A collection of old New Zealand stamps described as outstanding has been sold in Britain for sterling 470,000 ($1.4 million).
Among the 750 lots was a stamped envelope sent from Auckland to Halifax in Yorkshire in October 1855 which sold for sterling 15,000 ($45,000).
The offering was described by Christies stamp auctioneers Spinks of London as "one of the best New Zealand collections ever to go under the hammer."
Auctioneer David Parson said that while the collection had been sold to a range of people, some of the stamps were returning to New Zealand.
"The stamps went everywhere - buyers attended in person from New Zealand, Australia and America."
Major Henry Dumas of Bristol, in south-west England, died last year after a lifetime of collecting. His son Raymond sold the stamps as requested in his father's will.
Mr Dumas told the Herald the collection was started when his father was at school.
Major Dumas spent most of his life in Suffolk, England, and made his only trip to New Zealand 10 years ago.
Rare NZ stamps fetch $1.4 million
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