Mowbrays to send 11.5 million NZ stamps to UK

Media release – May 21, 2007

Mowbrays to send record shipment of 11.5 million NZ stamps to the UK

New Zealand listed stamp dealers Mowbrays will this week send a record export shipment of 11.5 million New Zealand stamps to the United Kingdom.

The stamps weigh a tonne and have been packed into 160 cartons. Mowbrays said the stamp consignment to London was the biggest stamp export ever. They are being sent to UK dealer Apex Philatelics.

Managing director John Mowbray said from Otaki today they had dealt with Apex before but never a shipment anywhere near as big.

``This is by far the biggest export consignment of stamps to leave these shores. It’s unique and impossible to repeat.’’

The stamps came from the giant Stirling collection bought out by Mowbrays three years ago. That stock included stamps from the Laurie Franks 1950s Christchurch stock and the Wilcox Smith collection from Dunedin in the early 1900s.

Mowbrays recently received a world record boost from one of its associate companies, just weeks out from its annual result.

A world record $A840,000 was paid in April for an Albert Tucker painting at the new Melbourne branch of auction house Bonhams & Goodman, 20 percent owned by Mowbrays.

The painting was Tucker's Flirtation, a 1954 painting on the dubious sexual conquests of post-war Australia. A world record was also set for the earliest documented piece of silver crafted in Australia. A commemorative silver pepper caster sold for a record $A408,000.

In November Mowbrays reported a half yearly $315,000 net profit from operations, up 20.4 percent on the previous corresponding period.

Before Christmas, Mowbrays purchased probably the biggest stamp collection in New Zealand. The 900-volume collection from retired Ashburton joiner Ray Walkham had a catalogue value of more than $7 million.

Mowbrays will report its annual result to the stock exchange this week.

ENDS

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