The Inverted Jenny

The Inverted Jenny is one of the most famous postage stamps and one of the most famous stamp errors. It is also one of the most valuable stamps in the world. Whenever this particular error is up for sale, it gets a lot of media hype, worldwide. It has appeared in movies, such as the 1985 movie, Brewster's Millions, in which Montgomery Brewster (Richard Pryor) learns that his great-uncle has left him $300 million but to inherit it, he must spend $30 million in less than 30 days without donating to me, charity or assets when the period is up. No chance this will happen to me, so don't worry. 

It also appeared in an episode of the Simpsons, Homer's Barbershop Quartet, but on the other hand, what hasn't?

But what is the story behind it?

The issue itself is important because it is tied to the important issue of the introduction of airmail stamps and to the best of my knowledge, is considered to be one of the first postage stamps to feature a plane. In 1918, the US Post inaugurated a scheduled mail service between New York and Washington DC via Philadelphia. Of course this pioneering service would require a special stamp. The operation was a joint effort between the US Post and the U.S. Army, giving the postal department immediate access to experienced pilots while providing the U.S. Army with additional training opportunities.

An order was placed with the Curtiss Airplane and Motor Company for planes to be used as air mail carriers. The company was an American aircraft manufacturer formed in 1916 by Glenn Hammond Curtiss and this was a great opportunity for them. The order was for several Curtiss JN-4 planes and it was requested that they modify the plane to carry mail. The front seat would hold the mailbags.

A new mail rate was authorized. The formal request for the 24¢ airmail stamp reached the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) less than two weeks before the first scheduled flight.

Using a War Department photo, the new stamp was designed and featured the Curtiss JN-4 model. The stamp was patriotic, using the colors of the American flag, red white and blue. The Jenny got its name from JN. Because the image was designed from a War Department photo, the image was an unmodified version of the Jenny, one that wasn't made to carry airmail.

The 24¢ rate was a significant increase from the regular postage that was 3¢ at the time, someone had to pay for the plane, right? This rate lasted for two months and then was lowered to 16¢ and then again to 6¢ and each time the stamp was modified and reprinted accordingly.

So how did they print the stamps? The idea was to print one color on one machine and then insert the

This belongs to me :)

paper and then print the rest on another machine. First the sheets were printed with the red frames and then the printing plate was prepared with the blue planes that were then printed within the red frames. What could go wrong? Well, the alignment needs to be perfect and if not you get variations of the Jenny lovingly called the Fast plane, the Slow plane, the Low flying plane, as displayed on the right, the Landing plane and the Grounded plane. These are all positions of the plane on the stamp itself.

Murphy, the eternal optimist, once said that "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong" and this is what happened with the inverted Jenny. The second stage was probably inserted upside down. No one noticed! They also didn't do a very good job of quality control but on the other hand, they were rushed. Two weeks from design to issue!

Now we have a wise stamp collector, William T. Robey, who went to the post office to buy some stamps and noticed that they were inverted. He purchased the whole sheet of 100 Inverted Jenny stamps. He paid $24 for them, a fortune at that time, but he had a feeling that it was the only sheet. Robey asked if he had more sheets just like it. The clerk smelled a rat and asked William to return the sheet. William said, "Yeah right?"

He was visited by postal inspectors who tried to intimidate him into giving the stamps back but Robey refused and managed to keep his cool but he knew that time was not on his side.

William shortly sold the sheet to a Philadelphia dealer, Eugene Klein, for US$15,000. Mr. Klein immediately re-sold the sheet to Colonel H. R. Green for US$20,000 and advised him to split a sheet into blocks and individual stamps because he'll earn more that way.

Back at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, inspectors went through their stock and found eight unsold sheets of inverted Jenny's and destroyed them, making this the only known sheet.

Personally I have not heard of any forgeries of this issue, but if you find one that is not a forgery, I will over you $24!