THE FORMAT INTERNATIONAL SECURITY PRINTERS LTD. ARCHIVE

Information and Reference of What was Found in the Archive

Stamp issues for Niue printed by the Format International Security Printers Ltd. and items found in the Archive

NIUE

Niue stamps printed by Format International Security Printers Ltd.

The Format Printers only produced one set of stamps for this country. Here again I have discrepancies with the Stanley Gibbons Catalog. The 1987 Statue of Liberty is the first lithograph set issued by Niue and is the breaking in point for British Stamp Printers for this country since 1979. From 1979 to 1987 Fournier had firm control of the stamp printing for Niue printing all photogravure stamps.

Either by design or lack of information Stanley Gibbons does not note that the Format Printers made the 1987 Statue of Liberty set for Niue in their specialized catalog. I tend to go with the former because practices of listings on many other countries. It is as if someone at the time either within the company or who had a lot of influence with them did not want collectors to know just how far reaching the Format International Security Printers truly was. In the same catalog this omission is also present for Penrhyn Island.

An interesting note is that this set also is tied with the controversial set produced for Tuvalu. Tuvalu wants to call them fakes which they most definitely are not. Fully produced and even sold on presentation panels by the Postal Commemorative Society. You can read about that interesting set here:

The Unissued Tuvalu 1987 Statue of Liberty Stamp Set

And so I present the only stamp set that was printed for Niue by the Format Printers.

1987 CENTENARY OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY (2nd issue)
Scott# 536-7, SG# MS648



These were the only stamps printed by the Format International Security Printers Ltd. for Niue. The company went into Bankruptcy and was liquidated in 1989.

References taken from:
Stanley Gibbons Eastern Pacific Specialized Catalog
Scott Catalog
Inventory list for the Format Archive by Robson Lowe
Internet Research

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