Media release – November 1, 2005
Save your milk tokens! Mowbrays auction realises $750,000
Save your milk tokens! They may be worth a lot of money in years to come!
Twenty old Wellington milk tokens fetched $530 at Mowbray’s two-day international coin and stamp auction which ended in
Wellington at the weekend.
The auction of 1600 lots of stamps and coins realised in excess of $750,000. Next year’s sale is expected to be held in
October.
An extensive collection of several hundred NZ tokens sold well, including three Kirkcaldie & Stains ½d, 1d, 3d cafeteria tokens which fetched $1320, well over their original value of 5c.
Three Waitangi 1935 Crowns sold for $6900 to $7300 each and a 1923 National Bank 10 shilling note realised $6,900
against estimate of $3500. A 1784 Cook Medal estimated at $1000 realised $2100.
Among the stamps, a China collection estimated at $5500 fetched $8300.
A 1971 envelope Denmark to Wellington with “damaged by Water” cachet sold for $1150.
Three early NZ Fullface Queens sold well with the Penny stamp fetching $4250, the 2d $400 and the 1/- $2,900.
The 1996 Teddy Bear errors sold for between $1200 and $1400 each. The Plunket Society complained at the time that the
teddy bear in a carseat in the stamp was facing the wrong way. The stamps were withdrawn and redesigned to later show
the teddy bear correctly seated.
However, a small number of stamps showing the babyseat facing the wrong way did reach the market.
A Great Britain £1 Stamp issued in 1882 fetched $6400.
The sale by publicly-listed Mowbray’s is easily New Zealand’s biggest annual stamp auction.
Mowbrays have been auctioning for 30 years and they have the record for the most expensive stamp sold in New Zealand – a
1903 Taupo 4d stamp (with inverted centre) bought by NZ Post for $125,000 for an investment.
John Mowbray International is the largest stamp auction house in New Zealand. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary
of Mowbray Collectables, Australasia’s largest stamp dealers and listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange.
ENDS