What do you think of the new souvenir sheet? I think the stamps look great, but the selvedge is too cartoony. It would have been nice to use photographs of a jenny, the postal museum and the other subjects instead of the drawing.
Some other thoughts about this issue:
Given the printing process for this sheet, It seems possible to have an inverted error of the jenny being right-side up!
I wonder how many are going to take the stamp from the sheet and try to sell it as an error on you know where...
Linns September 16 issue has a good article on the souvenir sheet, and another article that updates the C3a (original stamp) giving some updated histories on some of the inverts. It's amazing how this stamp and the 100 have been tracked over time. I was disappointed that the author didn't mention the C3a prize giveaway on the old Stampwants. Many have wondered what happened to the winner and the stamp. He didn't even post his thanks in the Forums on that site.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
I bought two sheets for postage and like them. I mail a lot of small priority flat rate boxes for APS circuits and having small, less common, higher denomination stamps is perfect for that. I wonder what is the closest you can get to a $2 single use postage rate though?
Retired Ap. Book Mod, Pres Golden Gate Stamp Club, Hi Tech Consultant 29 Sep 2013 10:37:43am
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
I like the stamp, but dislike the sheet. It will be quite useful though, as I have a bunch of $2.90 mailings to do (a pr plug here.....my wife's book "out of cuba" is out), and so one inverted Jenny and two forever stamps work like a charm.
I am sure quite a few of my non-collectors receiving the mailers will be surprised, and think they have hit the jackpot...if they notice!
rrr...
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re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
My local PO will do a nice SON cancel on stamps upon request; if you want, send me an unused stamp and I'll mail it back to you on cover, cancelled. I don't know if this "counts" as used since it is almost a CTO!
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Are the USPS showing their true colours with this latest issue ? Announcing (late) that 100 sheets have been issued with the Jenny the 'right' way up, and that they will be sent randomly, is just a way of making thousands of dollars more...maybe millions !!
The first lucky 'winner', from Canada, stated it will always be the most prized possession in his collection. Of course it will, it's as rare as the original 'Inverted Jenny' !!
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Yes, for sure it is a money grab on their part. 100 sheet lottery that folks will maybe buy an extra sheet to get lucky.. but it is genius !!!! What an extra little publicity for them and honestly I think it is fun for the hobby as well. It is the most famous "general public " topic in stamp collecting and will create some interest now and who knows start a new collector. As a created error it will not have the same value as a true error but will still be rare enough to have some excitement with. I think we need to convince everyone to use them postally except for 1 sheet... equal time with the original ! :-)
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
I went over to the local branch office to see it they had an UN-Inverted Jenny. They did have the Inverted Jenny. From what I can see a Postal clerk can identify the UnInverts which kind of destroys the random lottery effect. I bought the Inverted sheet and wound up spending a $160 on other issues for my collection.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
how would a clerk ID the uninverted Jenny; they are in clear celephane that houses a cardboard sleeve behind which sits the sealed envelope in which the Minisheet resides.
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re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
I feel bad for U.S. collectors when they must take part in a lottery..at our club meeting last week two members were talking about the Legends of the West "error" sheet. One fellow mentioned he had won two of them in the "lottery" they had for them..the other fellow had submitted many tries but did not get one...In a very decent act the fellow that had the 2 traded with the fellow who needed the sheet. I guess if you don't ask..you don't get !!
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
I am not sure how a clerk would identify the un-inverted Jenny, but this clerk assured me that she did not have any. She does the stamp counts. I thought that the sealed envelope was different with a message from the Postmaster General that it was the un-inverted Jenny. However, I do not know how it can be done.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Maybe she opened them all up looking for the inverted invert, which is specifically against orders.
Regarding the cover, would have been interesting to have an inverted cancel!
I took a look on eBay to see how these stamps were being peddled. Some are calling the blue ink that is seen at the top of the stamp an "error" and charging more for it. I haven't seen a single one of the stamps where the blue is not present. However, overall, the stamp/sheet is being sold at reasonable prices.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
I bought a sheet today, and it also was sealed and there was no visible sheet since it was intentionally hidden from view. It states on the back of the package: Do Not Purchase An Unopened Package. Probably because of the so-called lottery for the I'm-not-sure-what-to-call-them sheets printed right side up.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
There were 100 of the inverted inverts sheet printed. They contain a card with a phone number to call if you get it. They are tracking where the sheets were sold. USPS has no clue where they went. Linns reported that thus far only 1 sheet has been claimed, in Canada.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
"DavidG said: If anyone gets a used, nicely cancelled $2 Jenny... I'd like one!"
