Rare 'inverted Jenny' stamp turns up, six decades after being stolen
More than six decades after four rare 鈥渋nverted Jenny鈥� stamps were stolen in a notorious heist, one of the stamps has resurfaced.
"This is in my 38 year career in the stamp auction business,"聽George Eveleth, Head of the Philatelic Department at Spink, an international auctioneer of stamps, said in a press release Friday.听
In 1918, stamp collector William Robey bought 100 first airmail stamps in Washington DC for $24, only to later find that the Curtiss JN-4H biplanes depicted聽on his sheet of stamps was upside down. Robey鈥檚 100 stamps were the only ones with the mistake to survive and he sold the stamps to various collectors.听
New York heiress Ethel McCoy purchased a block of four 鈥渋nverted Jenny鈥� stamps in 1936 for $16,000, which, according to the US inflation calculator, would be equivalent to . And in 1955, McCoy lent her four Jenny stamps (which were from positions 65-66 and 75-76 from Robey鈥檚 original sheet) to the American Philatelic Society to display at a convention in Norfolk, Virginia. Unfortunately, McCoy鈥檚 four stamps 鈥� which Spink refers to as the heiress's "most prized possession" 鈥� were stolen out of their exhibition frame. The thief remains unknown today.听
鈥淚t鈥檚 one of the most notorious crimes in philatelic history, and there鈥檚 ,鈥� Scott English, administrator of the American Philatelic Research Library, tells CBS News.听
After the theft, each stamp was 鈥渁ltered to disguise its appearance,鈥� and then resold individually. Two of the four stamps were recovered in the 1970s and 1980s, but the fourth still remains missing. English hopes this recent discovery could lead to new clues about the theft鈥檚 identity and the fourth stamp鈥檚 location.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going ,鈥� he tells CBS. 鈥淏ecause think about it: Here we are, 61 years later, and a stamp has appeared.鈥� According to the Associated Press, the third recovered stamp was discovered on April 1 when a man in his 20s living in the United Kingdom 鈥渋nherited it from his grandfather,鈥� and knowing little about the stamp, tried to sell it.
And while the third stamp鈥檚 owner may not have recognized the stamp鈥檚 identity, he is a minority. Officials in the philatelic world say part of the inverted Jenny鈥檚 high value is attributed to its international notoriety.听
鈥淚n the philatelic world, the 鈥榠nverted Jenny鈥� stamps are some of the most famous and highly coveted, but ,鈥� explains NPR. 鈥淔or example, in one episode of The Simpsons, Homer finds a sheet of the stamps 鈥� along with a Stradivarius violin and an original copy of the Declaration of Independence 鈥� but he doesn鈥檛 recognize the value of his find and dismisses them.鈥�
As one of the most famous misprints in US stamp history, an inverted Jenny stamp recently sold for close to $1 million.听
