Issued three penny 'Red Cross Flag' stamp with errors

The 1959 Red Cross stamp issue was released on 3 June 1959 to mark the centennial of the birth of the idea of the Red Cross in Europe, and to raise funds for the New Zealand Red Cross. The government marked the occasion with a special fundraising Red Cross stamp. A quarter of the stamp's cost went to the Red Cross.

But this stamp is a dramatic example of when printing can go wrong: in this case with the spectacular omission of the red cross. Such errors are of great interest and value to the philatelic community, partly because of their rarity.

The stamp was originally positioned along the bottom row of the sheet of paper. Possibly the printer had wanted to readjust the pressure and had raised the red cylinder, but in doing so, missed the first and last rows of crosses.

The New Zealand Red Cross Society has played an important humanitarian role both nationally and internationally since its establishment in 1915, first as a branch of the British Red Cross, then as the New Zealand Red Cross from 1931.