I'll send you one if I get any in my mail. My buyers will get one of these stamps as the primary postage on their heavier orders, and I will get a SON hand stamp on each, just like the one shown. One Australian order came to over $15 postage and I managed to stick the entire sheet of six stamps on the large envelope and get three SON cancels on it. I wish I could send that one to you but alas, it is far, far away by now.
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy.. 26 Oct 2013 03:56:43pm
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
By the beginning of the year once my grand children have received their X-mas presents and the postage from the outside wrapping is returned I should have several of them properly used and neatfully cancelled.
The pane my wife bought Thursday was sealed in a small envelope withing a larger, also sealed envelope. I don't see how someone can determine fore hand which is which unless here is some marking difference, like an obvious variation in the UPC code, or its placement.
A similar thing happened a few years ago with the US-Canada joint issue Samuel Champlain sheetlets. The sheetlets printed and sold through Canada's postal system had a small UPC code along one margin while the ones available from the cave in Kansas did not
I guess I'd like to have complete examples of both versions, including both inner and outer covers to examine carefully.
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re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
"There were 100 of the inverted inverts sheet printed. They contain a card with a phone number to call if you get it. They are tracking where the sheets were sold. USPS has no clue where they went. Linns reported that thus far only 1 sheet has been claimed, in Canada."
The agent I spoke to in stamp fulfillment last week said 2 had shown up. Perhaps there is a new find.
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re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
considering that Legends Error, with 1,500 copies, trades at around $175 and catalogues at $280, a sheet, as rare as the original (assuming that ALL 100 are found) should trade well more than that.... unless USPS has just cut the lustre out of collecting modern stuff
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re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
The Legends of the West wasn't 1,500 copies, it was 150,000 panes according to Scott Specialized. That makes 150,000 error stamps available. It also trades closer to $100. An auction closed on eBay a few hours ago for $76 including shipping and including the non-error pane as well!
With the "non-invert", there will be 100 panes of 6 for 600 examples. The original Jenny had 50 examples and goes north of $100K. I think it's safe to say a pane of 6 non-inverts will go for less than $10K. It should go for more than $1000 if it's a legitimate error, but it's a contrived error. Legends of the West was an actual error that was made available to a larger audience, but on a smaller scale than the Dag invert. The Jenny non-invert is more of a novelty.
If it's treated as an error (which I don't think it will be), I would expect it to trade for $5,000 or so. If it's treated more like a promotional item, the price my be $250 or so. I have two spaces for State Department Official stamps I haven't bought yet because they go for $1000 or more each. Those spaces are occupied by proofs that I bought for $10 each! It's really quite amazing. If the philatelic community as a whole decides a stamp isn't important, it just can't gain value despite rarity. Look at all those folks that thought they hit a gold mine with the Baseball imperf sheet. And the more USPS does this sort of non-sense, the less valuable they will be.
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re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
thanks Lars. my bad on the quantity.
Because it was intentional, the uninverted pane can't be treated as error. its value, if any, will be in its rarity and the demand that rarity commands, or doesn't.
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re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
"Because it was intentional, the uninverted pane can't be treated as error. its value, if any, will be in its rarity and the demand that rarity commands, or doesn't. "
Agreed. For that reason $500 may actually be a good price. I certainly would not pay over $500 for a pane. I would pay over $50 and maybe over $100, but that's about it for me.
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re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Slightly off topic but look at the re issues in 1875, the numbers sold were well below the original issues implying significant rarity . However, the catalog value has never approached the original's value. I consider the re issues as desirable, but it is apparent that others do not.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Les,
That's not off-topic at all! I mentioned State Department Proofs earlier in this thread. I don't have access to the number issued of proofs versus the actual stamps, but it seems that there weren't more proofs than stamps issued. Granted, many stamps that got out into the wild disappeared forever, but for the stamp to go for almost $1000 when the proof can be had for $10 indicates to me that perception carries a lot of weight in philatelic value! (O69, O70, and O71 MNG catalog in the $3K range and lower quality examples trade for a bit under $1K. You can get proofs of all of those for $10 each if you are patient).
