Inverted Jenny

Inverted Jenny
Country of productionUnited States
Date of productionMay 10, 1918 (1918-05-10)
DepictsCurtiss JN-4
Nature of rarityInvert error
No. in existence100
Face value24 US¢
Estimated valueUS $1,593,000[1]

The Inverted Jenny (also known as an Upside Down Jenny, Jenny Invert) is a 24 cent United States postage stamp first issued on May 10, 1918, in which the image of the Curtiss JN-4 airplane in the center of the design is printed upside-down; it is one of the most famous errors in American philately. Only one pane of 100 of the invert stamps was ever found, making this error one of the most prized in philately.

A single Inverted Jenny was sold at a Robert A. Siegel auction in November 2007 for $977,500.[2] In December 2007 a mint never hinged example was sold for $825,000. The broker of the sale said the buyer was a Wall Street executive who had lost the auction the previous month.[3] A block of four Inverted Jennys was sold at a Robert A. Siegel auction in October 2005 for $2.7 million.[4] In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, prices fetched by Inverted Jennys receded. Between January and September 2014, five examples offered at auction sold for sums ranging from $126,000 through $575,100.[5] Prices eventually recovered, for on May 31, 2016, a particularly well-centered Jenny invert, graded XF-superb 95 by Professional Stamp Experts, was sold at a Siegel Auction for a hammer price of $1,175,000[6] The addition of a 15% buyer's premium raised the total record high price paid for this copy to $1,351,250. On 15 November 2018, the recently discovered position number 49 stamp was auctioned by Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries for a hammer price of $1,350,000, with an 18 percent buyer's premium raising the total cost to $1,593,000.[1]

On 11 November 2023, another Inverted Jenny stamp was auctioned by Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries for a new record hammer price of $1,700,000, with an 18% buyer’s premium raising the total cost to $2,006,000.[7]

  1. ^ a b Healey, Matthew. "Nov. 15 Jenny Invert sale sets record". Linn's Stamp News. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  2. ^ "The 1918 24¢ Inverted "Jenny"". Sale 946a. Robert A. Siegel. 2007-11-14. Retrieved 2014-11-13.
  3. ^ Weber, Paul J. (2007-12-27). "Rare 'Jenny' Stamp Sells for $825,000". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2014-03-08.
  4. ^ "Inverted "Jenny" Plate Block Sells for $2.7 Million hammer!" (PDF). 2005-10-19. p. 32. Retrieved 2013-09-28.
  5. ^ Healey, Matthew (2014-09-15). "$100,000 Reward for Missing 'Jennies'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
  6. ^ Sandoval, Edgar (2016-05-31). "Rare 'Inverted Jenny' stamp featuring an upside down plane sells for over $1 million at auction". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2016-08-03.
  7. ^ "US stamp sells for a record-breaking $2m". BBC News. 2023-11-13. Retrieved 2023-11-14.