Captain James Cook Through Stamps

Portrait

Use on Stamps

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Nathaniel Dance, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

E Phillips Fox after Dance, National Gallery of Victoria

	The Nathaniel Dance portrait together with HMS Resolution, one of the ships on the second and third voyages, and that captained by Cook. Antarctic Philately has a page about the great southern ocean explorations on these voyages.
	Britain 1999, pictured together with a Maori taken from a Parkinson drawing from the first voyage. Parkinson original
(Thumbnail)	This is an elegant use of the Dance portrait on a Canadian stamp of 1978 (a Bicentennial issue).

Engraving after Dance

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Engraving J K Sherwin after Dance (hand coloured)

	Rarotonga (Cook Islands) 1920 - the first use of the Dance portrait on a stamp and the first of many Cook Islands stamps about Cook - well they are named after him - and are any other Cook stamps as handsome? There are like stamps of the same date and value under the names Niue, Aitutake and Penrhyn with the same centre, but different frames and differing colours on the frames. NZ Dependencies' Stamps
(Thumbnail)	USA 1978 - from the Dance portrait or more likely the Sherwin engraving - with the eyes raised. The issue was on the bicentennial of the third voyage visits to Alaska and Hawaii. (Thumbnails - Print and detail of Kealakekua used on stamp) Another engraving of the same view (Cook voyage accounts and views were very popular and much copied for new editions) The USA first asserted copyright over stamps in 1978 starting with this issue. This is extraordinary given the derivative nature of the design elements.
	New Zealand 1997 - again the eyes raised.
	Australia 1966 - based a stamp on the portrait but to accommodate the stamp proportions invented a bit more to put in the left of the frame. There is also a pre-decimal version of the same stamp.
(Thumbnail)	Here is an oddity - A New Zealand nostalgia stamp which reproduces (bottom right) a New Zealand one pound note picturing Cook - which is taken (mirrored) from the Dance portrait. There are also several other stamps pictured on the stamp. A reproduction of a reproduction of a likeness.

John Webber, Te Papa, Wellington.

Australia used the portrait in its Cook Bicentenary issue (1970) but the wig turned into hair in the process.

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John Webber, National Portrait Gallery Canberra.

Vanuatu 1999 (From a miniature sheet) - with Resolution and Tanna map. The hand and the uniform details make it clear the origin was the Canberra Webber.

This Webber portrait acquired by the National Portrait Gallery of Australia in 2000 has a colourful recent history. When owned by a company controlled by Alan Bond - a notorious Australian businessman - it was the subject of a supposed sale for a ridiculously cheap price. Bond was convicted an jailed over a huge business fraud. The receiver of Bond's company had seized the picture but was later seeking to recover the loss on the transaction from Bond. For more see : story on Bond.

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William Hodges National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
This painting was lost for many years, the portrait only being known through the following engraving.

(Thumbnail)	South Georgia using the Hodges portrait and other pics.
(Thumbnail)	Comoros (with the Endeavour Shuttle) - the white necktie suggests the portrait rather than the engraving below was the source of this design.

Engraving J Basire after Hodges.

	This French Antarctic Territory stamp would seem to be modelled loosely on Hodges (Mirrored)
	Norfolk Island 1974 - a bicentennial stamp.

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John Webber National Portrait Gallery, London.
This portrait is another from the same sitting with Cook as the other Webber painting.

?	Not used on a stamp?

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Francesco Bartolozzi engraver, after Webber.

?	Not used on a stamp?

(Detail, hand coloured engraving, - mirrored - whole picture)
"An offering before Cpt Cook in the Sandwich Islands" (i.e. Hawaii),
Eng. Middiman after Weber.

NSW 1888 - The source of the head is suggested as the engraving after Weber. It is the New South Wales Centenary issue of 1888, this copy overprinted OS for Official Service. This is the first ever Cook stamp. It has been claimed this series is the world's oldest commemorative series.

Portrait

Use on Stamps

Josiah Wedgwood and Bentley after John Flaxman 1784

Cameo, Wedgwood Portland blue jasper medallion (ceramic). These were a popular. eighteenth century art form. Bentley was Wedgwood's partner of the time. (There are also reproductions from the original mould, made in 1968).

