A nother Tngan

gimmick Circular Postage Stamps

Vhen it conies to revenue

ung gimmicks, the Kingdom

Tonga has it all over every ■itory in the Pacific. First it y gold coins; now it’s circular tage stamps on gold foil to nmemorate the issue of the d coins. i gold coins—the koula, half coula and quarter koula were i on April 22. They are the first coins ever issued in Polynesia the first to go into unrestricted lation at face value as part of a n’s currency since the world devaluation of gold more than jars ago. e circular postage stamps were d on June 17. They are the first lar postage stamps to be issued ny country for more than a cen and are believed to be only the lot of their kind. >th the stamps and the gold coins »übtedly netted a handsome profit he Tonga Government, le stamps are in three senes.

Ordinary mail, airmail and official airmail. Denominations are: Ordinary mail, Id, 2d, 6d, 9d, 1/6, and 2/-; airmail, lOd, lid, 1/1, 2/1, 2/4, and 2/9; and official airmail, 15/-.

Each stamp has a gold centre and a gold rim with gold lettering show ing through circular bands of colour.

Some denominations carry portraits of Queen Salote and some the Ton gan coat of arms. These are fasci miles either of the obverse or reverse of the new coins.

Printed Singly

The stamps were printed singly and have no perforation. It is understood that the dies have been destroyed, so no further issues can be made.

The stamps are unique in that they are the most expensively produced postage stamps ever made, the first Commonwealth stamps ever printed on a substance other than paper (gold foil), and the heaviest stamps ever made.

The smallest stamp weighs 10 times as much as an ordinary British stamp, the middle size 19 times as much, and the largest 41 times as much.

The largest stamp is a whopper— -3i in. in diameter, which is half the width of a page in PIM from margin to margin of type. The smallest stamps are 11 in. across.

The stamps were designed by an American, Ida West, and were printed secretly in England by the Walsall Lithographic Co. Ltd.

To ensure secrecy, Walsall workers were placed under a security ban 12 months ago when the order for the stamps was given.

Printing machines used for the job were guarded by a wall specially built to isolate them from the rest of the works.

No Warning

Outside Tonga, at any rate, there seems to have been no warning that the stamps were to be issued. The first announcement in the Sydney Press appeared on June 16, the day before the stamps went into circu lation.

This is the second time in the past 18 months that Tonga has launched postage stamps on an unsuspecting world.

The first occasion was on Febru ary 7 1962, when a limited number of overprinted stamps was released to mark Tonga’s centenary of eman cipation.

Philatelists, then, were upset that they had no opportunity to obtain some of the stamps. (PIM, April, 1962, p. 27). (over)

siree sizes of Tonga's new circular on a First Day Cover. In the is the big 15/- airmail. Above it [?]d and 9d in the regular series, [?]st of those below the airmail stamp is the lOd airmail.

Photo: Hettig, Nukualofa.

A correspondent in Nukualofa re ports that there was a general rush for the stamps from all quarters and that the Post Office did a big turn over.

I had bought a few sets and was prompted to get more,” he says, “but the Post Office told me they had sold out—and this was only two days after they opened for sale.

“So it looks a profitable business for dealers in this latest Tonga Gov ernment venture in a most unconven tional lot of stamps.”

According to a leading Sydney

stamp dealer, the only other countries that have issued circular postage stamps are Bermuda in 1848 and British Guiana in 1850.

The Bermuda stamps, with a face value of one penny, are now worth more than £l,OOO each. The British Guiana stamps, with face values of two, four, eight and 12 cents, are worth anything from £2OO to £4 000 each.

N°w the 64-koula question is: What gimmick will Tonga dream up to commemorate the issue of the

koula-commemorating circular

stamps?