So clearly how we all view the "un-inverted" Jenny will dictate price. I consider it a novelty worth $100. If 101 people value it higher, I won't get one and won't be upset. If I see a "BUY-IT-NOW" for $50, I don't think I could resist. We will see how others value thos things.
Lars
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Astrophilatelist- Space Cover Collector 01 Nov 2013 07:21:36pm
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
As many of you know, I am a window clerk for the Postal Service. When talking to a co-worker, she related a scenario relating to the Inverted Jenny and the lottery that could happen. Since the packages containing the stamps are sealed, what would prevent a customer from saying the envelope that was supposed to contain the sheet was empty and wanting another? I think it is possible. Remember the STS-8 Flown covers and the list of unflown cover serial numbers that was provided by the USPS. There were some cover numbers on the unflown list that were flown. Mistakes can happen.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Most likely the only people who will purchase the inverted Jenny stamps will either be collectors or folks looking to hit the lottery with the right side up Jenny. This is implied value. But the right side up Jenny as scarce as it may be may end up only being desirable to very few collectors or simply a passing novelty like my Grateful Dead Bennie Bear. Like any IPO in collecting you either risk losing your shirt or making a killing. Has Scott blessed the right side up Jenny with a designation?
If I get a sheet you all better be watching the covers I send you with the stamps you won in the auction or the payments I send.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
"They are tracking where the sheets were sold. USPS has no clue where they went. Linns reported that thus far only 1 sheet has been claimed, in Canada."
Just got home from the Hamilton Stamp Auction tonight. There was a sheet of the stamps in the auction with a reserve of $18.00. I'm pretty sure it was inverted. I am going back to the show Sat. and if it didn't sell Friday night, the member might put it back into the auction for Sat. I will see if it was the inverted sheet. I wasn't thinking about it, so I didn't pay that much attention to it.
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re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
The clerk who sold me my sheet (inverted) had not heard about the sheets printed right side up. He took a poll of the three other counter clerks. None of them had any idea that there might be something of value tucked away in the sealed envelope. Now they do. I was surprised though.
Bruce
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy.. 02 Nov 2013 03:17:08pm
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
With apologies to John, who I have no doubt is well informed about the philatelic aspect of his profession, it has been my experience that the overwhelming percentage of postal clerks are curiously un-curious about the product they handle daily.
At the Lecanto Post office there was one clerk that I chatted with quite often. He was/is about my age, a Coast Guard Veteran of the Viet Nam Era as well. Quite often that facility had few customers in the lobby and at times we could chat for five or ten minutes before the next customer arrived to mail something. I gather that it is more of a central sorting facility as from what I could see through the doorways behind the counter clerks it is a beehive of backroom activity.
Since I was always interested in the latest stamps issued and sought a nice clear hand cancel my collecting interest came up. I took my USA, postally used collection along in the car and one day when it was slow bought it in to show "George" the stamps.
Utter amazement.
Not only from him but soon I had three clerks turning pages as they were looking through the stamps of the last fifty years and commenting on stamps they recalled but interestingly, stamps they had either never noticed or stamps that somehow had completely escaped their combined recollections.
When a customer arrived, one broke off and serviced that person while the others continued leaning over the binder as one might imagine Talmudic scholars examining a long lost scroll.
I still get welcomed when I get the chance to post mail there although most of the clerks from that day have moved on and George retired about ten years ago.
But I still find their lack of curiosity curious.
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re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
my local post office, in Red Hook NY, is a mix of the curious and not. Most humor me, and half are quite knowledgeable. One really knows rates; one creates a special cancel each year for the town's anniversary; one saves the cardboard backs from bricks for me; all hand cancel with grace, including ensuring that my seals are always properly tied. Only the rate guy knew about the univerted Jennies; all others were as amazed as the customers who overheard.
the main PO in NYC, on the otherhand, is characterized by indifference and incompetence, at least on the main floor. many of the business requirement folks, upstairs, are knowledgeable and helpful. Downstairs, though, it's Dante's rendition of postal service
David
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re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Although many dealers deride them (me), there are many stamp collectors who would like to have an example of each stamp issued in a country or topic. I believe they call us album fillers. We kind of keep them alive, but we are not hugely profitable. Look at the spread between dealer offers for desirable stamps and the retail price structure.
