But Daniel Rossiter Ruddock was probably not someone Oamaru residents would have liked to trifle with.
Before becoming a member of the Waitaki County Council in 1880 and serving the community for 26 years, he was arrested for larceny in England in 1853, and then went on to have a long military career.
At 18, he joined the Monmouthshire militia, and served in Crimea, India, China, Malta and Gibraltar, before migrating to New Zealand in 1862 where he joined volunteers to fight in the New Zealand Wars.
Mowbray Collectables managing director David Galt said Mr Ruddock was attached to the 3rd Waikato Regiment as a sergeant, and was awarded a New Zealand Wars Medal (1861-66) for his services.
"He claimed an adventurous career with the military, but never claimed his medal, which was later sold as a specimen by the Defence Department.
"New Zealand Wars medals are keenly sought after, and those overseas are steadily migrating back to New Zealand."
Mr Ruddock died in 1915. His medals are up for auction later this week in Wellington. They have an estimated value of $1100.
Mr Mowbray said the auction featured many Otago items, among many coins, banknotes, medals and stamps worth about $1.5 million.
"It is one of the scarcest 19th century private tokens issued as small change when official coins were in short supply," Mr Galt said.
"Wilson arrived in Port Chalmers in 1854, and established a pharmacy named Medical Hall.
"He was the first manufacturer of soda water and cordial.
"He later sold his pharmacy to Thomas Merrett Wilkinson in April 1862, which was rebranded to Wilkinson & Son Chemists Ltd, and rebranded to Antidote in 2014.
"Antidote is the oldest pharmacy in New Zealand and the oldest surviving business in Dunedin."
Mr Galt said the rare token had an estimated value of $800.
He said a "Rainbow" Otago Colonial Bank one pound note from 1889 was also up for auction with an estimated value of $3000.
One of the highest-valued lots was a unique sheet of "Teddy Bear" health stamps, issued in error in 1996, with an estimated value of $50,000. There were also coins from shipwrecks and a very rare set of Irish 1928-31 coins, estimated at $12,000.
The numismatic auction begins on Friday, and the stamp auction is on the following day.
