By gum! Collectors have NZ Post licked over stamps

By ALANAH MAY ERIKSEN
About 500 controversial stamps leaked to collectors are now worth thousands of dollars.
The series of five stamps depict Maori in a range of kapa haka stances.
NZ Post withdrew the stamps on June 2, five days before they were supposed to be released, due to complaints that the cartoons were in bad taste from local stamp collector Donald Ion and various Maori leaders.
However, eight early "casual" orders for the stamps lodged before the issue date were processed, meaning some collectors around New Zealand were given the stamps which have become collectors items.
Mr Ion said he and other stamp collectors who had "standing" orders are irate that they have missed out.
He estimates the 500 stamps are worth $50,000 all together or $100 each.
"This is very displeasing.
"They stated openly that all the stamps had been destroyed but there was a rumour going around that some were still out.
Mr Ion said "in the old days" post shops and collectors were only given the stamps on the day of issue or after, never before.
People are already trying to cash in on the kapa haka stamps by selling fake ones.
A forged stamp has already been pulled from Trade Me and another is currently selling on auction website Zillion.
If someone were to retain the genuine stamps for more than two years they could double in value, Mr Ion said.
He recalls teddy-bear stamps that weren't officially issued in 1996.
They were valued at $200 back then for those who managed to get a hold of them but now they would be worth almost $1500.
NZ Post are asking for the leaked stamps back.
Richard Maclean, spokesman for NZ Post, said after the stamps were cancelled NZ Post attempted to get all the early ordered ones back.
"We manages to get 99.9 per cent back but because of human error there are still 500 out there with different collectors."
He said the stamps on Trade Me and Zillion were not genuine.
"Basically they're fakes.
"We don't have them in front of us but looking at the images on the website, they don't appear to be real."
Ivor Masters, NZ Post stamps and collectibles general manager, urged people who had the genuine stamps to return them.
"We want all the product to be destroyed."
However, the plea is likley to be in vain.
Mr Maclean and Mr Masters acknowledged that if people did not return the stamps, there was little they could do.
additional reporting APN