New Zealand’s appetite for rare coins, medals and stamps remains strong, with a Wellington auction house achieving more than $1.1 million in sales across two days of bidding.

Mowbray Collectables’ stamp and coin auctions on September 18 and 19 generated $1.1m in sales, with overseas buyers accounting for 38% of the total.

Managing director David Galt said the results reflected continued international demand for significant New Zealand collectables.

“These results show the enduring appeal of rare New Zealand coins, medals and stamps in the international market,” Galt said.

The highest-priced item was a group of 10 medals awarded to World War II soldier John Redpath, which sold for $32,000 including charges.

The collection included the Distinguished Conduct Medal and Military Medal awarded to Redpath, who twice escaped from Italian and German prisoner-of-war camps and returned to Allied lines.

A proof set of 1935 New Zealand coins also attracted strong interest, selling for $23,300.

Among the standout stamp and postal history lots was a collection of New Zealand’s earliest stamps from the 1850s and 1860s featuring Queen Victoria, which sold for $16,700.

An 1846 letter written by missionary Richard Taylor, who penned the final copy of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in February 1840, fetched $16,100. The letter was addressed to trader and community leader Gilbert Mair and carried one of only two known Russell receiving postmarks.

Some of the memorabilia sold at the auction.

Another notable result came from five newly discovered letters and envelopes linked to the ill-fated Robert Falcon Scott Antarctic expedition of 1910-1913. The collection sold for $18,700, more than double its estimated value.

The auction also featured Bay of Plenty-linked military memorabilia, including a rare collection connected to three generations of the Graham family. The medals, service records and paybooks included material relating to John Telfar Graham, who was wounded during the Battle of Chunuk Bair at Gallipoli and died four days later in Egypt.

The medals sold for $2100.

Lot 6 with the Graham medals.

Galt said historically significant items continued to attract collectors because they offered insight into the people behind the artefacts.

“Not only did they travel to the other side of the world but, as in the case of the Graham family, they represent the loss of a family member for those who survived.”

Full auction results are available through Mowbray Collectables.