In the 1890s the New Zealand postal authorities called for tenders for the right to put advertising messages on the backs of nine denominations of the postage and revenue stamps known as “Second Sidefaces”, featuring the portrait of Queen Victoria. This would become known as “underprinting”. The idea was to raise money for the government.
The first underprinted stamps were issued in February 1893. They immediately raised a storm of controversy, as the NZ citizens did not want their government to foster private enterprise. The objections were so strong that the government decided in short order to terminate the program. The last NZ Adverts were sold in September 1893 – so the fundraising initiative had lasted only 7½ months.
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