The Inverted Jenny, A Rare Find Part II of II

In continuation from Monday’s post.

W. T. Robey was the lucky collector who happened to find the, not yet discovered 100 panes, of the inverted Jenny stamps. He quickly made his purchase, on his lunch hour, from his local Washington, DC post office. Robey then contacted both journalists and stamp dealers to let them know of his precious find. Soon after his purchase, he sold all 100 stamps for $15,000 to a dealer named Eugene Klein. Klein immediately sold the lot to H. R. Green for $20,000.

Soon the sheet of 100 would be split into block of 8 and several blocks of 4. The remaining stamps would be cut into singles. Once the mistake was made public, stamps collectors worldwide tried to get their hands on these rare stamps.

H. R. Green placed one of these rare stamps in a locket for his wife. This locket was up for auction in May, 2002 from Siegel Auction Galleries Rarity Sale. The locket did not sell that day, but was sold later for an undisclosed amount of money.

In October 2005, four stamps were anonymously purchased for $2,970,000. Later, financier Bill Gross was revealed to be the purchaser. In 2007, a Wall Street investor forked out $825,000 for a mint never hinged stamp. He reports that he lost out on a previous auction when the winner obtained the stamp for $977,000.

Like other valuable stamps, there have been counterfeits produced, and sometimes even used. The inverted Jenny is likely the most famous stamp making error in American history. It is one of the most sought after stamps in all philately. People have asked the question over the years as to why the postal clerk sold the stamps to Robey in the first place. The fact is, it was 1918, and most people had not ever seen an airplane at that point to even know that it was actually upside down.

It would be fun to know where all of these rare stamps have landed, but it would be even more fun to actually own one of these stamps!