The Jenny Invert
Plate-Number Block
The Story Behind the
World’s Greatest Stamp Rarity
T
he Jenny Invert Plate-Number Block is America’s
greatest stamp rarity. It has always been the most
sought-after and valuable of the six inverted Jenny blocks.
It is the only plate-number block from the legendary 1918
24¢ airmail stamp error sheet, which makes it unique.
Although the “upside-down airplane” stamps are among
the most recognizable in the world, the unique Jenny Invert
Plate-Number Block spent decades in relative seclusion
and was rarely exhibited.
Nearly 90 years after it first made headlines, America’s
greatest stamp rarity was featured in headlines around
the world. The Jenny Invert Plate-Number Block was
auctioned for $2.97 million, a record amount for a U.S.
philatelic item.
Less than two weeks later, the legendary plate-number
block attracted even greater attention. Television cameras
rolled as philately’s elite gathered to watch the World’s
Greatest Trade – the one-for-one exchange of America’s
rarest stamp for America’s greatest stamp rarity.
This is its story...
Visit Mystic’s website at www.mysticstamp.com and
click on the “Jenny Swap” tab for more information.
Copyright 2006 Mystic Stamp Company, Inc.
Don Sundman and Charles Shreve exchange stamps on November 2, 2005.
The Greatest Trade in Philatelic History
One-for-one Exchange of the 1868 1¢ Z Grill for the
1918 Jenny Invert Plate-Number Block
The following article was written by Matthew Healey. It was published in
the November 21, 2005 issue of Linn’s Stamp News and is reprinted here
with permission.
Less than two weeks after anonymously bidding nearly $3 million at
public auction for the famed U.S. Jenny Invert Plate-Number Block, the
new owner identified himself and traded the stamps away November 2.
Bill Gross, well-known bond fund manager and collector of classic
U.S. stamps, swapped the unique plate block of the 1918 24¢ airmail
error with Donald Sundman, president of Mystic Stamp Company, in
return for Sundman’s 1868 1¢ Z
Grill stamp – the one stamp Gross
needed to finish the most complete
collection of classic 19th-century
U.S. stamps ever assembled. The
historic trade took place at the New
Mystic Stamp Company President Donald
York City offices of Shreves Phila- Sundman
and brother Dave, President of
telic Galleries.
Littleton Coin Company, with the Jenny
Invert Plate-Number Block.
Charles Shreve, president of
Shreves Philatelic Galleries, represented Gross.
3
“This was the world’s
greatest trade,” said Sundman, who purchased the
nearly unique Z Grill stamp
at auction in 1998 for
$935,000, until now a record
price for a single U.S. stamp.
Sundman called his Z Grill
“the Hope Diamond of American philately and the key to
any collection. When we
acquired it, it really repositioned our company – it
showed our buying power.”
Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries Catalog for
October 19, 2005.
Maynard Sundman reviews the sale catalog
after the trade. Sundman, 90, founded Littleton
Stamp Co. in Littleton, N.H., in 1945. Littleton
has served millions of stamp and coin collectors
in the past 60 years. Mystic acquired Littleton’s
stamp operations in the mid-1980s.
Sundman says he expects
the stamp to continue to
increase in value as its true rarity is appreciated.
He added, “The rarest American stamps are undervalued and still have
room to grow in price because they’re symbols of U.S. culture.”
The room was packed with three television crews, several reporters
and numerous philatelic VIPs, some of whom, to judge from conversations I overheard, had been underbidders at the Jenny Invert Plate-Number Block auction as well as at the last Z Grill auction in 1998.
“Envious” was a word I heard several times. The media attention,
unusual for a stamp event, was an indication of the momentous nature of
this trade.
Mystic President Donald Sundman and
Charles Shreve interviewed after the trade.
4
Tracy Shreve, co-owner of
Shreves Philatelic Galleries,
introduced her husband Charles
Shreve, Donald Sundman, and
Allen Kane, director of the
Smithsonian Institution’s National Postal Museum, which will
display both known examples of
the 1¢ Z Grill stamp in 2006.
After very brief speeches,
The trade attracted media attention from around the world.
Blockbuster Sta
mp Swap Wort
h Millions
– ABC News
Stamp Collectors Make
Blockbuster NY Trade
Pakistan
Three television crews joined print
media reporters and an eager
audience to witness the exchange.
Pictured above are David Sundman
(left), President Littleton Coin
Company and Wilson Hulme
(right), Curator National
Postal Museum.
Times
nds
Stamp Sale La
il”
$3m “Holy Gra
S
– BBC NEW
ts Make
s
i
l
e
t
a
l
i
h
P
n Trade
$3 Millio c Radio
Publi
–National
Swap Rare Stamps
2 Collectors Set to
Shreve and Sundman smiled for photographers and ceremonially
exchanged the stamps, together worth $6 million, which were encased in
protective plastic.
Sundman started collecting as a child. He recently recalled how his
father Maynard Sundman would sit with him and his brother David on the
porch of the family home and teach them how to put hinges on stamps.
The senior Sundman started the Littleton Stamp Co., which is now the
Littleton Coin Co., and run by David. Maynard Sundman, now 90, still
goes to work there every day.
Bill Gross, whose PIMCO firm manages assets worth $500 billion, is
5
by all reports a passionate stamp collector. He has been building his collection of classic U.S. stamps for more than 10 years and has won top
international awards each time he exhibits it.
In an exclusive interview with Linn’s in June 2005, Gross said that he
views his stamps as a relaxing hobby but that he has them costed and
entered in a spreadsheet.
Charles Shreve, the stamp dealer and auctioneer who bought the Plate
Block as an agent of Gross and then arranged the trade for the Z Grill
stamp said, “Bill Gross is very interested in exhibiting competitively and
will continue to do so. He is focused on the 1847 issue, and he is still
interested in the largest known multiples of classic stamps whenever he
can obtain them.”
The Jenny Invert airmail error stamp is a legend beyond the world of
stamp collecting.
The blue-and-red stamp got its name from the Curtiss JN-4H biplane
that was printed upside-down in error. Only one 100-stamp pane came
into collectors hands, which makes the Plate-Number Block unique.
With a long and illustrious history, the stamp’s fame has made it a
symbol of the charm of pioneer airmail service.
Sundman said Mystic, which has shown its 1¢ Z Grill stamp in its
advertising for several years, would soon switch to using the Jenny
Invert Plate-Number Block instead.
The story of the 1¢ Z Grill stamp, though more obscure than the legend of the Jenny Invert, provides no less fascinating a window into the
early days of American postal service.
The federal government was concerned that people would try to reuse
stamps after washing off the postmark ink on canceled stamps. To make
this less likely, stamp printers experimented with pressing various wafflelike rectangular grills into the stamp paper, to break the fibers and
allow the canceling ink to be better absorbed.
6
Why I Traded America’s Rarest Stamp
for the Unique Jenny Plate-Number Block.
by Donald Sundman
President Mystic Stamp Company
I traded the 1¢ Z Grill for the Jenny Invert
Plate-Number Block because it sounded like it
would be fun. It was also the only way to guarantee
Mystic would own the two best U.S. stamp rarities.
