Inverted Jenny

Inverted Jenny
This example of the Inverted Jenny is at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum
Country of production	United States
Date of production	May 10 1918
Nature of rarity	Invert error
No. in existence	100
Face value	24¢ US$
Estimated value	US $300,000

The (C3a) Inverted Jenny (or Jenny Invert) is a United States postage stamp first issued on May 10 1918 in which the image of the Curtiss JN-4 airplane in the center of the design was accidentally printed upside-down; it is probably the most famous error in American philately. Only one pane of 100 of the invert stamps was ever found, making this error one of the most prized in all philately; an inverted Jenny was sold at a Robert A. Siegel auction in November 2007 for US $977,500. In December 2007 a mint, never hinged example (one not previously affixed to a stamp album), was sold for $825,000. The broker of the sale said the buyer was a Wall Street executive who lost the auction the previous month. A block of four inverted Jennys was sold at a Robert A. Siegel auction in October 2005 for US$2.7 million.

Background

During the 1910s, the United States Post Office had made a number of experimental trials of carrying mail by air, and decided to inaugurate regular service on May 15, 1918, flying between Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City. The Post Office set a controversial rate of 24 cents for the service, much higher than the 3 cents for first-class mail of the time, and decided to issue a new stamp just for this rate, patriotically printed in red and blue, and depicting a Curtiss Jenny, the biplane chosen to shuttle the mail.

The job of designing and printing the new stamp was carried out in a great rush; engraving only began on May 4, and stamp printing on May 10 (a Friday), in sheets of 100 (contrary to the usual practice of printing 400 at a time and cutting into 100-stamp panes). Since the stamp was printed in two colors, each sheet had to be fed through the printing press twice, an error-prone process that had resulted in invert errors in stamps of 1869 and 1901, and at least three misprinted sheets were found during the production process and were destroyed. It is believed that only one misprinted sheet of 100 stamps got through unnoticed, and stamp collectors have spent the ensuing years trying to find them all.

Initial deliveries went to post offices on Monday, May 13. Aware of the potential for inverts, a number of collectors went to their local post offices to buy the new stamps and keep an eye out for errors. Collector W. T. Robey was one of those; he had written to a friend on May 10 mentioning that "it would pay to be on the lookout for inverts". On May 14, Robey went to the post office to buy the new stamps, and as he wrote later, when the clerk brought out a sheet of inverts, "my heart stood still". He paid for the sheet, and asked to see more, but the remainder of the sheets were normal.

Additional details of the day's events are not entirely certain—Robey gave three different accounts later—but he began to contact both stamp dealers and journalists, to tell them of his find. After a week that included visits from postal inspectors and the hiding of the sheet, Robey sold the sheet to noted Philadelphia dealer Eugene Klein for US$15,000. Klein then immediately resold the sheet to "Colonel" H. R. Green, son of Hetty Green, for US$20,000.

Klein advised Green that the stamps would be worth more separately than as a single sheet, and Green went along; the sheet was broken into a block of eight, several blocks of four, with the remainder sold as individuals. Green kept a number of the inverts, including one that was placed in a locket for his wife. This locket was offered for sale for the first time ever by the Siegel Auction Galleries Rarity Sale, held on May 18, 2002. It did not sell in the auction, but the philatelic press reported that a Private Treaty sale was arranged later for an unknown price.

A center-line block catalogs for $600,000.

A rare swap

The inverted Jenny block of four

In late October 2005 the unique plate number block of four stamps was purchased by a then anonymous buyer for $2,970,000. The purchaser was revealed to be U.S. financier Bill Gross. Shortly after purchasing the Inverted Jennys he proceeded to trade them with Donald Sundman, president of the Mystic Stamp Company a stamp dealer, for one of only two known examples of the USA 1c Z Grill. By completing this trade, Gross became the owner of the only complete collection of U.S. 19th century stamps.

2006 Find

In November 2006, election workers in Broward County, Florida claimed to have found an Inverted Jenny affixed to an absentee ballot envelope. The sender did not include any identification with the ballot, which meant the ballot was disqualified.

In a review of a digital photograph of this stamp, Peter Mastrangelo, director of the Pennsylvania-based American Philatelic Society said "It is our opinion, from what we've seen, that this stamp is questionable, and we are of the opinion at this point that it appears to be a reproduction". He said an in-person review was needed to be sure, but that all indications are that the stamp is a counterfeit. "The perforations on top and bottom do not match our reference copies." Mastrangelo said. "The colors of the blue ink are consistent with the counterfeit."

The counterfeit inverted Jenny affixed to the absentee ballot envelope

On November 13, 2006, an elderly Sarasota, Florida man contacted SNN News 6, claiming to be the man who mailed the ballot. Dan Jacoby says the stamp he used is a commemorative stamp that is worth about 50 cents.

On December 4, 2006, it was confirmed that this stamp used on the ballot was a counterfeit. Inside the Broward County Elections Office in Florida, experts studied the stamp and decided that the method used to print it and the perforations along the sides were evidence of the stamp being fake.

This story recalls a plot point from the 1985 movie version of Brewster’s Millions, in which a man named Brewster (played by Richard Pryor) was challenged to spend thirty million dollars in thirty days without having anything to show for it (i.e. without accumulating assets). One of the many things he did in his attempt was to use an Inverted Jenny to mail a post card.

In popular culture

In The Simpsons fifth season's first episode, "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", the hero Homer Simpson comes across a full sheet of Inverted Jennys in the 5 cent box at a local swap meet. He throws is away, however, saying "Junk. The plane's upside down".

See also

• CIA invert
• Invert error
• List of notable postage stamps
• Philatelic investment
• Stamp collecting
• Pan-American invert

References and sources

Notes

Sources

• Amick, George. The Inverted Jenny: Mystery, Money, Mania. Scott Pub Inc Co (May 1 1987). ISBN 0-89487-089-0
• Smithsonian Institution article on the Inverted Jenny on display at the National Postal Museum
• "Yahoo News 'Jenny' Stamp on Ballet Is Likely a Fake" November 14 2006 Date accessed: 2006-11-15 (Link dead as of 05:02, 15 January 2007 (UTC))