Three different fourpence stamps of the 1898 Pictorial set, each showing slightly different shades.

Mint with light hinge remnants on backs and in tidy clean condition.

ACS #43. Catalogue = $50 each, so $150 for the three.

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One of the Eight Wonders of the World! This is how the beautiful Pink Terrace at Lake Rotomahana was described in the 1860s. It was buried by the eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886 and re-located on the floor of the lake in 2011.

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Shortly after midnight on the morning of 10th June 1886, a series of increasingly strong earthquakes were felt in the Rotorua area & a lightning display was observed from the direction of Tarawera. At around 2 a.m. a larger earthquake was felt, followed by an explosion. By 2:30 am Mt Tarawera's three peaks had erupted, blasting three columns of smoke & ash thousands of meters into the sky. At around 3.30 am, the largest phase of the eruption commenced; vents at Rotomahana produced a pyroclastic surge that destroyed several villages within a 6 kilometre radius, & the Pink and White Terraces appeared to be obliterated.

The eruption was heard clearly as far away as Blenheim and the effects of the ash in the air were observed as far south as Christchurch. In Auckland the sound of the eruption and the flashing sky was thought by some to be an attack by Russian warships.

Although the official contemporary death toll was 153, exhaustive research by physicist Ron Keam identified only 108 people killed by the eruption. Some people claim that many more people died. The eruption also buried many Maori villages, including Te Wairoa which has now become a tourist attraction, & the world famous Pink and White Terraces were lost.

A small portion of the Pink Terraces was rediscovered under Lake Rotomahana 125 years later.

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