Inverted Jenny - A Famous Stamp

A Famous Stamp

Aside from having the biplane printed upside down, the inverted Jenny has become famous for other reasons as well. Benjamin K. Miller, one of the early buyers of these inverts, 100 in all, bought the stamp for $250. Miller's inverted Jenny was stolen in 1977 but was recovered in the early 1980s though, unfortunately, the top perforations had been cut off to prevent it from being recognized as the stolen Miller stamp. (A genuine straight-edged copy would have cost Miller only $175.) However, that stolen and missing stamp served to drive the value of the other 99 examples even higher. That inverted Jenny was the main attraction in the Smithsonian National Postal Museum's 'Rarity Revealed' exhibition, 2007-2009. The "Inverted Jenny" was the most requested postage stamp for viewing by visitors at the museum. It should be noted that philatelic forgers have mutilated at least three additional inverted Jennys, disfiguring them with false perforations at the top (these were copies from the first row of the sheet, all of which originally had a straight edge at the top).