The Inverted Jenny, the Most Famous U.S. Stamp & Printing Error (1918)
This upside-down blue plane within a red frame is the most famous U.S. stamp and one of the world's most famous printing errors. Only one misprinted sheet of 100 stamps was sold.
The Curtiss JN-4-H "Jenny" was a World War I airplane later reconfigured to carry mail. The issue of the Jenny stamp marked a milestone in postal history: the first regular airplane mail service between Washington, Philadelphia and New York.
On May 15, 1918, stamp collector William T. Robey went to a Washington, D.C., post office to buy the new airmail stamps. He knew that on the first sale day of a bicolored stamp, chances of an error were good. After spotting inverted images on a sheet of 100 stamps, he immediately bought it. Robey sold the sheet to stamp dealer Eugene Klein for $15,000. Today a single inverted Jenny sells for seven figures. Klein sold the sheet to collector E.H.R. Green, who had it broken into blocks and singles.
"...my heart stood still. It was the sheet of inverts. It was what you might call 'a thrill that comes once in a lifetime.' " [William T. Robey]
Exhibit at the National Postal Museum, Washington, D.C.
The Inverted Jenny, the Most Famous U.S. Stamp & Printing Error (1918)
This upside-down blue plane within a red frame is the most famous U.S. stamp and one of the world's most famous printing errors. Only one misprinted sheet of 100 stamps was sold.
The Curtiss JN-4-H "Jenny" was a World War I airplane later reconfigured to carry mail. The issue of the Jenny stamp marked a milestone in postal history: the first regular airplane mail service between Washington, Philadelphia and New York.
On May 15, 1918, stamp collector William T. Robey went to a Washington, D.C., post office to buy the new airmail stamps. He knew that on the first sale day of a bicolored stamp, chances of an error were good. After spotting inverted images on a sheet of 100 stamps, he immediately bought it. Robey sold the sheet to stamp dealer Eugene Klein for $15,000. Today a single inverted Jenny sells for seven figures. Klein sold the sheet to collector E.H.R. Green, who had it broken into blocks and singles.
"...my heart stood still. It was the sheet of inverts. It was what you might call 'a thrill that comes once in a lifetime.' " [William T. Robey]
Exhibit at the National Postal Museum, Washington, D.C.