I loved buying, owning, and exhibiting the 1¢ Z Grill
Mystic purchased in 1998. The 1¢ Z Grill is the rarest Moments after the trade
and most valuable United States stamp. Although we buy, sell, and own
other rare and wonderful stamps, few compare to the 1¢ Z Grill. In fact, the
stamp is so famous and well known that dealers who had a fleeting connection with the stamp twenty years ago still advertise their involvement.
Mystic featured the 1¢ Z Grill in our marketing, and the stamp was
our good-will ambassador at major stamp shows. From time to time
collectors offered to buy the stamp. I rejected their offers because I
consider the Z Grill to be the Hope diamond of stamps and a source
of great pride for Mystic.
Over the years Charles Shreve, President of Shreves Philatelic
Galleries, said he might have some interest in the stamp if I would sell
the Z Grill. It was the only stamp Mystic owned that was not for sale.
In the fall of 2005, the stamp press reported the news that the owner of
the unique Jenny Plate-Number Block would auction the block in October. Mr. Shreve offered me a unique proposition – if his client acquired
the Jenny Plate-Number Block, would I trade the Z Grill for it?
The Jenny Plate-Number Block is a fantastic rarity. I first saw it at
the 1976 International Stamp Exposition in Philadelphia. Every collector and millions of non-collectors know the stamp, but few have seen the
Plate-Number Block. It last sold at a 1989 Christie’s auction for $1.1
million to Kerby Confer, at the time the highest price paid for a philatelic object. Confer is a collector who knew the famous story and was
drawn to the rarity, romance, and beauty of the Plate-Number Block.
The idea of a trade of two of the world’s rarest and most valuable
philatelic objects seemed whimsical, almost childlike. Stamps and
7
collecting stamps is about history, fun, and intellectual pursuit. A trade
of the two world’s most valuable items by weight would be historic,
fun, and make a great story for stamp collectors everywhere.
Despite this, I turned
down the offer because of
my enjoyment of possessing
the Z Grill and because I had
committed to lending the
stamp to the Smithsonian’s
National Postal Museum
starting in June 2006.
Left to right: Allen Kane, Executive Director of the
National Postal Museum; Don Sundman, President
Mystic Stamp Company; and Wilson Hulme, Curator
of Philately of the National Postal Museum.
When told of my decision,
Mr. Shreve’s client generously
offered to honor my commitment to lend the Z Grill to the NPM. It was then that I agreed to the trade.
Today I’m thrilled to have been able to trade our 1¢ Z Grill for the
Jenny Plate-Number Block. As a boyhood collector, the Jenny Invert
was one of the rare stamps I fantasized of owning. With this trade, those
fantasies became fact and I had the special privilege of owning the
two best and most valuable United States philatelic objects. At the trade
itself I experienced a positive feeling of excitement, almost an electric
sensation. And I get that same feeling showing the Inverted Jenny PlateNumber Block to collectors and non-collectors.
I’m proud of the positive attention the trade brought to philately. The
stamp trade story was covered around the world, and thousands of people discovered the history, romance, and intrigue of our hobby.
Left to right: George Kramer,
Chairman Philatelic Foundation, premier stamp expertising
and research educational institution; Don Sundman, President
of Mystic; and Wade Saadi,
President Collectors Club.
Founded in 1896, the club does
a wonderful job in promoting
interest in and knowledge of
philately. They publish the
Collectors Club Philatelist.
8
The Legend of the Jenny Invert
The Jenny Invert may be the most recognized U.S. error stamp ever
issued. So what is it about the upside-down airplane stamps that fuels
our imagination? Perhaps it’s the sheer number of impressive tales that
come together to make one outstanding stamp story...
The Find: Leaving his wife and infant daughter at home in their one-bedroom apartment, an office clerk of modest means withdraws $30 from his
savings account – an amount worth almost $1,300 today. A new bi-color
stamp is about to be issued, and he dreams of making that once-in-a-lifetime find – and he does! Out of 2,000,000 24¢ Jenny airmail stamps
issued, he purchases the only sheet of 100 inverted stamps sold.
The Era: World War I produced a new brand of hero – the daring ace
pilot and his incredible flying machine. Imaginations were captured
with the announcement that these swashbuckling men would brave the
perils of the skies to deliver mail in record time. America thrilled to
tales of crashes and near-misses, challenges and successes, and dashing
young men flying by the seat of their pants.
The Owners: Colonel Edward H.R. Green purchased the entire sheet of
100 24¢ airmail error stamps for $20,000. Over the course of the following
18 years, Green’s antics added to the rich lore of the Jenny inverts. After
his death, the Jennys were traded among some of the top U.S. collectors.
The Invert: An invert is the most-prized form of stamp error. Only 11
inverted errors have occurred on U.S. postage stamps. The image of an
upside-down airplane is instantly identifiable and especially dramatic.
The History: The only inverts released to the public were sold intact in
a single sheet of 100. Each stamp was lightly numbered before the sheet
was divided. This simple action allows collectors to follow the paths of
each beloved stamp over the course of almost nine decades!
The Rarity: The plate number was printed in just one area of the selvage – and that would have been trimmed away had the sheet not been
inverted. It’s an accident that the Jenny Invert Plate-Number Block
exists at all! As the world’s greatest stamp rarity, it has commanded
record-breaking prices throughout its remarkable history. After
decades of quiet transactions and anonymous ownership, the Jenny
9
The “Curtiss JN-4”
boasted few frills and
even fewer safety features. Remarking on
its general condition,
one pilot observed
dryly that his plane’s
“carburetor
would
vibrate...so badly that
it would shake the ice
off the wings.”
Photo courtesy of National Postal Museum
Invert Plate-Number Block was auctioned for an unprecedented $1.1
million in 1989. In 2005, the legendary stamps shattered sales records
again when the block was auctioned for $2.97 million – the largest
amount ever paid for a U.S. philatelic item. Experts predict the PlateNumber Block will sell for over $5 million the next time it trades.
Early Aviation and the Curtiss JN-4
As a new form of transportation, early flight was a pioneering effort
that suffered from a near-complete lack of precedent. A full 15 years
after Orville Wright’s historic 1903 flight, aircraft mechanics, instructors, and flight schools were still virtually non-existent. Planes lacked
reliable navigational instruments, pilots crash-landed with their planes
because parachutes weren’t widely available, and airports were scarce
and unlit. Ground crews often rounded up volunteers with automobiles
and used their headlights to guide planes to a safe landing.
Aircraft were used solely for surveillance at the beginning of World
War I. In fact, enemy pilots frequently waved to each other, secure in the
knowledge that they posed no threat to one another. As the war progressed, traditional ground combat was replaced by dogfights and bombing runs, convincing many that air supremacy was the key to victory. The
significance of aviation as a military tool prompted rapid advances in
technology. American industry swung into action and produced thousands of combat-ready airplanes by the time of the Allied victory in 1918.