One on a green ground - courtesy Pete & Barbara

There is a second Wedgwood and Bentley plaque based on the Greenwich Hodges portrait, which does not seem to have been used on a stamp.
Wedgwood Plaque - it also exists with a blue ground:

"Two Wedgwood portrait medallions of Captain Cook were modelled by John Flaxman. The first, a three-quarter profile, was adapted from the portrait by William Hodges who accompanied Cook on the voyage of 1772-1775. The second portrait medallion depicts Cook's profile and was produced about 1784, and adapted from the Royal society medallion executed by Lawrence Pingo in 1779." Source

Wedgwood Cook bicentenary mini plaque. (Thumbnail)

A 20th C. reissue on basalt ground. A modern edition on a blue ground also exists.

(Thumbnail)	The New Zealand issue on the bicentennial of the first voyage visit to New Zealand used the medallion on one of the four values. Banks Plaque The Banks plaque here is not the one on the stamp. That is illustrated in Reilly who attributes it to Flaxman. Reilly also shows plaques of Solander and Forster, the fellow naturalists of the Cook voyages. Reilly, R 1973 Wedgwood Portrait Medallions, An Introduction. Barrie and Jenkins, London.
	Gilbert Islands
	Samoa used a cut down version on this 1970 stamp, but the designer removed the neck tie.
(Thumbnail)	Norfolk Island 1969, using the plaque portrait and commemorating the observation of the transit of Venus in Tahiti, an event which brought Cook to the Pacific. The transit allowed the calculation of the size of the Astronomical Unit - the distance of the sun from the earth. There was a recent transit in 2004 - a rare event.

Portrait medallion of Captain James Cook by Lewis Pingo, issued by the Royal Society in 1784

The obverse has the uniformed bust of James Cook with the Latin legend: IAC. COOK OCEANI INVESTIGATORI ACERRIMVS [James Cook most intrepid investigator of the seas]. Below it reads: REG. SOC.LOND. / SOCIO. SVO [The Royal Society London , to its Fellow]. Cook had been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1775.

The reverse shows the Roman Goddess Fortune, and reads: legend NIL INTENTATVM NOSTRI LIQVERE [Our men have left nothing unattempted]. Below the figure is the Latin legend AUSPICIIS / GEORGII / III [Under the auspices of George III].

Used on Stamp?

James Tassie, (attributed) "Portrait medallion of Captain Cook." The features look unlike Cook so we might take the subject as attributed too.

Obverse 1784 Royal Society Medal in Silver. The Hawaiian club has always made this medal popular in America.

Silver

Derived from Flaxman, State Savings Bank of Victoria

Cook in the Mall, near Admiralty Arch, London, bronze, Sir Thomas Brock. Other work, More.

	New Zealand 1940. Endeavour, Cook's NZ chart and Cook. This depiction of Cook is based on the statue and is no doubt from a photograph of it in place, explaining the strange upward view. An essay in Collins Vol II * shows much more of the statue. (Des. J Berry) * Collins R.J.G. and C.W. Watts, 1951, The Postage Stamps of New Zealand, Vol 2.
	Cook Islands 1949. The London Statue on a stamp.

Cook in Whitby Yorkshire. Bronze, Sir John Tweed, RA..1869-1933 Other work More More

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A copy in Victoria BC
There is another copy at Waimea, Kauai, Hawaii.

	Norfolk Island 1979
	Samoa 1970 - a straightforward view of the Whitby statue.

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Another
A marble Cook statue in Victoria Square, Christchurch, NZ.

There is a metal plaque on the front of the base which reads;
JAMES COOK CAPTAIN ROYAL NAVY CIRCUMNAVIGATOR WHO FIRST HOISTED THE BRITISH FLAG IN NEW ZEALAND AND EXPLORED HER SEAS AND COASTS 1769-70 1773-4 1777 OCEANI INVESTIGATOR ACERRIMUS
On the back is another which reads;
PRESENTED BY MATTHEW FRANK BARNETT A CITIZEN OF CHRISTCHURCH 1932
On the statue itself is carved near the bottom:
TRETHEWEY
FECIT 1932
WT Trethewey was a local artist.
[Thanks to Bernard Hempseed for the above information]

A Cinderella showing the statue.

The Cook statue was carved out of a 12 ton block of Carrara marble, the best in the world and as used by Michelangelo. It was believed to be the biggest block ever imported into NZ or Australia up to that time. During carving about 5 tons were removed and it took about a year to complete. The statue stands about 3.3 meters tall on a 3.0 metre pedestal which even has a time capsule in . From a life of William Trethewey, "Raising the Phoenix" by Ted Pryor. Thanks to Bernard Hempseed for the above information