⇚ Position 20 - 2024-06-27 Transaction Summary
Purchase Date:
2024-06-27
How Purchased:
Auction
Where Purchased:
Siegel Auction Galleries
Auction No.:
1326-2024 Rarities of the World
Lot No.:
4185
Sound/Fault:
Fault
Catalogue Value:
$ 450,000
Realized:
$ 153,400
Seller:
Anonymous
Buyer:
Anonymous
Description
24c Carmine Rose & Blue, Center Inverted (C3a). Position 20, unused (no gum), natural straight edge at right, light horizontal crease at top
VERY FINE APPEARING EXAMPLE OF THE FAMOUS 24-CENT INVERTED JENNY. THIS STAMP WAS ORIGINALLY CONTIGUOUS WITH THE POSITION 19 STAMP OFFERED IN THE PREVIOUS LOT.
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, including the example offered here). 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.
Position 20 was first offered at auction as part of a pair with Position 10 above. Some time after the 1943 Green sale, but before the 1954 Gerber sale, the pair was divided, probably by the buyer in the Green sale, a dealer from New York named Paul Wise.
Ex Col. Edward Howland Robinson Green. With 1992 P.F. certificate.
VERY FINE APPEARING EXAMPLE OF THE FAMOUS 24-CENT INVERTED JENNY. THIS STAMP WAS ORIGINALLY CONTIGUOUS WITH THE POSITION 19 STAMP OFFERED IN THE PREVIOUS LOT.
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, including the example offered here). 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.
Position 20 was first offered at auction as part of a pair with Position 10 above. Some time after the 1943 Green sale, but before the 1954 Gerber sale, the pair was divided, probably by the buyer in the Green sale, a dealer from New York named Paul Wise.
Ex Col. Edward Howland Robinson Green. With 1992 P.F. certificate.