The un-inverted (right side up $2 Jenny) is an obvious marketing ploy to increase the enthusiasm for the admittedly commercial and unnecessary sheetlet. However beautiful the sheet might be. The USPS is exploiting an ever shrinking base of collectors and ignoring basic customer service in the process. I think that Local Post Offices should reach out to collectors for lobby exhibits. That will advance the hobby and get more of our kids interested. I really applaud the APS creating lesson plans around stamps. Like Charlie, when I went to the Post Office to pick the insured package containing my Scott #4, I opened the package and showed the clerk the stamp and explained its origin.
We can't buy just a single stamp at the counter, we have to buy a miniature sheet. I really only need one Johnny Cash stamp for my album. Duck hunting stamps are now issued in at least three different formats and frankly more are sold to collectors than to hunters. The one reason I chose to primarily specialize in the United States stamps was because our stamps were at least ostensibly issued to move the mail. The for collector's only market has always existed and will exist as long as there are collectors, but it has never been very strong.
Only a small number of the 1875 re-issues were sold. They are really rare if not valuable. Proofs were not intended to be sold, but were made available by BEP employees after the fact. After all, there is not much room in the archives for old files. From a collector's point of view a proof is much more attractive than the stamp.
The original inverted Jenny sheet was actually anticipated by Robey and his sponsors. They went to multiple post offices in the Washington DC area looking for the potential error. It was not just a random walk in to buy a new issue. We will probably never know, but I believe that sheet was printed deliberately. There was a precedent for inverts in the 1869 pictorials and the 1901 exhibition issues. If the Spanish-American war had not broken out the PO would have done the Trans-Mississippi as two color issues. It is the Post Office's reputation for accuracy that produces value for error.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Alerted another postal clerk about the Jenny lottery. They thought I was joking. I also received my first one in the mail, today properly used with a great big red cancel. Cancellations as many of you know also seem to fall under the category of lottery. Right now, I'm running about 40 percent of mail arrives uncancelled. Canada mailings arrive 90% of the time without postmark.
Bruce
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
If i found one..which i will not as i am not participating..i would not call the tracking number !! All uncancelled Canada i send back on a prisoner exchange !!!
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
I had seen the $15,000 offer. An IDEAL advertisement in a more recent Linn's states "TOP PRICE PAID." Perhaps now one must rely on his/her negotiating skills. Probably more than one right-side-up has been discovered but has not been called in. I know I would not be telling USPS of my discovery.
Astrophilatelist- Space Cover Collector 29 Nov 2013 04:17:49pm
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
If my memory serves me correctly, when the Hammersjold inverts were discovered in 1962, the error was deliberately reprinted to negate the value of the original inverts that were discovered. With the Jennys, the post office printed only 100 sheets which made them if discovered an instant rarity which the post office said it would never do. According to my information, the right side jennys were shipped out along with the inverted ones. I bought a couple not thinking I would get the right side ones but to just to see the workmanship in the printing. I was not disappointed. The post office I work at still has not received the Harry Potter stamps yet. Linns had an article in its December 2, 2013 issue about the stamp distribution system. It now seems the post offices have to order the stamps after the fact rather than receiving automatic shipments before the first day of sale.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
The inverted inverts were randomly mixed into the production run prior to distribution. They could be anywhere. I believe, however, that the only reported sheet was obtained by a Canadian collector from the Fulfillment Center.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
There was a dealer offering $25,000 in Linn's so I ordered some more (I have plenty of postal need for higher denominations anyway). If I would win one, I definitely would call it in to USPS because I believe you get a certificate signed by the postmaster general or something, which I think would add value. To me this is funner than playing the lottery, because a non-winning lottery ticket is just a worthless scrap to be added to the recycle bin.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Just returned from a trip to the Panama Canal, on the way I stopped at the Post Office in Yuma,AZ. My daughter and her family live there. Her husband is an Aerospace Physiologist stationed at the Yuma MCAS. I bought two Jenny sheetlets, both turned out to have the upside down Jenny. I almost did not get them because the clerk thought that theirs had been sold out. Fortunately, a more knowledgeable clerk directed her to the supply. I also have two unopened which I bought here in Brandon. Maybe I will open them some day.
I agree with John that they are the prettiest new stamps I have seen in a long time.
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy.. 02 Dec 2013 01:31:15am
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
" .... I almost did not get them because the clerk thought that theirs had been sold out. ...."
Several times over the years I have been in a post office and asked for some commemoratives stamps, or some attractive new stamps and been told that hey had none, they were sold out or the cat ate them.
