Story: Postage stamps

One of the rarest New Zealand stamps is the 1906 New Zealand Exhibition one-penny claret. When the exhibition committee decided the original printing, with a claret-coloured ink, was too dark, it ordered the stamps to be destroyed. The stamps were reprinted with a brighter vermilion ink. However, one claret sheet accidentally made its way into public circulation. Here John Mowbray of Mowbray Collectibles holds one of these claret stamps up to a magnifying glass in 2004. It sold at auction that year for $20,530.