New stamps celebrate Lord of the Rings twenty-year anniversary, hand painted by artist Sacha Lees

NZ Post is releasing special edition stamps and coins to celebrate the twenty-year anniversary of the first The Lord of the Rings film, The Fellowship of the Ring. 

“NZ Post was very proud to support the original film project by producing a set of stamps at the time. These sold across the globe like nothing we had ever seen before,” says NZ Post Head of Stamps and Collectables, Antony Harris.

“On the twenty-year anniversary of the first film, we are once again releasing a special edition range of The Lord of the Rings stamps, working with artist Sacha Lees, who worked on the films and on our first stamp issue twenty years ago,” says Harris.

Sacha is a highly accomplished New Zealand artist, who last year won the prestigious Adam Portraiture Award and was the 2020 New Zealand Portrait Artist of the Year.

Be it commercial or fine art, I'm driven by the process of creating – the discovery through research, the problem-solving journey to visually express complex narratives and ultimately the meditative practice in the realisation of an idea,” says artist Sacha Lees.

“Sacha has hand painted the stamp artwork, which depict favourite characters and scenes from The Fellowship of the Ring, such as Gandalf in Hobbiton, the hobbits in the Prancing Pony and Arwen rescuing Frodo, and epic scenes such as Gandalf’s battle with the Balrog and the Fellowship canoeing through the Gates of Argonath,” says Antony Harris.

“These stamps acknowledge that this iconic film is now a significant component of New Zealand history, culture and identity,” says Antony Harris.

The stamps will be available from Wednesday 1 September 2021, while additional stamp-related collectables will be released between October and December 2021.

Legal tender commemorative coins issued in partnership with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will be available between October and December 2021.

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