Boyhood hustle to lucrative career
Stamp, coin trader trusted worldwide
Imagine your childhood passion blossoming into a bona fide, lifelong career. O¯ taki man John Mowbray is one of those fortunate people who has managed to eke out a successful business career from what started as a boyhood side hustle.
As an 8-year-old his father gave him his very first box of stamps. It piqued an interest that led to the establishment of a trusted coin and stamp collection trading house.
“It set me up. It got me hooked,” he said.
As a youngster Mowbray began swapping and trading stamps with children at school and from other clubs.
At the age of 13 he began importing stamps wholesale from Australia.
“I didn’t tell anyone how old I was,” he said.
The sideline continued growing while he was a student at Victoria University. On graduating with a degree in marketing, it soon became apparent the hobby had turned into a career. “When I had finished my degree there was no question of looking for a job,” he said.
Mowbray had lists of stock professionally typed — a catalogue — and soon he was supplying stamps to bookstores all over New Zealand.
Mowbray Collectables opened an office in O¯ taki in 1974.
Initially, it seemed like a bad decision, as he had distanced himself from the main customer base. But with the benefit of hindsight, it was a master stroke.
It forced him to look at alternate ways of trading, and led to the establishment of a postal auction. It opened up an international market, and the trading base more than doubled.
“It was enough to dig me out of a hole,” he said.
“What it showed me was being in Otaki ¯ you had to look quite wide for your market, and the further you looked the easier it got.”
Now, in his 56th year as a stamp and coin auctioneer, the veteran O¯ taki-based dealer maintains that he loves what he has been doing since 1965.
“I love what I do . . . it still fascinates me. Sometimes the stories behind the items are really incredible,” he said.
With 15 fulltime staff, the Otakibased business is the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere, taking calls and inquiries from all over the world.
Trust was the most important asset
to the Mowbray Collectables brand. He said that assurance of trust had been built over many years and was at the heart of the business.
“The secret is trust . . . trust is so important,” he said.
He was a custodian of someone else’s prized possession and in a qualified position to ascertain value and find buyers. “It absolutely staggers me, where people from all over the world — they don’t know me, but they trust me — will send me items. It’s humbling,” he said.
He had built a name recognised worldwide. He spent a term as president of the World Stamp Dealers Association in the 1990s, flying to the northern hemisphere every six weeks, and was on the board of Stanley Gibbons in England for six years.
Every coin or stamp sold by Mowbray Collectables was guaranteed. The key was to ascertain its worth.
“Everyday there is a surprise that someone had sent something to you to be sold. You get a great deal of satisfaction to know you can provide a solution for them,” he said.
“You never know when you are going to find something that is special . . . what you thought might be worth $1 turns out to be $1000,” he said.
For Mowbray, the highlight of the year was auction time.
Originally the auction was held annually, although in recent times it was held twice yearly due to its popularity.
This weekend is auction time again. There is a buzz around some lots. Under the hammer at West Plaza Hotel will be New Zealand’s very first stamp, a full-face Queen issued for just a penny in 1855.
A 35 shilling stamp from 1931 is expected to fetch about $6000 “but with international interest and electronic bidding, you just never can tell how high the bids may go on the day”, he said.
A quirky piece of New Zealand postal history from late last century will be auctioned. In 1998, New Zealand Post cancelled and reissued a Performing Arts tribute stamp with a fresh design.
“One of the cancelled series has popped up on a First Day Cover and so we now have a unique opportunity for a collector from fairly recent times,” he said.
“What it is worth is one thing and what it will fetch is another. That’s the beauty of an auction,” he said.
“People really look forward to these events.”
Mowbray takes the rostrum, and runs a tight ship. He might get through 1200 lots of stamps in four hours, and 600 coin lots in four hours.
“I don’t try and entice bidding. They’re either there or they’re not . . . there are some lots that won’t attract a bid and we move on. The market is such that there are a lot of lots to get through,” he said.
The highest price fetched for a stamp was $125,000 — twice. One a US stamp, the other one depicting Lake Taupo. Both stamps were quirks of the manufacturing process that had made it into circulation.
He had also sold a rare crown for $7000.
Meanwhile, the outbreak of Covid19 had seen an unexpected boom in the industry.
“What we’ve seen since Covid-19 is truly amazing, with unprecedented interest in both stamps and coins. It seems that during lockdown, people found time to look through their attics and search out what they had, albeit from previous generations,” he said
“This has given us a huge increase in inquiries.”
But for all its proven success and the current boom, Mowbray was philosophical about the future of
You never know when you are going to find something that is special . . . what you thought might be worth $1 turns out to be $1000
John Mowbray
stamp and coin collection.
He was from a generation that were passionate about collecting and who had taken that passion with them into their senior years. It was not uncommon to have customers in their 90s.
“In reality young people don’t collect things these days,” he said.
Mowbray’s other passion was rugby. He recently stepped down as chairman of the Horowhenua-Ka piti Rugby Union, a position he had held for a staggering 15 years, making him the longest-serving provincial chairman in the history of New Zealand rugby.
Mowbrays International Stamp Auction starts at 12.30pm on Saturday, with viewing from 9am.