I found that being persistent counts a lot and usually one of the other clerks will suddenly discover a binder or box on back shelf with what I am looking for.
For an organization with financial difficulty they have the damnedest marketing system.
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re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Getting back to the Inverted Jenny, it seems that the "fever" has hit. My post office had 94 sheets remaining. The clerk told me this morning that yesterday one customer came in and bought two sheets, and another came in and bought the remaining 92. Get them while you can, or buy them from these people at a discount off face later.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
So far, I have received two inverted Jenny stamps on envelopes, correctly franked for the service, both with very nice cds from a small Michigan town. I will have to check on the supply of the sheets here in one or two of the Grand Rapids post offices.
Bruce
President - West Essex Philatelic Society www.wepsonline.org 06 Mar 2014 11:56:51am
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
A local dealer here in NJ found one. Ross Weisman bought 300 panes. I hear rumors he is going to offer it for $75,000 for ten days then up the price to $95,000. Snooze you lose.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
I know for certain I am going to get pummeled by this comment, but here it goes:
I feel it is a duplicitous and malicious ploy by the USPS to print "errors" (i.e. the not-inverted inverted Jenny) in order to create interest in the high-stakes business of postage stamps (I have purposely avoided the term 'postage stamps collecting').
I believe it is dishonest to promote the sale of postage stamps as if they were bubble-gum baseball cards--whereby millions of non-valuable cards are printed and only a few valuable ones are printed to cause the need to buy. The purpose of this specific marketing tool is not the baseball card itself, but the sale of bubble gum. Postage stamps are the iconic representations of a nation, with a national message being the main focus of the stamp. Even those stamps deemed definitives, printed by the millions to be used in the most common of ephemeral mailings (i.e. US flag, Lady Liberty, American Eagle, etc.) certainly carry a national and proud message. Postage stamps do not sell bubble gum.
Finally, the USPS should concentrate on being more customer friendly as in most post offices it is a sin to ask any of the extremely busy clerks for commemorative stamps or for the most recent issues. The usual answer is "No. We don't have them." (But this is not only an occurrence in the USA. Try to get a postal clerk in Italy, Spain or France to give you a few minutes of their valuable time to sell you stamps that can enhance your collection or scrapbook.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
you won't get pummelled by me. I think USPS should concentrate on carrying the mail. Helping collectors is second. Bilking collectors by pandering to speculators ought never enter the equation.
David
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re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
I'm disappointed in the quality of the print.... my 1st pane has these bleeding frames, a few weeks later, bought another, the clerk asked (different from the 1st) asked me if I knew about the inverted inverts
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
not really, Tim. their opportunities were almost all mistakes or faux pas, ie Farley and Dag and Pickens. The uninverted Jenny is marketing to speculators.
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re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
"Yes, for sure it is a money grab on their part. 100 sheet lottery that folks will maybe buy an extra sheet to get lucky.. but it is genius !!!! What an extra little publicity for them and honestly I think it is fun for the hobby as well. It is the most famous "general public " topic in stamp collecting and will create some interest now and who knows start a new collector. As a created error it will not have the same value as a true error but will still be rare enough to have some excitement with. I think we need to convince everyone to use them postally except for 1 sheet... equal time with the original ! :-)
"
I agree w/ Jere..... this isn't all that bad. Unlike buying baseball cards that have no use (kids don't ride bikes anymore), stamps can be and should be used, you never know when or where a spark may be ignited.
The wife mails out packages every few weeks to glass collectors.... hopefully using large postage will get someone interested in stamps, who never thought about them.
The past is a foreign country, they do things different there. 06 Mar 2014 09:41:31pm
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
You do not have to like it, "Rgbrito", it's a free market. If you don't like it, you have at least two
democratic choices: change your likes or shop elsewhere.
My reading from north of your border is that the USPS is performing a commendable job
considering the size of the globe it is shouldering. Stamporama's highest authority,
"amsd" will confirm this.
Here, in the world's most boring country (just look at our postage stamps)
Canada Post is undertaking cataclysmic changes. My initial reaction was negative.
But, then I stopped assessing the situation as a stamp collector and examined it as a tax payer.
Now, I'm riding shotgun on Canada Post's bandwagon.
If it is not about love, then it has to be about money. Ask any crime-novel reader.
John Derry
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re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
John is certainly right that I stand squarely behind USPS in its accomplishments in its main mission: delivering the mail. None better nor cheaper. A deal at even considerably more than what we pay.
