A unique and super rare stamp of Lake Taupō has just smashed a record for selling at the highest price ever paid for a kiwi stamp - we’re talking in the hundreds of thousands.
It’s known as the ‘Lake Taupō Invert Stamp’, which famously features a misprint of the North Island scene… upside down.
Over the weekend, the stamp went under the hammer at Mowbray Collectables’ stamp and coin auction in Wellington, fetching a whopping $263,250.
New Zealand Post, the seller of the item, originally bought the stamp in 1998 for $125,000, meaning the postal company made an impressive $138,250 profit.
Who knew a little stamp could be worth so much?!
And prior to the latest auction, this one-of-a-kind stamp had quite the journey.
The rare piece was first used on a letter sent from Picton in 1904, the Mowbray Collectables website explains.
“It first surfaced in London in 1930, selling the following year at auction for just £61.”
"It then vanished into a private French collection for half a century, only re-emerging in New Zealand in 1982, when it was displayed at the Palmpex exhibition."
John Mowbray, the founder of Mowbray Collectables, later picked up the stamp for $125,000 on behalf of NZ Post in 1998.
According to RNZ, the stamp was last seen in a public display at Te Papa’s 'Stamped: Celebrating New Zealand's postal history' exhibition.
It might be small, but this upside-down Taupō misprint has proven to be worth the large bucks.
Sure makes you think about all the collectibles you started as a kid. It might just be a hobby worth picking up again.
