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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 biplaneA biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings of similar spans, normally one mounted above, and the other level with, the underside of the fuselage. The upper wing normally overlaps the lower wing, and vertical or slightly raked slender struts ar chosen to carry the mail.
The job of designing and printing the new stamp was carried out in a great rush; engravingEngraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, flat surface, by cutting grooves into a it. The result may be a decorative object in itself, as when silver or gold are engraved, or may provide an intaglio plate, when copper is engraved, or a r only began on May 4May 4 is the 124th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (125th in leap years). There are 241 days remaining. Events 1471 Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Tewkesbury Edward IV defeats a Lancastrian Army and kills Edward, Prince of Wales. 1493 Pope Ale, and stamp printing on May 10May 10 is the 130th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (131st in leap years). There are 235 days remaining. Events 1291 Scottish nobles recognize the authority of King Edward I of England. 1497 Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cadiz for his first (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 18691869 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). Events March 1 North German Confederation issues 10 gr and 30gr value stamps, printed on goldbeater's skin May 10 Transcontinental Railroad completed at Promontory, Utah. May 15 Wo and 1901Events January 1 World celebrates what is regarded as the start of the new century. Zero-ists' argument that new century should be celebrated in 1900 rejected worldwide). January 1 The six colonies that make up Australia are federated as under an act of t, and indeed several misprinted sheets were found during the production process and destroyed.
Initial deliveries went to post offices on Monday, May 13May 13 is the 133rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (134th in leap years). There are 232 days remaining. Events 1497 Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola. 1568 Battle of Langside: the forces of Mary Queen of Scots are defeated by. 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 10May 10 is the 130th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (131st in leap years). There are 235 days remaining. Events 1291 Scottish nobles recognize the authority of King Edward I of England. 1497 Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cadiz for his first 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, each different - but he began to contact both stamp dealers and journalists, telling them of his find. After a week that included visits from postal inspector s 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 $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. It is unlikely we will ever know the price paid.
A center-line block catalogs $600,000.
By law, no one is actually allowed to have inverted stamps; the US government does not enforce this law too often, if at all anymore. [Can anyone confirm this assertion? I know of no U.S. law that prohibits ownership of inverts. Philatelic errors that get into private hands illegally are contraband, but those sold over a postal counter, as the Inverted Jenny was, are legal.]
See also Philatelic Investment