National Stamp Collecting month began as a joint venture of the Council of Philatelic Organizations and the United States Postal Service back in 1981. Then-Postmaster General William F. Bolger published a statement in the Postal Bulletin proclaiming stamp collecting as “the world’s most popular hobby,” and urged “employees and customers alike to discover the joy of stamp collecting — the hobby of a lifetime.” Since then, the Postal Service™ has continued to promote October as National Stamp Collecting Month.
Just in time to add some extra excitement to this year’s National Stamp Collecting Month, the Postal Service issued the Stamp Collecting: Inverted Jenny Souvenir Sheet on September 22, 2013. The sheet features a new version of perhaps the most famous error in the history of U.S stamps: the Inverted Jenny, a 1918 misprint that highlights the ways a single stamp can turn history upside down. Originally issued on May 14, 1918, to commemorate the start of the first regular airmail service the following day, the original Jenny stamp was designed to depict a Curtiss JN-4H, or “Jenny,” the biplane used to deliver the mail. However, one sheet of 100 stamps was misprinted mistakenly showing the biplane upside down. That sheet was inadvertently sold on the first-day-of-issue to a collector in Washington, D.C. — and one of the greatest philatelic treasures in U.S. history was released into the world.
The new Stamp Collecting: Inverted Jenny Souvenir Sheet (item #580004) includes six Inverted Jenny stamps, reprinted with an updated $2 denomination (to distinguish it from the original 24-cent 1918 version), surrounded by an illustration that includes the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C.; the route of the first regularly scheduled airmail service between Washington, Philadelphia, and New York; and aviation pioneer Reuben H. Fleet, who was in charge of the first group of airmail pilots. Antonio Alcalá served as the art director for the souvenir sheet with Steven Noble creating the selvage artwork. The sheet can be purchased at select Post Office™ locations and ordered via www.usps.com/stamps, 800-STAMP-24, and www.eBay.com/stamps.
October 15th Deadline to Order the Special Limited Edition Collectors Set:
Merging past with the present, the limited-quantity Inverted Jenny Collector’s Edition (item #580027) pays tribute to the beloved stamp, taking collectors up close to the intaglio printing process behind the 2013 Stamp Collecting: Inverted Jenny stamps. The set includes a series of collectible proofs, pulled during the time of the 2013 production, showing each intaglio color in isolation; an authentic section of the die wipe used during the press run; one mint and one cancelled sheet of Stamp Collecting: Inverted Jenny stamps; a 48-page booklet that reveals the story of the stamp from how the initial error leaked to why the Postal Service issued a new version; and a protective box that bears an ornament seal showing the stamp name and biplane in hand-drawn lettering. The set is priced at $200 and only 5,000 will be sold. Preorders to purchase this product will be accepted through October 15th, while supplies last, via www.usps.com/shop or 800-STAMP-24 with fulfillment in December.
— Stamp Services,
Marketing and Sales, 10-3-13