Manufactured to train Allied pilots, the Curtiss JN-4 was the first massproduced U.S. plane. More than 6,000 “Jenny” planes were produced by
the end of the war, which made it the most widely used and recognizable
model. The single engine Jenny flew at a top speed of 80 miles per hour
with a range of 175 miles, and could maintain an altitude of 11,000 feet.
10
How to Fly a Jenny
A 1920s parody attributed to
pilots Sam Stites and Fred Disosway
Inspection: It is best not to inspect this ship. If
you do, you will never get into it.
Climbing into the cockpit: Do not attempt to
enter the cockpit in the usual way. If you put
your weight on the lower wing panel, it will fall
off, and besides, your foot will go through the
Photo courtesy of National Postal Museum
wing, probably spraining your ankle. The best
way to get into the cockpit is to climb over the tail surface and crawl up the
turtle deck. Be sure to brush the squirrel and gopher nests out of the seat.
Take care not to cut your hand on the remnants of the windshield.
Instruments: After having carefully lowered yourself into the seat and
groped in vain for a safety belt, take a good look at the instruments; both of
them. The one on the right is the tachometer. It doesn’t work. The other
one is an altimeter, and functioned perfectly until 1918, when the hand fell
off. Look at them now, for after the engine starts you won’t be able to.
Starting the motor: The switch is on the right; it is not connected. However it gives a sense of confidence to the mechanic who is pulling the prop
through to hear the switch click when you say “switch off”. If for some reason the motor does start, don’t get out to pick up the unconscious, and bleeding mechanic, he deserved it.
Warming up: Don’t warm up the motor. It will only run a few minutes
anyway, and the longer it runs on the ground, the less flying time you have.
After the throttle is opened, do not expose any portion of your person
beyond the edge of the cowling. It is no fun to have your face slapped by a
flying rocker arm or to be peppered by small bits of piston rings, valves, etc.,
that are continually coming out of what were once exhaust stacks.
The Take-off: The take-off is in direct defiance of all the laws of nature. If
you have a passenger, don’t try it.
The Flight: After you have dodged through the trees, windmills, and chimneys until you are over the lake, you will see a large hole in the left side of
the fuselage. This hole is to allow the stick to be moved far enough to make
a left turn.
The Landing: The landing is made in accordance with the laws of gravity. If
the landing gear doesn't collapse on the first bounce, don’t worry, it will on
the second. After you have extracted yourself from the wreckage and helped
the spectators put out the fire, light a cigarette and with a nonchalant shrug,
walk (don’t run) disdainfully away.
11
The Announcement
The possibility of airmail delivery had been debated and dismissed for
nearly a decade, so it came as a surprise to many when Postmaster General
Burleson suddenly announced that service would begin between New York
City, Philadelphia, and Wash- Second Assistant Postmaster
ington, D.C. The year was General Otto Praeger’s
1918 and the world was at war. areas of responsibility inCritics argued that every avail- cluded mail transportation.
An early and enthusiastic
able resource – including advocate of airmail, Praeger
planes and pilots – was needed insisted that “it would not be
a pink tea flying affair” and
to win the war.
that the mail be flown in
However, Burleson brokered spite of dangerous weather
a deal with the War Department conditions. Ironically, the first scheduled flight
from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia crashed in
on March 1, 1918, that satisfied a field near Praeger’s country home.
a very important military issue.
Experienced pilots were scarce. America’s most seasoned pilots were serving overseas, leaving few opportunities for training new recruits. Under the
new arrangement, the Postal Department would handle their traditional
tasks and the military would provide the planes and pilots. Americans
would have a rapid system of mail transportation, and military pilots would
receive badly needed flight training. However, the War Department didn’t
notify the Army Air Service of its new assignment until May 3, 1918.
Major Reuben H. Fleet, an Army executive officer in charge of planning
instruction, was placed in charge of making the necessary arrangements.
Fleet received his assignment on May 6 – just days before the scheduled
May 15th flight.
The task was overwhelming. Fleet faced a shortage of planes, pilots,
airfields, and aircraft mechanics. None of the available planes were
Major Reuben H. Fleet (1887-1975) received his pilot’s wings
as military aviator #74. Assigned to Air Service Headquarters
in Washington, D.C., Fleet supervised the training of nearly
11,000 pilots by November 1918.
Upon leaving military service, Fleet founded Consolidated Aircraft in 1923. The company developed training aircraft as well
as the famed “Admiral” patrol bombers for the Navy, “PBY
Catalina” and the B-24 “Liberator.” World War II broke out
shortly after Fleet’s retirement. Fleet volunteered his expertise
as an advisor to private business and the government.
12
capable of flying the proposed route. “The best plane we have is the
Curtiss JN-4D Jenny, and it will fly only an hour and twenty minutes.
Its maximum range is 88 miles at a cruising speed of 66 miles per
hour,” Fleet advised.
The Postal Department stood firm in spite of the logistical and safety
issues. The first regularly scheduled U.S. airmail flight was to leave
Washington, D.C., on May 15th. Major Fleet had just two weeks to plan
a major revolution in communication.
The 24¢ Denomination
By all accounts, the 24¢ fee for airmail
transportation with Special Delivery was an
arbitrary decision. At eight times the regular first class rate, the amount outraged several officials. The figure was equal to more
than $10.00 in modern wages, and the service only shaved a few hours off existing
transportation time.
As late as April 25, 1918, officials
1918 24¢ Airmail Stamp
denied that a special stamp would be
issued to frank airmail letters. The public was told that regular postage
stamps would be valid for airmail delivery.
However, available stamps didn’t include a 24¢ denomination. A
decision was made to produce a patriotic red, white, and blue stamp to
inaugurate the revolutionary new service and lift war-weary spirits. It
would be the first bi-colored U.S. stamp issued since the 1901 PanAmerican Exposition commemoratives.
The Bureau of Printing and Engraving
Prepares the First Airmail Stamp
The formal request for a new 24¢
airmail stamp reached the Bureau of
Engraving and Printing less than two
weeks before the first scheduled flight.
The understaffed BEP worked around
the clock to design, engrave, and print
the first U.S. airmail stamps.
Early BEP office
13
Using a War Department photo, BEP veteran Clair Aubrey Huston
designed a blue vignette featuring the Curtiss Jenny JN-4 surrounded by
a red frame. Although the precise date isn’t recorded, the actual engraving began around May 9, 1918.
The BEP’s “Spider” flat press was used to print the airmail stamps.
Used primarily for banknotes, the Spider press printed sheets of 100
stamps each rather than the typical 400stamp sheets.
Because the stamps were to be bicolored, each sheet would be fed
through the press twice – once to print
the red frame and a second pass to
print the blue vignette.
On Friday, May 10th, the BEP
began printing sheets of red frames
with the plate number “8492” in the
top selvage. Late Saturday afternoon,
the printing plates and ink were
Spider Press
changed. Sheets with the preprinted
red frames were fed through the press
again to add the blue Jenny vignette and plate number “8493.”
