Allan Adland (left) looks at what's for offer with Orewa dealer Derek Lamb (centre) and David Russell.PHOTO/STUART MUNRO 090815WCSMSTAMPS1
Allan Adland (left) looks at what's for offer with Orewa dealer Derek Lamb (centre) and David Russell.PHOTO/STUART MUNRO 090815WCSMSTAMPS1
In 1893, New Zealand postage stamps were printed with advertisements on the back. That is, until the people rebelled.
"People weren't very happy about licking the backs with the adverts on the back," a Wanganui man said.
The man, who wanted to only be known as Laurie, thought those stampswere some of the most interesting.
"After six months the public rebelled and said 'no more, we don't want to lick these dirty stamps."
Laurie, a collector, was just one person browsing at the Wanganui Philatelic and Numismatic Societies - otherwise known as stamp and coin collectors - annual show on Sunday.
Allan Adland didn't consider himself a "hard-out" coin collector, but liked the way the coins told stories.
"You can almost read where a person's been," the Waitotara man said.
Fishing into his pocket, Mr Adland pulled out a 1948 New Zealand half crown with King George VI stamped on the back. It was one of his favourites because 1948 was the year he was born, he said.
Auckland Stamp dealer David Bevan, who was in Wanganui for the show, said he began collecting stamps at the age of 5.
"When I was a kid, all we did was collect stamps. There wasn't much else to do."
Mr Bevan couldn't say exactly why he enjoyed collecting stamps.
"Why do you like hockey? You just do.
"There's a certain degree of enjoyment out of owning something, particularly when it's rare."
Another keen collector, Neil Boyd said he learned everything he needed to know about New Zealand before moving here from Scotland at the age of 39, from stamps.
His mother got him into stamp collecting when he was 3 or 4-years-old.
