⇚ Position 36 - 2021-04-29 Transaction Summary
Purchase Date:
2021-04-29
How Purchased:
Auction
Where Purchased:
Siegel Auction Galleries
Auction No.:
1234 - The Gary Petersen Collection
Lot No.:
366
Sound/Fault:
Sound
Catalogue Value:
$ 450,000
Realized:
$ 342,200
Seller:
Buyer:
Anonymous
Description
24c Carmine Rose & Blue, Center Inverted (C3a). Position 36, original gum, single light hinge mark, the gum and paper are fresh and bright, brilliant colors
FRESH AND FINE-VERY FINE. A RARE SOUND EXAMPLE OF THE 1918 24-CENT INVERTED "JENNY" ERROR. WITHOUT QUESTION THIS IS THE MOST FAMOUS STAMP IN AMERICAN PHILATELY.
The original sheet of one hundred Inverted Jenny errors was purchased by William T. Robey on May 14, 1918, the first day the stamps went on sale in all three principal airmail route cities: Washington, D.C., New York and Philadelphia. Robey bought the sheet for its $24 face value at the New York Avenue Post Office window in the District of Columbia. On Sunday, May 19, Robey agreed to give Eugene Klein, a prominent Philadelphia stamp dealer, a one-day option to buy the sheet for $15,000. Klein exercised his option on Monday, May 20, in a late afternoon phone call, and he confirmed it with a registered letter to Robey sent in the evening mail. The sheet was delivered to Klein’s office by Robey and his father-in-law on the following day, Tuesday, May 21, 1918.
No later than Monday, May 20, the day Klein exercised his option, he had arranged to sell the sheet for $20,000 to Colonel Edward H. R. Green. Half of the $5,000 profit went to Klein’s partners, Percy McGraw Mann and Joseph A. Steinmetz. Klein was then authorized by Colonel Green to divide the sheet into singles and blocks, and to sell all but a few key position blocks.
Despite the great rarity and value of Inverted Jenny stamps, many of the original hundred have been mistreated by collectors over the years. Colonel Green himself allowed moisture to affect some of the stamps he retained. Eight straight-edge copies that Klein was unable to sell and returned to Colonel Green were found in Green’s estate stuck together in an envelope (they were soaked and lost their gum). Other examples have become slightly toned from improper storage and climatic conditions. Hinge removal has caused thins and creases in numerous stamps, and one was physically Scotch-taped to an exhibit page. Another was nearly lost to philately forever when it was swept up in a vacuum cleaner.
The stamp offered here, Position 36, is exceptionally fresh and very lightly hinged. It was part of the Sidney A. Hessel collection sold by H. R. Harmer (Part 3, November 5, 1976, lot 1075). Hessel, a long-time collector, might have been the first person to acquire this position when the sheet was broken up by Eugene Klein in 1918 (there is no sale record prior to Hessel's ownership). This would explain its exceptionally fresh condition and the presence of a single faint hinge mark. After the Hessel sale, the stamp was owned by Kenneth Wenger, a New Jersey stamp dealer and investor. It eventually became part of the "Windsor" collection, which was acquired intact by Perry Hansen. It was acquired by Mr. Petersen in the 2008 Siegel sale of the Hansen collection (Sale 963).
Ex Colonel Green, Hessel, Wenger, "Windsor" and Hansen. With 1978, 1996, 2008 and 2016 P.F. certificates.
FRESH AND FINE-VERY FINE. A RARE SOUND EXAMPLE OF THE 1918 24-CENT INVERTED "JENNY" ERROR. WITHOUT QUESTION THIS IS THE MOST FAMOUS STAMP IN AMERICAN PHILATELY.
The original sheet of one hundred Inverted Jenny errors was purchased by William T. Robey on May 14, 1918, the first day the stamps went on sale in all three principal airmail route cities: Washington, D.C., New York and Philadelphia. Robey bought the sheet for its $24 face value at the New York Avenue Post Office window in the District of Columbia. On Sunday, May 19, Robey agreed to give Eugene Klein, a prominent Philadelphia stamp dealer, a one-day option to buy the sheet for $15,000. Klein exercised his option on Monday, May 20, in a late afternoon phone call, and he confirmed it with a registered letter to Robey sent in the evening mail. The sheet was delivered to Klein’s office by Robey and his father-in-law on the following day, Tuesday, May 21, 1918.
No later than Monday, May 20, the day Klein exercised his option, he had arranged to sell the sheet for $20,000 to Colonel Edward H. R. Green. Half of the $5,000 profit went to Klein’s partners, Percy McGraw Mann and Joseph A. Steinmetz. Klein was then authorized by Colonel Green to divide the sheet into singles and blocks, and to sell all but a few key position blocks.
Despite the great rarity and value of Inverted Jenny stamps, many of the original hundred have been mistreated by collectors over the years. Colonel Green himself allowed moisture to affect some of the stamps he retained. Eight straight-edge copies that Klein was unable to sell and returned to Colonel Green were found in Green’s estate stuck together in an envelope (they were soaked and lost their gum). Other examples have become slightly toned from improper storage and climatic conditions. Hinge removal has caused thins and creases in numerous stamps, and one was physically Scotch-taped to an exhibit page. Another was nearly lost to philately forever when it was swept up in a vacuum cleaner.
The stamp offered here, Position 36, is exceptionally fresh and very lightly hinged. It was part of the Sidney A. Hessel collection sold by H. R. Harmer (Part 3, November 5, 1976, lot 1075). Hessel, a long-time collector, might have been the first person to acquire this position when the sheet was broken up by Eugene Klein in 1918 (there is no sale record prior to Hessel's ownership). This would explain its exceptionally fresh condition and the presence of a single faint hinge mark. After the Hessel sale, the stamp was owned by Kenneth Wenger, a New Jersey stamp dealer and investor. It eventually became part of the "Windsor" collection, which was acquired intact by Perry Hansen. It was acquired by Mr. Petersen in the 2008 Siegel sale of the Hansen collection (Sale 963).
Ex Colonel Green, Hessel, Wenger, "Windsor" and Hansen. With 1978, 1996, 2008 and 2016 P.F. certificates.