Controversial stamps depicting cartoon Maori cultural performers, pulled by New Zealand Post earlier this year, have fetched record prices at a weekend auction.
The five cartoon-style stamps depicting Maori in a range of kapa haka stances were to be released in May. However, outrage by some Maori, who said the
stamps were ugly and depicted the culture in a bad light, forced a rethink by NZ Post officials.
In June, New Zealand Post also earned the wrath of stamp collectors after it admitted around 500 were issued to a handful of collectors by mistake.
The oversight was expected to see prices for the stamps soar, a prediction confirmed at the country's largest annual stamp auction, held in Wellington at the weekend.
A set of five of the stamps, one of 40 sets accidentally posted out by NZ Post, sold for $12,000 at the John Mowbray Collectables stamp auction.
John Mowbray said the price tag was the highest paid for a modern stamp. The new benchmark set the average value for the stamps at $2400 each.
He said the stamps came from a collector who received 86 per cent, or around 430, of the stamps released. "I don't know who they are, but they are sitting on a million-dollar goldmine."
More than $1 million changed hands at the auction, with three stamps from 1855 - the first year stamps were issued in New Zealand - sold for $112,000.