The full sheets of 100 stamps were slightly larger than the typical panes
of 100 stamps cut from full-sized, 400-stamp sheets. To make the 100stamp sheets fit the storage drawers used by postal clerks, the top selvage of
the 24¢ airmail stamp sheets was cut away during the perforation process.
As a result of this unusual procedure, all non-error stamp sheets of
the initial printing feature a straight edge at top and no plate numbers or
siderographer’s (plate-maker’s) initials.
With the tight deadline met, the 24¢ airmail stamps were placed on
sale slightly ahead of time late Monday afternoon – May 13, 1918.
Unknown at the time, nine of the 20,000 sheets printed had been handfed through the printing press upside down. The mistake created an
inverted vignette and positioned the plate number on the bottom selvage.
At some point, eight sheets were found in the BEP office and destroyed.
However, a single sheet made its way to the New York Avenue post
14
office branch in Washington, D.C.
The Collector
Stamp collector William Robey eagerly awaited the first airmail flight.
The young Washington, D.C., resident planned to exchange covers with
special “first trip” postmarks with fellow collectors at
the other two points of the tri-city route.
At the age of 29, Robey was an experienced collector of error stamps and knew the potential for inverts
associated with bi-color printing. On the same day
printing began on the stamps, Robey advised a fellow
collector, “It might interest you to know that there are
two parts to the design, one an insert into the other,
William Robey
like the Pan-American issues. I think it would pay to
be on the lookout for inverts on account of this.”
The First Airmail Flight
As the BEP prepared the airmail
stamps, Major Reuben Fleet began the
task of securing a fleet of airplanes,
selecting pilots, and untangling a host
of other details.
The plan for the first regularly
scheduled flights in U.S. aviation history seem simple by today’s standards.
One plane was to depart New York and
fly south at the same time a second
plane flew north from Washington,
D.C. The planes were to meet in
Philadelphia to exchange mail bags
and refuel before returning home.
Fleet promptly arranged for the Curtiss Aeroplane Corporation to modify
six JN-4’s with 150-hp engines and
hoppers for the mailbags. Extra gas
and oil tanks were added to increase
the Jenny’s flight capacity. The planes
were shipped from the Buffalo factory
Tri-city route for the first scheduled airmail service. Lieutenant Torrey H.
Webb was assigned to fly his airmail
cargo 90 miles from New York’s Belmont Park Raceway to Philadelphia.
Webb’s mailbags were transferred to the
waiting plane of Lieutenant James C.
Edgerton, who carried them on to
Washington, D.C. The 128-mile Washington-Philadelphia leg was to be flown
by Lieutenant George Boyle. However,
Boyle flew in the wrong direction.
15
to Hazelton Field on Long Island at midnight on Sunday, May 12th.
The search for landing areas in each of the three cities required careful
consideration. The areas needed to be free of large trees and buildings,
visible to the pilots as they approached by air, close to the city, and easily accessible by train or auto.
Fleet made arrangements with the owner of Long Island’s Belmont
Park to fly out of the racetrack’s infield. Bustleton Field in Philadelphia
was selected for refueling and mail exchange, and the old Polo Grounds
in Washington, D.C., was chosen for the first day of flight ceremonies.
Working against the wire, Fleet located aircraft mechanics and had them
reassigned to each of the three locations.
Fleet was allowed to personally select four of the six Air Service
pilots required. He chose the most experienced pilots available – Lts.
Stephen Bonsal, Howard P. Culver, Walter Miller, and Torrey Webb.
Only Culver had more than four months flying experience.
Two remaining pilots were selected by the Postal Department. Lts.
George Boyle and James Edgerton had both graduated from flight school
only days earlier. They had flown one 10-mile cross-country training
flight and had just 60 hours of student-pilot air time.
However, Boyle and Edgerton had important political connections.
Edgerton’s father was a purchasing agent for the Post Office, and Boyle’s
future father-in-law was Judge Charles McChord. McChord was the chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission and had a pivotal role in protecting a takeover by private companies of the Post Office’s Parcel Post.
Leaving Boyle in Washington to take the first flight, Fleet and the
remaining pilots traveled by train to New York on Monday. Any plans to
prepare for the flight were abandoned. Instead, the men worked feverishly through the night to assemble the Jennys, which had arrived in
crates that very afternoon.
The Discovery
Unaware that the first 24¢ airmail stamps had already been distributed and placed on sale the previous afternoon, William Robey planned
a special trip to the post office on the morning of May 14th. As he left
his one-bedroom apartment, Robey told his young bride, “I have a very
strange feeling there’s going to be a mistake.”
Some of Robey’s recollections grew fuzzy over the years, but many
essential facts are clear. The young office clerk withdrew $30.00 from his
16
bank account, a figure equal
to more than $1,300.00 in
today’s wages, to purchase a
full sheet of the new stamps.
Shortly after noon, Robey
entered a branch of the post
office in Washington, D.C.,
and asked for a sheet of 100
of the 24¢ airmail stamps.
When the unknowing clerk
Robey withdrew $30 from his bank account
placed the sheet of inverted
stamps on the counter, Robey said his “heart stood still.”
After paying for the sheet without comment, Robey asked the clerk if
he had additional sheets. The clerk apparently realized something was
amiss, closed his window, and contacted his supervisor.
Robey’s search of other
post office branches was
unsuccessful. He returned to
his office and shared his news
with a fellow stamp collector,
who immediately left the
office to search for more error
sheets. His activities alerted
authorities, who arrived at
Robey’s office less than an
hour after he returned from
the post office. The officials
Reproduction of the error sheet purchased by threatened to confiscate the
Robey. Notice the location of the plate-num- sheet of inverts, but Robey
ber block, arrow, and sideographer’s initials. stood firm.
They would have been printed in the top selvage and trimmed away if the sheet hadn’t
Alerted to the error, authorbeen inverted.
ities immediately halted sales
of the 24¢ airmail stamp in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New
York City as they searched branch offices for other sheets.
A Calculated Risk
Robey’s actions in the hours following his discovery suggest that he
never considered keeping the inverted stamps. Instead, he contacted
Washington stamp dealer Hamilton F. Coleman immediately. Coleman
17
offered to purchase the sheet for $500.00 – an amount equal to more than
$21,500 today. Robey declined the offer.
Robey’s decision was a gamble. The value of any particular stamp is
based on the law of supply and demand. Although errors in general –
and inverts in particular – are highly valued, the extent of the BEP’s
error was unclear that afternoon.
In fact, the chief philatelist of the Smithsonian was also present at the
meeting and speculated on the existence of other error stamps. Like
many others who searched post offices upon hearing Robey’s news,
Joseph Leavy incorrectly assumed the stamps had been printed in traditional sheets of 400 prior to being cut into panes of 100. Had this been
true, at least 3 more panes of 100 stamps each had to exist and the value of
Robey’s sheet would diminish greatly.
After riding around on streetcars for hours pondering his options, Robey
slipped into his apartment under the cover of darkness. Mindful of the
government threats and the potential value of his stamps, Robey and his
bride slept with their newly found treasures hidden under the bed.
