One-of-a-Kind NZ Stamp Could Fetch Tens of Thousands at Auction

A printing error and the fact that only one is known to be in existence will undoubtedly excite the world’s philatelists when the stamp goes on sale.

The Taupo invert. Courtesy of NZ Post

One of New Zealand’s, if not the world’s, rarest stamps is to be sold at auction in September.

Called the Taupō Invert, it would have been one of a sheet of 80 that were printed off and then found to have an error: the centre was inverted.

No one knows what became of the other 79, making the one to be auctioned the only one of its kind.

Originally part of the 1902–1907 Pictorials collection (which reused designs from the 1898 Pictorials), the error must initially have gone unnoticed. The stamp was stuck on a letter mailed from Picton in 1904, meaning it has been franked.

The error wasn’t discovered until 1930, when English farmer Jack Dennett noticed the discrepancy in his childhood collection.

Originally worth four pence—the equivalent of about NZ$5 in today’s money—Dennett sold it at auction the following year for £161, around NZ$23,000 (US$13,900) today.

A close-up view of the centre of the Taupō invert stamp, showing the centre image, of Lake Taupō and the mountains beyond, printed upside down. Courtesy of NZ Post

It was then sold to the Marquis De Rosny and did not reappear for sale until 1980, when an American buyer purchased it from a French stamp dealer for 110,500 francs, approximately US$18,000 at the time.

From then on, it made appearances at several international shows and in sales lists until, finally, in 1998, it was purchased by NZ Post for NZ$125,000 (about NZ$239,500 today) to coincide with a centenary commemoration reprint of the 1898 Pictorials issue.

Since 2010, it has been on long-term loan to the Museum of New Zealand in Wellington.

NZ Post’s Head of Stamps and Collectables, Antony Harris, says it’s an exciting moment for the philatelic community.

The full range of 1898 Pictorials. One of the world's earliest pictorial definitive issues, it was a departure from the almost universal use of portrait designs of monarchs or presidents. Courtesy of NZ Post

“It’s been a privilege for NZ Post to have cared for the Taupō invert for the past 27 years. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to facilitate a landmark event for stamp collectors with its public auction.”

The proceeds from the sale will help alleviate the $14 million loss NZ Post made in 2024, which followed a $56 million loss the previous year.

Eager philatelists will have their chance to bid on this one-of-a-kind stamp when it’s auctioned in Wellington by Mowbray Collectables on September 20, 2025.