It's when we leave that arena that things begin to go squishy or downright rotten, and USPS's head is often attached anatomically incorrectly.
David
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"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Wow -- Michael, that's fantastic!! How fortunate that it went to a philatelist!
(Maybe go out and buy a lottery ticket, too!)
(I tried to buy a sheet last week when I needed some higher-value postage, but the post office I was at was out at that time. I guess this inspires me to follow up and get a couple. .... But what would be the odds of knowing someone who found one and finding one myself? I have a feeling you soaked up all the luck of all of us!!)
-- Dave
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re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Dave, I had an "itch" starting last weekend. I was looking online at the Texas Lottery web site and saw that one of the scratch-off games that had been out for over a month had none of the top prizes claimed yet. I bought $75 worth of tickets. I scratched them all off and won $75. That "itch" has persisted.
I have had in the back of my mind to go to McNeil and buy all the Jenny sheets there. I hadn't done it even having gone there a couple of times. I did buy a few sheets at McNeil since they came out, but most of the sheets I bought were from my post office.
Today I went there looking for new issues as I have missed them since January, and the local post offices are all out. I bought some stamps that I needed for postage. Then I bought two of the Jenny sheets. I went to the car and decided to open them before heading home. They were the regular sheet. I then went back into the post office and asked how many they had left. I was hoping it wouldn't be a large number, because of the cost. She counted them out, and there were 20 remaining. I bought them all and went home where I opened the packets. One after the other was the regular sheet. Then, I had one left. I opened it, and out it popped. I thought at first I was holding it upside down, but then I saw the congratulatory card in the envelope. There was no doubt what I had.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Michael: Thanks for sharing the background and details. I never have that "itch", which may explain my limited winnings in anything! ... At least, with the stamps, one is exchanging one asset for another -- admittedly, from a perfectly liquid one to a less liquid one -- so it's about as low-risk a lottery as one can get.
-- Dave
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re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Thanks everyone!
By the way, the numbers in my username and in my email address that I have had for many years just happens to be the ZIP Code for the McNeil post office.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Michael: I'd also be interesting in knowing if any of the local press in your area picks up the story. (I'm curious to know if it'd be considered newsworthy, or if it's just a philately thing!)
Let us know, or post links if you can.
-- Dave
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"You gotta put down the duckie if you wanna play the saxophone. (Hoots the Owl -- Sesame Street)"
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Doug, you got that right! On month from my birthday of February 13!
Dave, the contact from USPS in Washington said they may be interested in doing some publicity with the post office. Funny, since they keep trying to shut the McNeil post office down. It is now open just four hours a day. Doesn't give me much time to get there, but today I had just the right amount of time to do it. I'm going over there tomorrow to see if she was notified about it. If not, I'll tell her. She did ask my why I was so interested in all the sheets. I told what it was about, and she thought it was exciting. Little did both of us know at the time!
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Very cool, Mr. Numbers. I actually just received an email link to the Linn's article and saw your name, so I came to SOR to add my "congrats". I love that the "numbers" from Mr. Numbers matches the PO where you got it!!!
Lars
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"Expanding your knowledge faster than your collection can save you a few bucks."
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Congratulations, Michael.
I was just wondering how many had been found. I bought sheet number two a couple days ago but haven't opened it, yet. Sheet number one was inverted. Maybe.... Haha!
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Michael,
Congrats on your purchase. You deserve this one and hope you can find that dealer who will be wiling to pay to take it off your hands. Totally awesome!
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"Appreciate the beauty of nature. You never know when life will deal you an unplanned twist of fate. Enjoy things while you can, because you just never know."
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Outstanding Michael..... Congratulations!!!!
Hope you don't end up as a verse to the following.........
Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman
Should five per cent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman
If you drive a car, I'll tax the street,
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat.
If you get too cold I'll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet.
Don't ask me what I want it for
If you don't want to pay some more
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman
Now my advice for those who die
Declare the pennies on your eyes
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman
And you're working for no one but me.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Regarding the disposition of the sheet. I can tell you that it has been sold. Please don't ask me anything about the terms of sale as I am not at liberty to discuss that.
Retired Ap. Book Mod, Pres Golden Gate Stamp Club, Hi Tech Consultant 17 Mar 2014 07:04:43pm
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Congratulations Michael...could not have happened to a nicer guy. It is contagious, and I got the itch, so I opened the 6 envelopes I had bought some time ago, and never bothered to check for the post office fraudulent invert. (Isn't an envelope unopened worth more than one already opened?)
