Record price for stamps

Press, 10 February 1988, Page 8

Record price for stamps

Stamps that were never intended for posting fetched record prices at . a Christchurch stamp auction on Monday evening. An unused 1894 five shilling New Zealand Railways freight stamp was sold to a Christchurch buyer for $4250. The mail order manager of Stirling and Company, Ltd, Mr ®)avid r

Smitham, said the stamp was one of only four Known and was first issued at the Whangarei Railway Station. It was a record price for such a stamp, which was expected to sell for $2500. An unused one shilling Railways freight stamp was sold to the same buyer for $l3OO. In the pioneering days

stamps were used to shift beer as well as freight, letters and parcels. A 27-gallon beer duty stamp in mint condition but bearing the name of the possible sender and dating from the 1880 s was sold for $7OO. Mr Smitham said such stamps were usually badly damaged after a journey on a beer barrel. Smitham saw the

auction’s record prices as a reflection of buyers’ interest in the unusual. The recent stock market movement could be influencing some people to sell or invest in stamp collections. “Generally speaking, stamps are a good investment with values increasing dependent on rarity and condition,” he said. p