August 1907.  Its last port of call en route to Antarctica was Lyttleton, New Zealand, where final departure for the southern continent was made on 1 January 1908. 

Lieutenant Shackleton was appointed to be a Postmaster by the New Zealand Government and was provided with a special date stamp - the date stamp read "Brit. Antarctic Expedition" in a circle with "NZ", time and date in four lines in the centre.

 Technical details

Date of Issue: 1 January 1908
Designers: Guido Bach
Printers: Government Printing Office, New Zealand and Coulls, Culling, New Zealand
Stamp Size: 20mm x 24mm
Sheet Size: Panes of 60 (sheets of 240 were split into panes before overprinting).
Process: Surface printed - Typography.
Perforation Gauge: 14
Paper Type: Cowan chalk surfaced, NZ and star watermark