Inverted Jenny

Topical Reference Page
Inverted Jenny stamp

The "Inverted Jenny" is a misprinted U.S. postage stamp showing an inverted image of a blue airplane. The error occurred on the 24-cent airmail stamp of 1918. Only one sheet of one hundred inverted center stamps was sold, and no other examples have been discovered.

Glossary: Inverted Jenny

1918 “Jenny” airmail stamp
Exhibition
A stamp in one color can be elegant, but the Post Office and the public soon looked for the visual interest of a second color of ink. The first U.S. “bicolor” postage stamps with two colored inks were issued in 1869.
Glossary
Glossary terms from "A" to "Z" related to stamp collecting and postal operations.
Exhibition
At the request of the Post Office, a very small number of die proofs have been deliberately printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing over the years to illustrate the error.

Related Blogs

Stamp and Flight Families: Part I

Researching a book as eclectic as Stamp of the Century gives one a good, friendly reason to look up interesting...

Treasure-Hunting Heaven

The National Postal Museum is happy to host two guest bloggers – Deborah Fisher and Kellen Diamanti – who recently spent a chunk of time in the National Postal Museum’s library collecting information for their forthcoming book about the famed Inverted Jenny, entitled Stamp of the Century.

USPS Unveils Inverted Jenny Stamp

Museum Director Allen Kane and USPS Director of Stamp Services and Corporate Licensing Susan McGowan unveiled the preliminary design for an Inverted Jenny stamp at the APS AmeriStamp Expo stamp show in Louisville, Kentucky.

Pages

Stamps

24c Curtiss Jenny Invert Single

This 24-cent stamp represents plate position 70 of the only sheet of 100 inverted Jennys sold by the Post Office Department. Because the bicolor stamp was printed from two printing plates (one for the carmine-colored stamp frame, one for the blue vignette), the error resulted from the misfeeding of sheets or the misorientation of one of the plates.

24c Curtiss Jenny Invert Single from the Jefferys Collection

Harry L. Jefferys bequeathed this stamp with his collection to Philadelphia's Franklin Institute in 1948. The Smithsonian's National Postal Museum received the Jefferys collection from the Franklin Institute in 2008.

Related Links