Inverted Jenny

Issue Date	May 10, 1918
Issuer	United States
Known For	Most famous error in American Stamps
Approximate Value	$525,000 US Dollars

The 24 cent Jenny Stamp was created for delivery of mail by air - a new concept in 1918. This is a large sum compared to the 3 cents that it costs for ground delivery. As a result, the stamp was created and printed in a hurry.

The Jenny Stamps were printed in sheets of 100, but each sheet had to be fed through the printing machine twice. Therefore, it's very easy to accidently flip the sheet on the second pass, and this is exactly what happened. One of these sheets were printed with the jenny plane upside down, and sold before it was noticed, creating the Inverted Jenny error.

The sheet of stamps were subsequently sold for ever higher amounts. Eventually, the sheet was broken up when the owner realized that the Inverted Jenny Stamps were worth more (resale wise) when separated.

A block of 4 stamps was purchased in 2005 for $2.9 million dollars.

Post Office Mauritius - Blue Penny / Red Penny

Issue Date	September 20, 1847
Issuer	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Known For	Also known as Blue Penny/Red Penny, one of the rarest stamps in the world. Has the words "Post Office" instead of "Post Paid". First stamps of Britian to be produced outside of the United Kingdom.
Approximate Value	€1 million pounds sterling

History

A design created by Joseph Barnard (1816-1865), whose initials are engraved on the neck of the queen on Post Office Mauritius Stamps. A copper plate of 3.25 inches by 2.5 inches was used to engrave the design. 240 pieces of this stamp was sold before it was realized that words on the stamp should be "Post Paid" and not "Post Office".

There are only 26 known copies of the Post Office Mauritius Stamps that have survived to this day. One Penny: 12 cancelled, 2 mint. Two Penny: 6 cancelled, 6 mint. They are mostly in the hands of private collectors, but are on display at the British Museum in London and the Blue Penny Museum in Mauritius.

Mauritius was the 5th British colony (and country) to issue postage stamps.

Most of the stamps were sent out in some ball invitation letters sent out by Mauritius' governer's wife (Lady Gomm):

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Penny Black

Issue Date	May 1, 1840 (for use on May 6)
Issuer	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Known For	World's first prepaid adhesive postage stamp
Approximate Value	Used: $200 (as of 2000) $240 (as of 2007) Unused: $3000 (as of 2000)

History

Before the Penny Black was issued, post offices of the era had to take payments for mail delivery in cash. This was, of course, not very efficient as people had to wait in line much as we do at the post offices today to deliver every piece of mail. In addition, post offices had to handle cash and count the number of pages each person has. Postage was charged by the sheet and the amount of distance traveled.

In 1837, Rowland Hill proposed to reform the British postal system by wrapping the letter in an extra piece of paper (envelopes) and attach an adhesive stamp to indicate the prepayment of postage.

The picture in the stamp is that of Queen Victoria. It is based on a sketch done by Henry Cole who based his work on that of William Wyon. Wyon orignially sketched a head for a medal that commemorated Queen Victoria's visit to London in 1837, the year she ascended the throne (she was 15 at the time). The stamps were printed by Perkins Bacon.

The Penny Black Stamp was only used for one year because the red cancellation mark was hard to see on the black background. As a result of this, the Treasury reprinted the stamp as a red stamp so that the black cancellation marks that are later used are easier to see and harder to remove.

The Penny Black Stamp was not perforated. In fact, perforation was not introdued until 1854. Because of wear and tear, eleven different plates were used during the life cycle of the Penny Black.