I am afraid I cannot duplicate your good fortune. Kim, you can have mine at $12.01 plus shipping.
rrr...
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"E. Rutherford: All science is either physics or stamp collecting."
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Michael,
Firstly congrats !!! But what a hard decision as a stamp collector. I don't know what I would have done. If you asked my wife there would be no discussion.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
I am curious, Michael, did you call the USPS to let them know you got the sheet? I wonder what information they would ask of you to verify receipt. Were the stamps printed with a different plate number I guess is what I am wondering.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
" But what a hard decision as a stamp collector. I don't know what I would have done."
I never thought of the sheet as something to add to my collection. The value of the item is such that it moves one on to another chapter in their life. That is not something that comes along everyday, and I don't think by its magnitude that it can be passed up. I know that I discovered it, and that I owned it for a few days. I actually shipped it to the buyer this afternoon. That is good enough for me. I have made copies of everything that I had so I have a record of this happening.
Personally, this places me back to where I was two years ago when I retired a month before I got seriously sick and everything in the house and cars broke. Now I just need to decide how I want to move forward from here. It's a nice feeling indeed.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
"did you call the USPS to let them know you got the sheet? I wonder what information they would ask of you to verify receipt. Were the stamps printed with a different plate number "
Yes, I called the number on the card that comes with the sheet. They asked me where I bought the sheet, and asked me to tell them how I came to purchase it. They then told me that I had the eighth sheet reported to USPS, and that I would receive a certificate signed by the Postmaster General commemorating my find.
There are no plate numbers with the sheets. There are six different printing plates, and the position of the sheets from the full pane are shown on the back. Mine was Plate #4, but that is irrelevant as regards to the regular invert sheets as they have six plates as well.
Call me skeptical, but I suspect the USPS in Washington DC knows where the sheets are located. I think they put most of them in small, out of the way post offices with low volume sales so that it would take a while to sell them out. USPS figured that people would buy out the sheets in the larger cities first. In my post office that happened a couple of months ago. Keep stringing it along by putting the sheets in smaller offices. Keeps interest alive and prolongs the hunt. If the sheets were mostly in larger cities, there probably would have been many more than just 15 discovered thus far six months after the sheets were released. Anyway, that's just my opinion. I could be totally wrong about this, but who knows for sure?
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
I picked up a packet. The postal worker was like, "You know these are $2 stamps right?" Not a hard sell. My packet says it is item number 58000. I wonder what that means. I haven't opened it though. With a run of 5000 sheets my chances of getting one of the rare ones is 1/500. Not great odds. I am tempted to keep it as is and then buy a used normal one for my collection.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Ideal Stamp Co & Markest are buying the upright Jenny sheets. Last ad from Ideal was for $25,000, and I believe Markest is paying more.
Michael, you have a decision to make here, sell now, pay your taxes on the income, or hold and see what the top price is. There is also the possibility that the price will go down, for there will eventually be 100 sheets, although rare, still more than a couple.
At today's interest rates, even if invested in stock market at interest rates, there is very little safe investments over 4%, but this may be the way to go, as an extra ten grand a year is found money.
Good luck on your decision.
PS: Maybe you should buy a hundred or so lottery tickets, and with your luck, you might hit the really big one.
Richaard
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Math was not my best subject. That $10,000 figure should be $1000, so it does not pay to invest it for interest, but it will buy several cups of coffee.
Richaard
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Anyone have an accurate count for how many of the right side up Jenny sheets have been found thus far? While rambling around the Internet, I came across some info that a buyer is now offering $75,OOO for it but couldn't find a source. I saw that one sold in auction in June for $51,000 plus change. I read that the odds were quite a bit better than the lottery but of course we do not have access to purchase from all of the sheets in the US so that number would be a bit skewed in the favor of the USPS.
Bruce
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
According to Linns, the count stands (and has been holding for several months) at 18. Linns published my letter where I speculated that many more of the sheets have been discovered, but not reported. Linns did some thinking on its own and speculates that at least 40 are out there. They also think that all 100 will never be known any time soon.