May 15th – A Revolution in Communication
As the Robeys slept, Major Reuben Fleet and his crew worked feverishly against the clock. Many of the planes required extensive repairs. One
motor had to be replaced, another’s gasoline tank leaked, fuselage wires
were broken on two planes, none of the air pressure safety valves worked,
and several adjustments for poor workmanship had to be made. At 4:30
a.m., workers discovered that there was no oil at the field and scrambled to
locate two barrels.
A crowd of several hundred gathered at Washington’s Polo Grounds to
witness history being made. After carefully reviewing the route to
Photo courtesy of National Postal Museum
After two weeks of frenzied work, the first scheduled U.S. airmail flight prepares for takeoff.
18
Philadelphia on Fleet’s map – a photo
opportunity that would become more
ironic as the day progressed – Lt.
George Boyle climbed inside the Jenny. His bags contained 5,500 letters
destined to fly on the first airmail
route in U.S. history.
Interestingly, the plane on the airmail stamps bore the same identification number as Boyle’s aircraft –
No. 38262. How this occurred
Photo courtesy of National Postal Museum
remains a mystery even today.
Major
Reuben
Fleet and Lt. Boyle
Although numbers had been assigned
review the map for the first airmail
to the mail planes, choosing the first flight. Fleet’s advice – follow the railplane to fly the Washington leg had road tracks northward out of Washingnot occurred and would be done by ton’s Union Station all the way to
random at the last minute. Yet days Philadelphia.
before the flight, Marcus Baldwin of the BEP engraved the number
38262 on the fuselage of the stamp’s plane.
As President Woodrow Wilson looked on with a crowd of dignitaries,
mechanics tried to start Boyle’s plane. The propeller turned but the
engine wouldn’t start. “Why in tarnation can’t they start that infernal
machine?” sputtered President Wilson. After four attempts, mechanics
checked the gas tank and realized the
plane was out of fuel. Furthermore,
there was no gas on the field, so
mechanics quickly siphoned fuel out
of nearby planes. Boyle flew off for
his journey to Philadelphia at 11:46
a.m. – 45 minutes late and barely
clearing nearby trees.
Hours later, officials would learn
that Boyle had flown in the wrong
President Woodrow Wilson and
direction
and crashed his plane.
Lt. George Boyle
Instructed to follow the train tracks
north, Boyle had become disoriented and used a southeastern branch of
Photo courtesy of National Postal Museum
19
the track as his guide. Although Lt.
Boyle escaped injury, Jenny No. 38262
was lying upside down in a field near
Otto Praeger’s country home, much as
it appeared on Robey’s stamps! The
mailbags aboard Boyle’s plane were
quietly brought back to Washington,
D.C., and flown to Philadelphia and
New York City the following day.
Meanwhile, Lt. Webb had left New
York and arrived safely in Philadelphia.
His mail bags were transferred to the
waiting plane of Lt. Edgerton, who
arrived in Washington, D.C., at 2:20
p.m. After two weeks of intense preparation and high drama, America’s first
Photo courtesy of National Postal Museum
Captain Benjamin Lipsner, Superintendent of the Army’s Air Service
Production, and Colonel Rice Cushman hold U.S. flag flown on the first
airmail flight.
airmail service was established.
In the months that followed,
pioneering aviators expanded
airmail service, flying by the seat
of their pants over the treacherous Allegheny Mountains to
Chicago and eventually the west
coast. Lt. George Boyle, however, was not one of them. Two
A total of 8,307 letters
were carried on May 18, 1918
days after his first disastrous airmail flight, Boyle again left Washington aboard Jenny No. 38262 bound
for Philadelphia. Another pilot escorted him as far north as Baltimore.
Left on his own, Boyle quickly became confused and landed on Cape
Charles, Virginia – 125 miles south of Washington. According to an
enraged Major Fleet, only “the Atlantic Ocean and lack of gas” kept him
from going further.
Boyle set off again with a full tank of gas – and ran out of fuel shortly
before Philadelphia. He was forced to crash land and heavily damaged the
plane. Boyle escaped without injury but was relieved of his duties.
The cost of sending an airmail letter dropped dramatically in the early
months of the service– to 16¢ in July to just 6¢ in December. (Special
Delivery service became optional with the December rate.) With each
decrease, a new single color stamp was issued using the same design as the
20
24¢ Jenny. Scott Catalog assigned numbers to the set of 3 1918 airmail
stamps based on denomination rather than chronology, which unfortunately created confusion among collectors. The first U.S. airmail stamp (24¢)
was issued as U.S. #C3, while the last 1918 airmail stamp is identified
as #C1.
The BEP Reaction
Because the 24¢ airmail stamps
were still in production, the BEP
reaction to the news of an invert
was swift and certain. On May
15th, new procedures were implemented to prevent further printing
errors. Shortly thereafter, still
another change was made to
reduce the risk. Each “generation” can be distinguished
from the others by the selvage
and its characteristics.
The 24¢ airmail stamp
sheets produced prior to May
15 feature a straight edge top,
straight edge right side, and
selvage on the bottom of the
sheet. The plate number was
printed in the top selvage, On May 15th, the BEP added the word “TOP”
in blue ink to sheets of 24¢ airmail stamps to
which was trimmed away help inspectors identify inverted sheets. Shortly
during the perforation pro- thereafter, the word was also added in red ink.
cess. Because of this proce- Perforation knives were reset to trim the bottom
dure, a plate-number block selvages rather than the top.
was only possible on an inverted sheet!
On May 15, in an effort to avoid additional printing errors, the knives
in the perforating machine were reset to leave the top selvage in place and
trim the bottom. The word “TOP” was printed in blue ink in the top selvage. In addition, the second knife was switched midway during this
generation, so its sheets may have either a left or right straight edge.
On a later date, the word “TOP” was also printed in the top selvage
in red ink. Sheets of the third generation feature a top selvage, straight
edge at bottom, and the side selvage is always located on the left.
21
Eugene Klein
Eugene Klein
As the dramatic events were unfolding in the
skies above Washington, D.C., William Robey
raced to dispose of his stamps. Fearful that more
sheets would appear, Robey wrote to New York
dealer Elliott Perry on May 15, 1918, and
informed him of his intent to sell the stamps. Perry answered with a request to retain the right to
purchase the sheet in exchange for a $1 deposit.
Perry’s offer would have allowed him to match the
highest offer. However, Robey didn’t receive the
letter in time.
On Thursday, May 16th, Robey met with dealer Percy Mann. Mann
offered $10,000 for the sheet. Although he was still unaware of Perry’s
letter promising to equal any offer, Robey declined Mann’s offer and
made arrangements to travel to New York City himself on Friday.
Robey spent Saturday traveling around New York City in an attempt to
sell his sheet. He stopped at the office of Colonel Edward H.R. Green
and learned that the multi-millionaire stamp collector was out of town.
As the day progressed, Robey received an offer of $250 from Eustace
Power of Stanley Gibbons, an offer to sell the sheet on commission from
Scott Stamp and Coin Company, and a $2,500 offer from John Klemann
of the Nassau Stamp Company.
