Washington, September 22, 2013.
The souvenir sheet above (top) features a new version of perhaps the most famous error in the history of U.S. stamps: the Inverted Jenny, a 1918 misprint that highlights the ways a single stamp can turn history upside down.
The sheet includes six Inverted Jenny stamps, reprinted with an updated denomination and surrounded by an illustration that includes the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C.; the route of the first regularly scheduled airmail service between Washington, Philadelphia, and New York; and aviation pioneer Reuben H. Fleet, who was in charge of the first group of airmail pilots.
Issued to commemorate the start of the first regular airmail service in the United States, the original Jenny stamp was designed to show a Curtiss JN-4H, or “Jenny,” the biplane used to deliver the mail.
However, on May 14, 1918, the day an official notice said the stamp would debut, collector William T. Robey of Washington, D.C., purchased one sheet of 100 stamps that mistakenly showed the biplane upside down-and one of the greatest philatelic treasures in U.S history was released into the world.
Surprise! Additional news! Surprise!
Washington, October 2, 2013.
The Postal Service announced that it printed 100 additional sheets of stamps of the recently issued Inverted Jenny stamp but with the plane flying right-side up.
These very limited edition stamps were circulated with the recent issue of the most famous “misprinted” stamp. See illustration above (bottom).
Unique to this stamp issuance, all sheets were individually wrapped in a sealed envelope to recreate the excitement of finding an Inverted Jenny when opening the envelope and to avoid the possibility of discovering a corrected Jenny prior to purchase.
Individuals purchasing ‘corrected Jenny sheets’ will find a congratulatory note inside the wrapping asking them to call a phone number to receive a certificate of acknowledgement signed by the Postmaster General.