Two eerie occurrences took place surrounding the nation’s first airmail flight that took place 1918. The pilot got lost, flew in the wrong direction and crashed. And due to a printing error of the 24-cent Curtiss Jenny airmail stamp created to commemorate this historic event, the biplane was depicted flying upside down on a single sheet of 100 stamps that was sold to the public.
A Washington, DC, Post Office clerk — who had never seen an airplane — sold a sheet of 100 stamps mistakenly showing the biplane upside down. For nearly a century, stamp collectors have chased the Inverted Jennys and have accounted for nearly all 100 of them.
The Postal Service today announced it has printed 100 additional sheets of stamps of the recently issued Inverted Jenny stamp — but with the plane flying right-side up. These very limited edition stamps were circulated with the recent issue of the most famous “misprinted” stamp. Customers who have recently purchased the new Inverted Jenny stamp could have a very limited edition of the famous stamp.
Unique to this stamp issuance, all sheets were individually wrapped in a sealed envelope to recreate the excitement of finding an Inverted Jenny when opening the envelope and to avoid the possibility of discovering a corrected Jenny prior to purchase.
“We’re leveraging the incredible story behind the rare collectible as a creative way to generate interest in stamp collecting while highlighting the role the Post Office Department had in developing the commercial aviation industry,” said Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.
Individuals purchasing “corrected Jenny sheets” will find a congratulatory note inside the wrapping asking them to call a phone numberto receive a certificate of acknowledgement signed by the Postmaster General.