Discouraged, Robey telegraphed Percy Mann in Philadelphia to tell
him that he would be returning home Sunday without a match to his
offer of $10,000 and had decided to withdraw his stamps from the market. Mann encouraged him to make a brief stop in Philadelphia on his
way. Mann took him to meet Eugene Klein, who was Philadelphia’s
most prominent stamp dealer.
Eugene Klein (1878-1944) was an internationally known stamp collector, dealer, and author. At the time of the meeting, Klein was also the
official expert of the American Philatelic Society. Klein asked Robey to
name his price. Robey asked for $15,000 and promised not to sell the
stamps to anyone else before 3 p.m. the following day, May 20th.
Before the deadline came, Hamilton Colman contacted Robey with an
offer of $18,000 – exactly 36 times the original offer he’d extended six
days earlier. However, a deal had been struck with Klein. Robey sold
22
his $24 stamp sheet to
Klein for $15,000 – a
62,500% profit over the
purchase price!
The precise chain of
events that would unfold
over the course of the following days remains a mystery. William Robey delivered his sheet
of inverted stamps to Eugene Klein’s
Philadelphia office at noon on May 21,
1918. Klein ran a front page ad in the
May 25th edition of Mekeel’s Weekly
Courtesy Mekeel’s Weekly Stamp News
Stamp News which advertised “a few of
the remaining copies of the only sheet found for $250 each. Copies with
one straight edge $175 each.” One week later, Klein’s ad stated that the
entire pane had been sold to a philatelist who was incorporating a portion of the sheet into his collection and selling the rest.
However, the Dallas News ran the following headline May 22, 1918 –
one day after Robey relinquished his pane of inverts to Klein.
Dallas News
MAY 22, 1918
“E.H.R. Green Pays $20,000 For Hundred Spoiled Stamps”
Indeed, Eugene Klein had sold the full sheet of Jenny Invert stamps
to Colonel Edward H.R. Green for $20,000. News that Colonel Green
Colonel Edward H.R. Green
and his electric car. The
Colonel had received a portable receiving set as a gift
and enjoyed it immensely. At
his request an additional set
was installed on his electric
car, making it the first radioequipped automobile in the
state of Massachusetts.
Courtesy of Captain Noel Hill and Barbara Fortin Bedell
23
had paid such an enormous figure (comparable to more than $860,000
in today’s average wages) was greeted with skepticism by many.
In reaction to the news, a letter to the editor of the Philadelphia
Record proposed purposely printing error stamps to entice such frivolous collectors to fund the war. “Collecting stamps and coins does not
seem to be a very useful occupation, but it might be made so if collectors could be relieved of their money to help the war effort.” Unknown
to the editorial’s author, Colonel Green had purchased more than
$1,000,000 in War Bonds!
Colonel Green stood 6’4, weighed more than 345 pounds, and had a
checkbook balance sufficient to pursue any item that struck his fancy.
The Colonel was the son of Hetty Green, the richest woman in American
history. Known as “The Witch of Wall Street,” Hetty had inherited a
million dollars from her father, Black Hawk Robinson, increased it to
more than one hundred million dollars, and went to great lengths to preserve every cent. According to legend, Hetty once spent hours searching
for a 2¢ stamp she’d dropped.
Turned away when a clinic for the needy recognized her, Hetty
applied her own home remedies to her young son’s recurring leg infection. After nine long years, Edward’s leg had become gangrenous and
had to be amputated. Hetty placed money above her own comfort as
Jenny Invert
Plate-Number Block
Positions 87, 88,
97, and 98
After the red frame was
printed, this sheet was fed
through the printing press
upside down, resulting in an
inverted vignette. Had the
sheet been fed through the
press properly, the plate
number would have appeared
in the top selvage and been
trimmed away after the perforation process.
24
well. Too frugal to spend $150 for an operation, Hetty endured a hernia
for the final 15 years of her life by tightly wrapping the tender area.
Hetty also disapproved of Edward’s fiancé, Mabel, and what she
believed to be Mabel’s checkered past. However, Hetty’s 1916 death and
her $100 million estate left the Colonel free to do as he pleased. One of
his goals was to “spend one day’s income in one day.” Buying rare stamps
– individually, in sheets, or entire collections – brought him one step closer. The Colonel was rather indiscriminate at times – although the Jenny
Invert was widely reported in the media, he is said to have thought he
was purchasing a sheet of 1901 2¢ Pan-American inverts. Green also
amassed an impressive collection of rare coins and expensive jewelry
during his lifetime.
Green reportedly asked Klein how the sheet was to fit into his stamp
album. Whether Green’s question was serious or in jest, the course of
philatelic history was charted by Klein’s response. The dealer suggested
that fellow stamps collectors would benefit – and Green would recoup
his purchase cost – if he sold some single stamps from the sheet. The
Colonel agreed to let Eugene Klein break up the sheet of 100 inverted
Jenny stamps.
Before breaking up the sheet, Klein lightly numbered each stamp in
pencil. This simple action has
allowed four generations of stamp
collectors to trace the ownership
of each stamp.
Colonel Green kept a platenumber block of 8, the center
line block, the left arrow block
of four, the lower left corner
block of four containing printing
assistant De Binder’s initials in
the selvage, and several individual stamps for his own collection. For the next 26 years, 41
Jenny Inverts would remain in
the Colonel’s private collection.
Reverse (gummed) side of the
legendary Jenny Plate-Number Block
25
The Coveted Jenny Stamps
A law in force until 1938 prohibited publishing illustrations of U.S.
stamps, so the Colonel’s sale of individual inverted Jenny stamps gave
the public its first glimpse of the rarities. And demand for the striking
error stamps was strong from the start.
One of the first individual stamps to reach the public was a copy
Colonel Green had donated to the Red Cross. Just five weeks after the
error stamp was issued, the organization realized $300 for it at an auction – an amount worth nearly $13,000 today.
Eugene Klein acted as Green’s agent in dispersing individual stamps.
By the end of July 1918, Klein wrote that he had sold most of his copies
and expected prices to reach $500.00 shortly. In fact, Klein’s front-page
ad in Mekeel's Weekly that offered Jenny Invert stamps Klein had run
continuously since May 25 ended on July 20th.
Legendary philatelist Benjamin K. Miller also purchased one of the
first Inverts (position #18) offered for sale. “I got in early and bought
one for $250 and commission,” said Miller, indicating that he dealt
directly with Eugene Klein shortly after the Inverts were offered for
sale. Owning the Jenny Invert inspired Miller to pursue other noteworthy U.S. stamps, and he devoted ten years to acquiring the most complete 19th century stamp collection in history.
Miller owned a 1868 1¢ Z Grill – one of only two that exist. In
1925, Miller donated his stamp collection – including the rare 1¢ Z
Grill and his Jenny Invert – to the New York Public Library. Coincidentally, Mystic traded the only other 1¢ Z Grill for the Jenny Invert
Plate-Number Block in November, 2005.
