Railway Charges

Although not technically revenue stamps, the Railways Charges stamps were introduced in 1890 fo facilitate the method of prepaying charges for carrying newspapers and parcels by train.

The 1925 NZR Railway Charges stamps were normally overprinted before use with the station names to help keep the possibility of fraud to a minimum. Different styles of overprint may be seen including: Upper-case typewritten letters, Seriffed Upper-case letters, Seriffed upper and lower-case letters and a station number and name. There were applied horizontally or sideways, reading up or down and occasionally may be forund doubly printed – plenty of variety for the specialist! Overprints from some smaller stations are extremely scarce and are worth a premium.

In December 1904 the NZR Department commisioned six different designs for a new issue of stamps. These were to be denominated 1/2d, 1d, 2d, 3d, 6d and 1/-. The proposed issue was supressed by the postmaster general, however imperforate die proofs in a number of different colours exist and are priced from $150 for a single and $750 for a set.