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Own a piece of history... sort of.

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.

The Inverted Jenny may be the most famous U-S stamp ever issued.

The 24-cent air mail went on sale in 1918, and showed a J-N-4-H or "Jenny" biplane. But
on one sheet of a hundred, the plane is upside down.

Today, 95 years later, these stamps sell for as much as a million dollars apiece… and
we know where nearly every one of them is.

A block of 4 will be shown at the new William H. Gross Gallery at the National Postal
Museum in Washington when it opens next fall. Gross has one of the greatest U-S
collections… and is loaning some of his treasures to the museum.

Gross, a top financial manager and founder of PIMCO, is also donating 8 million dollars
to expand the museum, and when the new gallery opens, the Postal Service will celebrate
by issuing a special sheet reproducing six of the Inverted Jenny stamps.

Except this time the denomination will be two dollars – so no one will mistake it for
an original, the Postal Service says. Of course, ONE dollar would have done that just
as well.

It's not the first time the Postal Service has commemorated stamp collecting by
reproducing rare stamps in new versions. It's not even the first time it's paid homage
to one of its mistakes.

These Inverted Jenny stamps are obviously aimed at collectors, and we're hoping they're
old-fashioned engraved, lick-and-stick stamps.

But even if they're not, it's still pretty exciting.

I'm Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more on stamps and stamp collecting,
visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com.

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