Stories about the trials and tribulations of Colonel Green and his Jenny Invert stamps began to circulate during the summer of 1918, stressing
his flamboyant spending and casual indifference to the rare stamps. The
tales grew taller as the years passed, adding to the fame of Green and his
legendary stamps.
Even the highly respected author Max G. Johl repeated Green’s
“waste paper basket” story, a tale which claimed 13 straight-edged Jenny stamps had fallen off his desk and been thrown away with the
garbage. (After Green’s death, researchers found that each of the 19
26
straight-edged copies had survived.)
In 1919, several respected philatelic publications mistakenly reported
on the sinking of Colonel Green’s yacht and the loss of his entire stamp
collection. Another amusing rumor claimed – erroneously – that Mabel
Green had mailed a letter with a Jenny Invert.
Sale prices climbed steadily when the first generation of Jenny Inverts
were offered for resale: $675 (1920), $750 (1924), and $1,000 (1928.)
Even the Great Depression couldn’t stop the upward spiral. In 1931,
Klein sold John Klemann a copy for $2,360 – nearly the amount Klemann had offered Robey for the entire sheet 13 years earlier. And the
estate of legendary stamp collector Arthur Hind sold his block of four to
Ethel McCoy for $16,000 in 1936, establishing a new record at $4,000
per stamp. However, the real test of the stamp market came in 1944
when the Colonel’s estate sold his celebrated stamp collection.
“The Greatest Piece in All Philately” is Auctioned
For 26 years, Colonel Green held nearly half of all the Jenny Inverts
in his private collection. Green never exhibited the stamps, and had
floated some far-fetched accounts about them. With Green’s 1936
death came worries about the impact an estate sale featuring 41 inverts
would have on the stamp market.
Collectors would have to wait while four states fought over the right
to claim inheritance tax from Green’s estate.
In 1939, the United States Supreme Court
declared Massachusetts as Green’s state of
residence and allowed it to collect $6 million
in taxes on his estate. Green’s widow Mabel
had signed a prenuptial agreement and
received a lump sum of $500,000 and an
$18,000-per-year allowance.
The bulk of the Colonel’s estate went to his
sister Sylvia, a childless widow who kept
more than $31 million in an interest-free bank
account. With the winds of World War II
swirling and no financial reasons for urgency,
Sylvia and the Colonel’s executors decided to
Cover of 1944 Harmer,
Rooke & Co. auction catalog
for the Green collection.
27
hold trial auctions to test the philatelic market. If the first auctions went
well, Green’s entire stamp collection would be sold. In the end, Green’s
collection comprised 50,000 lots – more than twice the number ever
offered from a private collection – sold in a series of 21 auctions.
The Jenny Invert Plate-Number Block of eight was offered in the seventh
Green auction held on November 13, 1944. Although pre-auction estimates
ranged as high as $50,000, dealer Y. Souren purchased the Plate-Number
Block for $27,000 on behalf of wealthy collector Amos Eno.
“Y. Souren” was the name used by Souren Yohannessiantz. A flamboyant Russian, Souren had fled his native country during the 1920s
with a stash of expensive clocks and sold them to bankroll a stamp
dealership in the United States. In addition to the Plate-Number
Block, Souren also purchased the remaining three blocks offered in
the subsequent Green estate auctions. At the request of Eno, Souren
removed four stamps from the original Plate-Number Block, leaving
positions #87, 88, 97, and 98 intact.
Amos Eno was a member of a wealthy family whose history and philanthropy is tightly interwoven with U.S. history. The Eno family’s
wealth resulted largely from shrewd real estate investments. Various
members of the Eno family were instrumental in the construction of the
pedestal for the Statue of Liberty, the 5th Avenue Hotel in New York City,
the organization of the Progressive Party, and the co-founding of the
American Civil Liberties Union.
Courtesy of Philatelic Foundation
Raymond H. Weill
Together with his brother Roger, Weill discretely acquired several Jenny Invert stamps and
blocks for wealthy
28
Raymond H. Weill began his lengthy association with the Jenny Invert Plate-Number Block
upon the death of Amos Eno. Together with his
brother Roger, Raymond Weill owned a respected
New Orleans stamp business which represented
wealthy clients with quiet discretion. Acting on
behalf of an anonymous collector, the Weill brothers purchased the Plate-Number Block from the
Eno estate for $18,250 in 1954.
The collector was Benjamin Dwight Phillips,
the owner of a large energy company in Pennsylvania. Represented by the Weills, Phillips
acquired a number of valuable stamps for his
collection over the course of the next two decades. In 1968, the
Weills purchased the entire Phillips collection for a record $4.07 million. The B.D. Phillips collection included four Jenny Invert blocks in
addition to the Plate-Number Block.
The Weill brothers sold the Plate-Number Block for $150,000 in
1971. After quickly regaining ownership, the Weills displayed the legendary block in Aristocrats of Philately displays in 1971 and 1976.
Among the visitors to the exhibit in 1976 was a young collector named
Donald Sundman, who never imagined that he would be proudly displaying the Jenny Invert Plate-Number Block 30 years later at the Washington 2006 World Philatelic Exhibition!
The Weills held the Plate-Number Block
until 1989. Auctioned at Christie’s, the
Plate-Number Block fetched a recordbreaking price of $1.1 million. Sixteen
years later, the anonymous purchaser was
identified as Kerby Confer, a broadcasting
executive with a desire for unique and
important collectibles.
Although the Inverted Jenny PlateNumber Block remained out of the public
Christie’s Auction Catalog
eye for decades, other stamps from the
1989
error sheet were shattering sales records.
In 1968, the Lilly (siderographer) block sold for $100,000, a record
for a philatelic item. The Princeton block commanded $500,000 during a 1979 auction. A single Inverted Jenny sold for $577,500 in 2005
– three times its 1998 sales price. In 2002, a lot of three Inverted Jenny blocks were purchased by collector Bill Gross for the remarkable
figure of more than $2.5 million.
The $2.5 million sale price for the lot of 3 blocks was eclipsed with
the drop of a hammer at the Robert A. Siegel auction gallery on October 19, 2005. At the end of a tension-filled auction, Charles Shreve,
bidding on behalf of collector Bill Gross, had purchased the Inverted
Jenny Plate-Number Block for a world record-setting $2.97 million.
29
Jenny Invert Plate-Number Block Provenance
November 2, 2005 – Mystic Stamp Company traded its 1868 1¢ Z Grill
for the Jenny Invert Plate-Number Block. The exchange involved the
two rarest U.S. philatelic items with a combined value of $6 million.
October 19, 2005 – Collector Bill Gross had sought the rare 1868 1¢ Z
Grill in 1998 and was outbid by Mystic Stamp Company. Only one 1¢ Z
Grill is available to collectors, and its acquisition would give Gross the
most complete collection of 19th century U.S. stamps ever assembled.
An agreement was reached between the collectors – if Gross acquired the
Jenny Invert Plate-Number Block, Sundman would trade his 1¢ Z Grill in
an even exchange. Gross purchased the block for $2.97 million and set a
record for the highest amount ever paid for a U.S. philatelic item.
