Rare New Zealand Invert To Go on Public Display

Reporter Bernard Carpinter of New Zealand's The Dominion Post pens, "Mistakes in manufacturing usually make products worthless, but an error in printing one New Zealand stamp makes it worth about $300,000. "

The 1903 fourpenny stamp – the only one known to exist – was part of a set of New Zealand scenes first issued in 1898.

According to Bernard, "Eighty of the upside-down stamps were printed but no-one noticed till 1930, when a farmer in England detected the error while looking through his childhood stamp album.

"He was trying to find valuable stamps he could sell for cash in the Depression. A year later it sold at auction in London for £161 - a large sum at the time."

NZ Post chief executive Brian Roche is quoted as saying, "The 'fourpenny Lake Taupo Invert' stamp is a unique national treasure and it is timely to make it available for all New Zealanders to see."

The stamp has Lake Taupo and Mt Ruapehu printed upside-down even though a heavy postmark makes it hard to spot the error.

Shown above, Patrick Brownsey has a close look at New Zealand's rarest stamp, the "fourpenny Lake Taupo Invert".