[marden]

Absentee Florida ballot sent with precious, "Inverted Jenny" stamp
Fri 10 Nov 2006

A block of 1918 U.S. 24-cent airmail stamps known as the "Inverted Jenny" are seen in a handout photo. A Florida voter may have unwittingly lost hundreds of thousands of dollars by using an extremely rare stamp to mail an absentee ballot in Tuesday's congressional election, a government official said on Friday. REUTERS/Mystic Stamp Company/Handout

Absentee Florida ballot sent with precious stamp
By Tom Brown

MIAMI (Reuters) - A Florida voter may have unwittingly lost hundreds of thousands of dollars by using an extremely rare stamp to mail an absentee ballot in Tuesday's congressional election, a government official said on Friday.

The 1918 Inverted Jenny stamp, which takes its name from an image of a biplane accidentally printed upside-down, turned up on Tuesday night in Fort Lauderdale, where election officials were inspecting ballots from parts of south Florida, Broward County Commissioner John Rodstrom told Reuters.

Only 100 of the stamps have ever been found, making them one of the top prizes of all philately.

Rodstrom, a member of the county's Canvassing Board, said he spotted the red and blue Inverted Jenny on a large envelope with two stamps from the 1930s and another dating to World War Two.

The nominal value of the four vintage U.S. Post Office stamps was 87 cents, he said.

"I thought, 'Oh my God, I know that stamp, I've seen that stamp before,'" said Rodstrom, 54, who dabbled in stamp collecting as a boy. "I'd forgotten the name. I just remembered there was a stamp with an upside-down biplane on it and that it was a very rare, rare stamp."

Rodstrom said he did not examine the envelope's postmark, but it had no return address and the ballot was disqualified because it gave no clue as to the identity of the voter.

Election officials have been too busy certifying the outcome of Tuesday's race to have the stamp authenticated, Rodstrom said.

A block of four of the stamps sold for almost $3 million last year, however, and Rodstrom said the one that turned up Tuesday night could fetch about $500,000 for Broward County at auction.

"It's now government property," he said.

A postmark on a stamp usually would hurt its value but Rodstrom said the story behind this one -- plus the fact that it is joined by other old stamps on the envelope -- might actually increase its worth.

Rodstrom said he doubted the stamp would ever be handed over to someone claiming to have mailed it inadvertently.

"It would be hard to prove, I guess you would have to say it was a person who had Alzheimer's," he said.

Scotsman.com News - Latest News - Absentee Florida ballot sent with precious stamp

Or, an "OH NO!!!" moment.

[starman]

"Honey, do we have any stamps?"

"In the safe"

[Sky Captain]

Floriduh.
Geez.
What a waste.

[Rumor]

The stamp or Florida?

[OwlBoy]

Originally Posted by starman 

"Honey, do we have any stamps?"

"In the safe"

-Owl

[Oversoul]

D'oh!

[kick52]

why the hell are those stamps so valuble?

if i drew upside down and made it dirty, and stick it on a stamp, the outcome would be similar.

[Oversoul]

I'm assuming the upside down biplane is a mistake. If that's the case, mistakes on official government tender (coins, bills, stamps) is big money because in a way you're catching the government making a mistake. So, sorry kick, I don't think your mistake is as valuable. Other factors might include the age, rarity (how many were made at the time and how many still exist today), artist behind the work, the collectable's condition, demand within the collector community, the story behind the collectable or the individual piece.

I would never pay $500,000 to $3 million for a stamp, but I guess there are people who do.

[turtle777]

-t

[ghporter]

The inverted Jenny was indeed a mistake-the most famous of all U.S. stamp errors, in fact. There were a relatively few such stamps printed, way back in 1918, making them very scarce as well as originally very rare.

[marden]

As soon as a mistake of this kind is discovered the Gummint destroys the "off" piece. For these to have escaped what QC they had in those days to make it to the public helped increase the rarity and value.

[Montezuma58]

A minor league baseball player has to waste $30m in 30 days in order to inherit $300m; however he's not allowed to tell anyone about the $300m deal.

[moonmonkey]

That would make a good movie.

[MindFad]

Wasn't me.

[Montezuma58]

Not so fast my friend.