The Harry L. Jefferys Stamp Collection

The museum received a well-known stamp collection from the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. The Harry L. Jefferys collection, which includes an inverted Jenny and numerous other philatelic rarities, was bequeathed to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia in 1948 by insurance executive H.L. Jefferys. It had been in storage at the Institute for decades.

The Franklin Institute had determined that the collection no longer supported its mission of science and technology-based education and negotiated an agreement for the collection to be transferred to the National Postal Museum.

The Harry L. Jefferys collection consists of U.S. stamps, covers, proofs and essays and is particularly strong in the 1851-1857 issue. The collection includes full panes of the one-cent and three-cent 1851 issue and the twelve-cent 1857 issue, as well as scarce positions of the one-cent 1851 issue, including positions 7R1E and 99R2. The collection includes a three-cent 1851 issue with double impression and a four-cent Schermack Type III coil single. Also included are several printing errors, including plate position No. 2 of the 1918 inverted Jenny airmail stamp.

Museum Purchase
2008.2006

Image (at left, top):
Plate position No. 2 of the 1918 inverted Jenny airmail stamp
Image (at left, bottom):
A three-cent 1851 issue with double impression