At the end of June 2023, a unique philatelic auction Rarities of the World took place in NY. It was organized by the famous Robert Siegel Auction House. About 300 rare stamps and postage items issued in different countries of the world, including unique antique stamps from the United States, were put up here. It was held in 2 trading sessions, and the venue was the headquarters of Siegel Auction (W. 38th St., Manhattan, New York City).
A fresh addition to the lot collection were exclusive souvenir sheets of a block of six “Jenny Invert” stamps from the United States, illustrated.
A little bit of history:
In 1918, the U.S. Post Office issued a 24-cent stamp depicting Curtiss JN “Jenny” biplane (Scott #C3) which now unused costs $150. At that time, they also issued series of Curtiss Jenny 24c stamps with Center Inverted Error (Scott #C3A). In the philatelic world, this error was called the “Jenny Invert” - a blue vignette contained the legendary Curtiss Jenny biplane in a coral frame which it had been erroneously depicted upside down.
In 1964, Robert A. Siegel held his first philatelic auction in New York City, selling a block of four rare airmail stamps issued in 1918. According to the Scott Catalogue, that Jenny Invert block of four was originally valued at $67,000. Nowadays it costs up to $400,000 (single unused specimens) and the block with 4 stamps may reach the price of $2.1 mln.
In 2013, to celebrate the 95th anniversary of the discover of this famous error, the U.S. Post Office issued a series of 2.2 mln commemorative block of six $2-stamps in a self-adhesive version (Scott #4806). The legendary stamps featuring the upside-down Curtiss Jenny biplane were reprinted using engraved plates that were made from the original dies used in the creation of the 1918 model 24-cent stamps (Scott #C3). This souvenir sheet currently valued unused $20 by Scott's catalog.
Among this series the United States Postal Service printed 100 blocks of stamps depicting a biplane hovering in the right position as well. They called it Limited Edition 'Right Side Up' or Non-Inverted Jenny Error Sheet (Scott #4806d). This souvenir sheet of 6 stamps costs around $70 000 unused.
All of these copies were sealed in opaque packages that looked no different from those of the standard and exclusive issues and were distributed to all U.S. post offices.
For many philatelists, this discovery came as a pleasant surprise, and some of them made good money on the rarities by selling them to stamp dealers, bidders or collectors.
At this Siegel auction, these replicas were sold, both inexpensive with an inverted airplane, and expensive with a properly flying airplane.
