The rarest stamp in the country has sold for a record price after going under the hammer for the first time this century.
It was printed in 1902 with an inverted centre — showing Lake Taupō upside down — a mistake that's made it New Zealand's most unique and valuable stamp.
The stamp was estimated to sell for $250,000, and sold today in Mowbray Collectables' stamp and coin auctions in Wellington to the only bidder at $225,000 – with a total price tag of $263,250 including a buyer's premium.
"It was a two colour printing process and someone turned the sheet the wrong way,” Mowbray Collectables founder John Mowbray told 1News.
The eye-watering price paid for NZ's rarest stamp - watch on TVNZ+
"There's 80 stamps we know printed upside down and this is the only one that has ever been found in the world."
The four-pence Lake Taupō stamp has had a long and interesting journey — used on a letter sent from Picton in 1904, before surfacing in London in 1930, and later vanishing for half a century.
The four-penny postage stamp from 1902 featured an upside-down Lake Taupō — a misprint that's made it famous. (Source: 1News)
It was last sold to New Zealand Post in 1998 – for $125,000. Mowbray said selling it again today, 27 years on, was the highlight of his 60 years of auctioning.
"It is the most significant thing I've ever sold in my life," he said.
New Zealand Post head of stamps and collectables Lynette Townsend said it was the highest selling stamp ever in New Zealand.
"The main thing is that we're just really pleased that it's out in the philatelic community again," she said.
"It's been purchased by an international buyer. The stamp, I believe, is going to be on exhibit overseas, which is wonderful for New Zealand," she said.
Despite gloomy economic conditions, Mowbray said the rarity of the stamp likely enticed bidders.
"Any collector in New Zealand who wants the stamp knows it's only going to come on the market every 25 years or so."
Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan said the auction's result, while hard to judge on its own, could also be a sign of current economic conditions.
"For the auction to go really well, you only need two or three people in the room who are really keen to buy the item," he said.
"The result we've seen today with only one bidder and them coming from overseas, does reflect there is sort of softness across the New Zealand economy and internationally as well."
"I suspect that even at that sort of level of buying, there is an element of caution and from people unwillingness to spend too much."
He added that the stamp hadn't increased as much in price since 1998 as other market purchases.
"You could have paid the same price back then for a house in Hawkes Bay," he said.
"You'd be looking to pay around about $660,000 for that now so it just speaks to how hot the housing market has been over that time, and sort of how much prices and affordability have shifted."
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