N.Z. STAMPS

Hokitika Guardian, 18 September 1933, Page 3

N.Z. STAMPS

A COMING SALE . SPECIMEN WORTH £3OOO. In one of the' biggest auction sales of its kind for years, on October 4, in London, small pieces of printed and coloured -paper will probably be bought at many times their weight in gold. Harmerj Rooke and Company, Limited, one of the leading British ■philatelic auctioneering firms, will sell the M,ann collection of New Zealand postage stamps, the catalogue value of which is £BOOO. The stamps in the collection range in catalogue price from £2 to £3OOO, and ther-e- are several individual stamps ranging in value from £IOO to £750.

■• All of the earlier varieties of New Zealand stamps are represented, and it is understood that an effort will b© made by some of the leading collectors in New Zealand to secure at least some of the prizes from the collection. The collection is the property of Mr E. IV. Mann, of Mann, Nightingale P nd Company, Limited, a London merchant firm ..The nucleus.was fonned in the early.days by-Mr Mann’s father, who had extensive trading communications with New Zealand, and took the opportunty of acquiring quantities of the earlier New Zealand issues.

The gem of the collection is a copy of what is known among collectors as the threepenny on pelure paper—a stamp even rarer than the celebrated blue-. Mauritius. It is catalogued fit £3000.;..1ts history is very interesting, with -considerable historical ramifications, j.t.Frpm 1855 .to 186.2. the New Zea-land--.stamps had y been, printed in Auckland by Miy r J., Rioh.ardspn. His contract was due to expire .on April 15, 1862,-and the .postal authorities of the day considered it advisable to have direct control of the work. .With this object in view, the Government obtained the services of Mr John Dayies, who had been previously been employedby the famous printing and engraving firm of Perkins, Bacon and Company, in London. Mr Davies brought from Home with, him various supplies, including four reams of the paper specially made by Perkins, Bacon and Company for New Zealand stamps. Mr Davies began printing in February', 1862, . and . although under ordinary circumstances tlie 'supply of paper on band would have proved; adequate,' the gold rushes in Otago at| the time called for unexpected quart--tities of stamps, and Mr Davies found ; it necessary to supplement his stock ofpaper by purchasing some locally, so) that’it could be.'used- until supplies came from England.

The only paper procurable in: Auck- i j land that was considered satisfactory i was 'pelure paper-—of- such thin -texture J that it closely resembles tissue paper. The penny, twopenny, sixpenny a n d.«-i shlH'lftK !,, ‘-ta!vr6S'ota-ade* from this' &re«lj scarce, but are not considered rareities. \-\ Of the threpenny value, however, two l.j copies only' have been found.- These Fj were- discovered in Wellington some ; years ago. When they- were first : brought to light there was sonie i as'to" their authenticity; However, a ’Wellington collector imbued with

vision and a flair for speculation offered the sum of £lO for the two .and purphase'd •. ? ■ -p -.---::-: -,. -■ ' ■ The stamps '^were ■ sent to England and changed -hands at a . considerable, figutp. ;-Eor some years the location of the two copies was not, known,- but the variety, has appeared regularly in the standard catalogues, .although till comparatively recently no effort has been made to assess- their value. When the celebrated Ferrary collection,'which had' heeii-deft tq the Austrian nation, hup’whichv had been ..sequestrated by the, French authorities in connection with' war reparations, was'- sold in Paris, one of two known copie-s of the' '{threepenny pelure was bought by M. Theodore Champion, the leading French dealer. With the value based on the price he paid, Champion has catalogued the staifip atvsso,ooo francs, or £3OOO. . ' jr| . At the catalogue: of tliejMann eollectioh does not re f er to the copy therein as being'-: from the Ferrary collection, it is safe to assume that at represents the second of the two known copies. So a piece of printed tissue paper, |din bv Lin., is worth. £3OOO Millions of times its weight ill gold.