Sale 1239 — 2021 Rarities of the World
Sale Date — Thursday, 24 June, 2021
Category — Air Post thru Newspaper Issues, including Inverted Jenny
24c Carmine Rose & Blue, Center Inverted (C3a). Position 5 from the top row, original gum, lightly hinged, bright colors, reperfed at top (all top row positions originally had a straight edge)VERY FINE APPEARANCE. A WELL-CENTERED EXAMPLE OF THE 1918 24-CENT INVERTED "JENNY" ERROR -- THE MOST FAMOUS STAMP IN AMERICAN PHILATELY.
The original sheet of one hundred Inverted Jenny errors was purchased by William T. Robey on May 14, 1918, the first day the stamps went on sale in all three principal airmail route cities: Washington, D.C., New York and Philadelphia. Robey bought the sheet for its $24 face value at the New York Avenue Post Office window in the District of Columbia. On Sunday, May 19, Robey agreed to give Eugene Klein, a prominent Philadelphia stamp dealer, a one-day option to buy the sheet for $15,000. Klein exercised his option on Monday, May 20, in a late afternoon phone call, and he confirmed it with a registered letter to Robey sent in the evening mail. The sheet was delivered to Klein’s office by Robey and his father-in-law on the following day, Tuesday, May 21, 1918.
No later than Monday, May 20, the day Klein exercised his option, he had arranged to sell the sheet for $20,000 to Colonel Edward H. R. Green. Half of the $5,000 profit went to Klein’s partners, Percy McGraw Mann and Joseph A. Steinmetz. Klein was then authorized by Colonel Green to divide the sheet into singles and blocks, and to sell all but a few key position blocks.
Despite the great rarity and value of Inverted Jenny stamps, many of the original hundred have been mistreated by collectors over the years. Colonel Green himself allowed moisture to affect some of the stamps he retained. Eight straight-edge copies that Klein was unable to sell and returned to Colonel Green were found in Green’s estate stuck together in an envelope (they were soaked and lost their gum). Other examples have become slightly toned from improper storage and climatic conditions. Hinge removal has caused thins and creases in numerous stamps, and one was physically Scotch-taped to an exhibit page. Another was nearly lost to philately forever when it was swept up in a vacuum cleaner.
The Position 5 stamp offered here has an interesting history. It was one of the straight edge copies retained by Col. Green after Eugene Klein broke apart the sheet and sold most of the singles. Its first auction appearance was in the Hugh C. Barr sale of the Col. Green Collection in 1942 (Part I). It next appeared in a Harmer, Rooke auction in 1949. Sometime after 1949 it was reperfed at top to eliminate the straight edge. Its next auction appearance was in the Siegel Rarities of the World sale in 1980, where it was acquired by famed dealer Irwin Weinberg -- in the same sale where Weinberg sold the unique British Guiana One-Cent Magenta. Position 5 passed between dealers and was then featured in Jacques Schiff and Ivy & Mader sales in 1999 and 2000. At the 2000 I&M sale it was sold to a Florida internet firm called TakeToAuction. That firm re-sold the stamp on Ebay in 2000 to benefit Mothers Against Drunk Driving -- the first Inverted Jenny sold in an online-only auction. In 2003 it was auctioned by Schuyler Rumsey, where it was acquired by Gary Petersen.
With 1999 P.F. certificate. For the complete history and detailed records of every Inverted Jenny and owners’ biographies, go to https://invertedjenny.com
