Wellington philatelist David Jarvis died last year, after collecting a huge number of rare and valuable stamps, many of them from Britain and including more than 40 of the world’s first postage stamp, the Penny Black.

The collection of a lifetime is the largest collection from a single individual ever to go under the hammer in New Zealand.

A jubilee stamp in the collection is one of only 60 ever produced because it was printed the wrong shade of blue. Bought for a tuppence halfpenny back in 1935, it went under the hammer for $14,000 and was just one of nearly 500 lots painstakingly collected over many years by Jarvis.

The auction is at at Mowbray auctions.

Posted: 03|29|08 at 10:14 am. Filed under: Auction News.