The legendary Inverted Jenny stamp was auctioned in the United States on November 8, 2023. It was the finest surviving example of all, originally located at position 49 in the sheet. A total of 100 pieces of this stamp were produced (1 sheet), 99 of which are still known today.

The 24c Carmine Rose & Blue, the so-called „Inverted Jenny“, is one of the world’s most famous error stamps. The item features the image of the Curtiss JN-4 airplane, which was accidentally printed upside-down.

A wonderful history of price development is recorded for this stamp: On May 14, 1918 a man named William T. Robey purchased a full sheet of 100 new stamps at the New York Avenue Post Office window in Washington, D.C. As the postal clerk handed it to him, he was astonished – all of the Curtiss Jenny planes were flying upside-down. It was obvious that the printers had fed this sheet through the press the wrong way when they applied the second (blue) colour.

One week later, Mr. Robey sold the complete sheet to a Mr. Eugene Klein – a Philadelphia stamp dealer - for $15,000 and made a great profit, as his original investment was as low as $24. Mr. Klein didn’t hesitate and sold it not long after that to Colonel Edward H. R. Green for $20,000. What does this mean? Each stamp with an original face value of $0.24 was now going for $200.

Colonel Green divided the sheet of 100 stamps into various combinations of blocks and singles and started selling them to rich collectors. As early as in 1925, a single stamp was selling for about $750. Thirty years later, in 1955, it was already $4,000 and in 1965 $12,500. In 1974, a single copy was auctioned in New York for $47,000. Time has passed by and the current value of a single Inverted Jenny is between approx. $350,000 and $1,700,000 depending on quality.

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