October 12, 1989 – Kerby Confer purchased the block for a record-setting
$1.1 million at Christie’s auction of the Weill brothers’ stock. Confer
began his career as a teenage disc jockey and hosted a television dance
show in Baltimore. Confer emceed some of the biggest acts in show business, including the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Iron Butterfly, and James
Brown, before buying his first radio station. A series of profitable business
deals allowed him to indulge his childhood passion for collecting a variety
of desirable items, including stamps, coins, and Carl Barks paintings.
January 1976 – Young stamp dealer Donald Sundman of Mystic Stamp
Company is among the visitors to Interphil ‘76 International Stamp Show
who view the Jenny Invert Plate-Number Block.
1971 – Owned briefly by an anonymous collector from the eastern U.S.
who specialized in errors. Selling price $150,000. Weill brothers exhibit
the Plate-Number Block. Unnamed collector sold the block back to Raymond and Roger Weill before year’s end. Price unknown.
1968 – Entire B.D. Phillips collection purchased by dealers Raymond
and Roger Weill of New Orleans.
May 18, 1954 – Sold at Harmer, Rooke auction by the Eno estate for
$18,250. Purchaser was referred to as “Mr. B.” until after his death. Mr.
B. was actually Benjamin D. Phillips, a wealthy businessman and dedicated collector of classic stamps. Phillips’ collection included a total of
five Jenny Invert blocks.
November 13, 1944 – Sold at public Harmer, Rooke auction by the Green
30
estate as a block of eight for $27,000. Purchaser was Amos Eno, a wealthy
real estate investor and member of a prominent family in U.S. history.
1918 – Intact sheet of 100 inverted stamps purchased by Colonel Edward
H.R. Green for $20,000. Green’s bank balance rivaled his larger-thanlife personality, and it has been reported that the Colonel thought he was
buying a sheet of 1901 Pan-American inverts.
May 21, 1918 – Eugene Klein purchased the complete sheet for
$15,000. Although Klein offered a few “remaining” individual stamps in
the May 25, 1918 Mekeel’s Weekly, the entire intact sheet had been purchased on behalf of Klein’s client Colonel Green.
May 14, 1918 – William Robey purchased a sheet of 100 of the 24¢ airmail stamps for $24. Eight other sheets are reported to have been found
and destroyed, and Robey’s are the only inverted stamps known to have
survived. Robey immediately contacted dealers and sold his sheet one
week later for $15,000, a 62,500% profit!
31
The Jenny Invert Plate-Number Block Up Close
Stamp Positions
#87 and #88
The 24¢ stamp was valid on
all U.S. mail, so the phrase
“airmail” wasn’t included in
the design.
After the red frame was printed,
an error occurred during the
printing of the blue Jenny Plane
that resulted in an inverted
vignette.
Plate number printed in blue
ink. Had the error not
occurred, this number would
have appeared in the top selvage and been trimmed away
after the perforation process.
Stamp Positions
#97 and #98
Before separating the sheet of
100 Jenny Inverts for his client
Colonel Green, dealer Eugene
Klein lightly numbered each
stamp in pencil.
This simple act made it
possible to trace each stamp
through the decades and was
critical in solving cases of
theft and fraud.
The Jenny Invert Plate-Number
Block is comprised of stamps
located in the 87, 88, 97, and
98 positions.
Reverse (gummed) side of the legendary Jenny
Plate-Number Block
32
Mystic Stamp Company
Mystic Stamp Company,
located in Camden, New York,
has been serving the needs of
stamp collectors for over 80
years. The company is the
largest retail mail order stamp President Don Sundman and 150 skilled coldealer in the United States. leagues serve Mystic’s customers.
Mystic offers a full line of U.S. stamps, collecting supplies, supplements,
and albums through the renowned Mystic’s U.S. Stamp Catalog.
In the years since its founding in 1923, Mystic has grown to a staff of
over 150 employees, each working hard to help stamp collectors enjoy
the world’s greatest hobby. Mystic is proud of its service to stamp collectors and stamp collecting, and that its honest, hometown values are
fundamental to the way customers and colleagues are treated.
In addition to sending stamps to thousands of collector friends every
day, Mystic also buys millions of dollars worth of stamps each year to
satisfy the needs of those valued customers.
Mystic supports the preservation of our nation’s philatelic heritage
through donations to the National Postal Museum. Funding of the Maynard Sundman Lecture Hall at the American Philatelic Society headquarters in Belfont, Pennsylvania, is just one example of Mystic’s efforts to
further enhance that heritage.
Photo courtesy of National Postal Museum
The 1918 Jenny Plate-Number Block
Found a New Home at Mystic Stamp
Mystic
America’s Leading Stamp Dealer
Jenny
Invert
Plate
Block
World’s Greatest Stamp Rarity
Don Sundman with Mystic’s
authentic Curtiss Jenny prop.
33
Mystic Pays More For Stamps!
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–J.E.T., New York
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u and Mys
sure doing
tic to anyo
business.
ne wanting
to sell
Sincerely,
We’ve Proven It Time and Time Again!
O
ver the years, Mystic has been
publishing letters in advertisements from collectors and dealers
who’ve sold us their stamps.
These letters confirm one important
detail that anyone selling stamps
should care about:
Mystic Pays More!
So when it’s time to sell your
postage stamps, do yourself a favor and
join the long list of satisfied people
who’ve contacted Mystic.
Mystic travels for high-value stamp
collections. Not sure of the value?
Call today and speak with an expert
stamp buyer for honest advice.
Call 1-800-835-3609
Mystic
America’s Leading Stamp Dealer
Jenny
Invert
Plate
Block
World’s Greatest Stamp Rarity
“The best comprehensive
U.S. price list ever
created by a dealer.”
Michael Laurence
Former Editorial Director
Amos Hobby Publishing
• New Edition
• Over 4,200 Color
Photographs
• Packed with
Valuable Collecting
Tips and Information
• Fascinating Historical
Facts and Stories
• Albums, Supplements
and Collecting
Supplies
• And More...
Yours Free – Mystic’s New
U.S. Stamp Catalog
A
free copy of America’s best
U.S. stamp catalog is waiting
for you. You’ll enjoy 128 pages of
color photographs, valuable collecting tips, fascinating history,
plus much more.
Complete listing of U.S. postage
stamps includes Commemoratives,
Airmails and Duck stamps. Also
albums and collecting supplies.
Everything you need to create the
collection you want.
Send today for the Free 128page catalog and also receive other
stamp offers on approval.
Mystic’s Free U.S. Stamp Catalog
✓ Yes! Please send me the Free Mystic
❏
U.S. Stamp Catalog.
Name_________________________________________
Address _______________________________________
City/State/Zip __________________________________
Mystic Stamp Company
Dept. SC93, 9700 Mill Street
Camden, New York 13316-6109
Reverse (gummed) side of the legendary Jenny Plate-Number Block
Mystic Stamp Company
9700 Mill Street, Camden, N.Y.
(315) 245-2690
www.mysticstamp.com