KEY POINTS:
An image of Peter Snell lunging across the finish line on a sheet of $2 stamps commemorating the 2004 Olympics garnered a $50,000 windfall for an Auckland woman.
It wasn't the association with three-time gold medallist Snell that transformed the woman's $44 "investment", but rather a printing error which saw the image printed upside-down.
John Mowbray of publicly listed auction house Mowbray Collectibles said it was the rare and unusual that commanded a premium among stamp collectors.
The Olympic stamps, which sold at the company's most recent auction in October, would normally only be worth $2, said Mowbray, but the mistake had made them rare and desirable - hence the price.
Mowbray said the stamps purchased three years ago at the Glen Innes Post Office had been tossed into a drawer by the woman, who was under the mistaken belief that they were worthless and unusable.
It wasn't until she was selling the furniture and re-discovered the stamps that she was alerted to the fact she had something of value.
In the 30 years since Mowbray started his stamp trading business as a teenager collecting trends had changed immensely, he said.
Blocks of stamps with the printing details in the margin or mint condition unused stamps were in fashion then, he said, whereas now people are keen on single stamps, particularly those still on an envelope complete with postmarks.
Mowbray said most collections started with "what you can lay your hands on" but over time collectors would reach a point where the only way to complete a collection was to start buying stamps.
Every collection was different, he said, and there was no such thing as the ultimate stamp collection.
"But at some stage a number of people will cross that threshold from just having a stamp collection to having a stamp collection of significant value."
The "ultimate collector" title must go to American hedge fund manager William Gross who spent $4.5 million collecting every British stamp produced in an 80-year period, selling the entire collection last year for $15 million to benefit charity Medecins sans Frontieres.
"That's the extreme," said Mowbray. "There's a man that put together a collection that was so good you could argue every stamp in that collection was desired by more than one other person."
Over a 70-year period former member of Parliament and current DHB board member Bob Tizard has made the step from having a small hobby collection to one that has become increasingly specialised and valuable.
His interest in stamps was stimulated as a child when he was given an old album. But birds eggs, cigarette cards and matchbox tops all competed for his attention.
As a member of Parliament in the 1950s, he'd return to his young family in Auckland with the stamps he'd received at his parliamentary office - a starting point for discussions with the kids he hadn't seen during the week.
"Step by step I got back into having a collection," said Tizard.
His interest took off seriously in 1972 when Prime Minister Norman Kirk gave his Cabinet their first "harangue" following the controversy about the establishment of the Comalco aluminium smelter near Bluff and the raising of Lake Manapouri.
"There were allegations that Comalco had done a number of deals with politicians, specifically with National Cabinet ministers" said Tizard.
"So Norm Kirk had the Cabinet in and said 'I am not going to tolerate any allegations of backhanders to Cabinet ministers. So if any of you have shares in companies you're going to dispose of them'."
Instead of investing in shares, Tizard began using his war pension to buy stamps.
Tizard collects New Zealand stamps, particularly focused on a period before stamps were routinely sold as perforated sheets and stamp printers were experimenting with different methods to separate stamps for individual sale.
Tizard confirms he has made directions in his will for how his collection will be treated on his death.
"So much of it is personal, not like bonds and debentures."