There have been a few of the sheets sold. The last one was a retail sale of sheet #18 by a dealer in Wisconsin to a collector for $50,000 (may have been $55,000, it escapes me at the moment). The $50,000 mark is where the true market value for the sheet lies, not the $75,000. That dealer has been trying to sell that sheet for $75,000 for a long time and has had no takers. If you find one, do not expect to get $50,000 for it as that is where the market is. A dealer will offer you less (you can do much better than the $25,000 that one dealer is advertising to buy that sheet for). An auction house will take it, but you are going to net worse than private sale to a dealer after the commission is taken from the hammer price (not including the buyer's fee). The one that Regency sold had a 20% commission charged to the consignors (and a 15% buyer's fee; total thievery all around in my opinion), so there was about a $35,000 net (the couple spent $32,500 buying the Jenny sheets until they found an upright one), and they won't have their money until the end of November. Regency is making some money off interest from the float.
You can do better than that with a dealer. If anyone finds one, let me know and I will give you a couple of dealers who will pay a fair price for the sheet better than $35,000, but less than $50,000.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
As of this week, Linn's is reporting the number of upright sheets reportedly found to be at 19.
Here is a link of the Linn's YouTube report reviewing the 1st anniversary of the issuance of the Jenny sheets. By the way, the image of the upright Jenny sheet in the video is the one that I sent to Linn's of the one that I found.
Retired Ap. Book Mod, Pres Golden Gate Stamp Club, Hi Tech Consultant 30 Sep 2014 01:31:52pm
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Does anyone know if the sheets will stay on sale forever...ie until all "un-inverted" Jenny have been sold, or if the remaining stock will eventually get retired by the Post Office service and destroyed?
Many countries issue stamps for a time specified duration, and then retire and destroy older remaining stock. What does the USPS do? Generally speaking, and more specifically for this special case?
rrr...
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"E. Rutherford: All science is either physics or stamp collecting."
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Ralph, there is speculation going around about that now, and what the consequences of a withdrawal from sale would do, such as possibly:
- mad dashes to post offices all over the country to try to find the remaining upright sheets before the recall deadline
- after the deadline other sheets that had been found, but not reported surface and values sky rocket for a short time until it is known how many of these are revealed
For commemoratives, I think that USPS leaves them on sale for about a year or a little bit more. The USPS created this, and if they pull the sheet from sale, there might be a bit of an uproar from collectors. Dealers who have one in stock will be happy as the value will go up considerably as the census will drop from 100 (98 actually as I think two, but at least one, sheets have been cut and singles sold, to a count of 19 (just 17 if you omit the cut sheets) if the sheet went off sale today, for example.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
"[...]From what I can see a Postal clerk can identify the UnInverts which kind of destroys the random lottery effect."
"how would a clerk ID the uninverted Jenny; they are in clear celephane that houses a cardboard sleeve behind which sits the sealed envelope in which the Minisheet resides."
"I am not sure how a clerk would identify the un-inverted Jenny, but this clerk assured me that she did not have any. She does the stamp counts. I thought that the sealed envelope was different with a message from the Postmaster General that it was the un-inverted Jenny. However, I do not know how it can be done."
"There were 100 of the inverted inverts sheet printed. They contain a card with a phone number to call if you get it."
Are there equivalent cards in the standard issue packages? If not, then couldn't a clerk simply weigh packets to determine which ones had the additional weight of the congratulatory card?
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
No, Michael said the card in the uninvert was the same size as the card in the normal ones, and the difference in the weight of the ink for the two different messages is likely much less than the natural difference in weight of the cardboard, etc. in the package.
Lars
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"Expanding your knowledge faster than your collection can save you a few bucks."
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
That's correct. There is no difference from the outward appearance of the packaging for the Jenny sheets. If someone in the post office says that they only have the inverted ones, they opened the packets looking for the upright version. Something which they aren't supposed to do. That leads to other speculation that some of the currently 81 undiscovered upright sheets might be in the hands of USPS employees who peeked and are keeping mum about it.
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
Did you hear that the USPS gave an upright Jenny sheet to a collector selected at random? They selected an Atlanta collector from a list of names of customers who had ordered the sheets in the past. Here is a link to the Linn's article;
re: Inverted Jenny purchase - With the Upright Jenny
It has been quite a while since #20 was discovered. USPS is looking at a pile of the Jenny sheets just sitting around the post offices and not selling.Sounds like USPS is trying to rekindle a buying mood for the Jenny sheet. I wonder how much longer it will be before USPS throws in the towel and recalls all the sheets for destruction?