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Inverted Jenny stamp resurfaces after 99 years

Man holds stamp
Scott English, executive director of the American Philatelic Society, displays the position 76 Inverted Jenny stamp at a news conference last year.

Stamp enthusiasts are buzzing about the emergence of a rare Inverted Jenny stamp that disappeared from the philatelic world’s radar almost a century ago.

The 24-cent Inverted Jenny stamps were issued in 1918 and mistakenly depict an upside-down airplane. The misprint became the most famous stamp error in U.S. history.

Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, based in Chicago, announced last week it will sell one of these stamps Feb. 15.

The auction house lists the stamp with a presale estimate of $200,000-$300,000.

The stamp was in position 79 on a sheet of 100 printed in 1918. It’s one of only two positions not seen in the marketplace since then, according to the Philatelic Foundation.

The whereabouts of the position 49 stamp are unknown.

This latest Inverted Jenny stamp joins two others that have made recent stamp news headlines.

Last summer, an Inverted Jenny stamp was auctioned for more than $1 million, while another, a position 76 stamp, was returned to its owner after being stolen in 1955.

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