Many of the medals won by New Zealand champion boxer and track and field athlete James George Leckie will be auctioned at Mowbray Collectables International Auction, in Wellington, on Friday.
Leckie was born into a prominent boxing family at Blueskin Bay, north of Dunedin, on October 9, 1903.
He went on to become a prominent name in boxing circles after winning the New Zealand Amateur Boxing Championships bantamweight title in 1911, the light-heavyweight titles in 1923 and 1924 and the heavyweight title in 1927, as well as many regional titles.
He was also a prominent New Zealand track and field athlete, winning the New Zealand amateur athletics championships hammer throw title in 1932, 1945, 1946 and 1948.
During that time, he represented New Zealand at the 1938 British Empire Games, in Sydney, where he was also the New Zealand team’s flagbearer during the opening ceremony.
He won the bronze medal in the men’s hammer throw, with a distance of 44.34m.
Twelve years later, he was selected to compete at the 1950 British Empire Games, in Auckland, where he was the New Zealand team captain.
He placed seventh in the men’s hammer, recording a best throw of 41.61m.
Away from sporting pursuits, he was a schoolteacher, and rose to become headmaster at Sawyers Bay School.
Many of the medals from his boxing and athletics achievements — including his 1938 Empire Games bronze medals and 1950 games participation medal — will go up for auction at Mowbray Collectables on Friday.
Mowbray Collectables managing director David Galt said only 71 bronze winners’ medals were awarded to athletes at the 1938 Empire Games and only 13 of them went to New Zealanders.
"So both medals are very scarce."
Another sought-after piece was a New Zealand Memorial Cross belonging to Acting Lieutenant Louis Frank Weatherall, a World War 2 Fleet Air Arm pilot from Ettrick, who died after an engine failure over the North Atlantic in 1944.
Mr Galt said the rarest item up for auction was a 1903 postage stamp with an upside-down picture of Lake Taupō on it, which was sent from Picton in 1904.
"It’s New Zealand’s rarest stamp and has an estimated value of $250,000.
"It last sold in 1998 to New Zealand Post for $125,000."
The sale is part of a sale on September 19 and 20 of stamps, coins, medals and banknotes in 1515 lots, with a record catalogue value of more than $2.1 million, he said.
