Okay, I have to admit that I was intrigued because I didn't know the 79 position, but was willing to have Jenny give me a tutorial. Color me disappointed.
Being an ex stamp collector most of my childhood, I knew exactly what this was in reference to when the name "Jenny" was mentioned. I did not realize the exact reason though. It is amazing that they can reconstruct the sheet, How do they know which stamp was in which position. Very cool indeed.
Robert
ebay seller name milbroco email bcmiller7@comcast.net
As with the 1909-s vdb cent, 1916-D dimes, 1907 high relief $20's and the like, gem, or approaching gem examples of the upside-down Jenny are very famous, very expensive, but some (not all and certainly not me) in the collecting community love to turn their noses up at them, telling any and all how "overrated" they are due to their cost, seeing as if one has the money, it's easy enough to find one for sale (most of the sheet is extant.) Popularity and fame don't seem to register with these naysayers, yet year after year, demand remains consistent and usually increases with the passage of time.
It'll be interesting to see what the position 79 example, pretty well centered, but with thins and disturbed gum, fetches. Shouldn't be anywhere near the nice position 58 that fetched 1.3 million recently, but 150-300K for a faulty one is probably in the ballpark.
I also really wish this had been about Grandma Jenny's 1981 wax case reveal. God bless her!
@milbroco said:
Being an ex stamp collector most of my childhood, I knew exactly what this was in reference to when the name "Jenny" was mentioned. I did not realize the exact reason though. It is amazing that they can reconstruct the sheet, How do they know which stamp was in which position. Very cool indeed.
Robert
You're right that they would have had a difficult time; but Col. Green, who bought the discovery sheet from the dealer who bought it from the discoverer, flipped it over and carefully noted the position of each stamp in the plate in small pencil on the back (very common in those days of philately, though no one would do so to an otherwise unmarked stamp today.) Then he broke it up into blocks and singles, and the stamps began to be spread out into the marketplace.
There had been at least a few more sheets printed in error, but these were caught before being put out for sale, and destroyed.
This is opposed to plate positioning of older stamps (thinking the 1840s and '50s) where for various countries (thinking of Australia in particular), you can figure out plate position through study of the engraved portraits on the front -- each being a hand-cut piece of work, and differing slightly from the one next to it.
Hey thanks for the info. I never knew he wrote the position number on the backs of all the stamps on the sheet. I do have some stamps in my childhood collection that have numbers written on the back but they are Scott catalog numbers.
ebay seller name milbroco email bcmiller7@comcast.net
Yep! Quite a lot of old stamps were notated on the back as to their scott catalog #, I don't know whether it was more dealers who did so or collectors organizing their stockbooks, but it was done all the time. I have a few like that as well. Particular old collections might also have expertizing marks/signatures/stamps on the back of rare old individual stamps -- the famous 1 cent British Guiana that recently sold for just shy of $10 million has quite a few on its backside.
muffins
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Is this our very own Grandma Jenny?
Not into stamps but found that site very interesting. Really cool the way they built that sheet back together with the photos.
Okay, I have to admit that I was intrigued because I didn't know the 79 position, but was willing to have Jenny give me a tutorial. Color me disappointed.
bobsbbcards SGC Registry Sets
Being an ex stamp collector most of my childhood, I knew exactly what this was in reference to when the name "Jenny" was mentioned. I did not realize the exact reason though. It is amazing that they can reconstruct the sheet, How do they know which stamp was in which position. Very cool indeed.
Robert
email bcmiller7@comcast.net
As with the 1909-s vdb cent, 1916-D dimes, 1907 high relief $20's and the like, gem, or approaching gem examples of the upside-down Jenny are very famous, very expensive, but some (not all and certainly not me) in the collecting community love to turn their noses up at them, telling any and all how "overrated" they are due to their cost, seeing as if one has the money, it's easy enough to find one for sale (most of the sheet is extant.) Popularity and fame don't seem to register with these naysayers, yet year after year, demand remains consistent and usually increases with the passage of time.
It'll be interesting to see what the position 79 example, pretty well centered, but with thins and disturbed gum, fetches. Shouldn't be anywhere near the nice position 58 that fetched 1.3 million recently, but 150-300K for a faulty one is probably in the ballpark.
I also really wish this had been about Grandma Jenny's 1981 wax case reveal. God bless her!
You're right that they would have had a difficult time; but Col. Green, who bought the discovery sheet from the dealer who bought it from the discoverer, flipped it over and carefully noted the position of each stamp in the plate in small pencil on the back (very common in those days of philately, though no one would do so to an otherwise unmarked stamp today.) Then he broke it up into blocks and singles, and the stamps began to be spread out into the marketplace.
There had been at least a few more sheets printed in error, but these were caught before being put out for sale, and destroyed.
This is opposed to plate positioning of older stamps (thinking the 1840s and '50s) where for various countries (thinking of Australia in particular), you can figure out plate position through study of the engraved portraits on the front -- each being a hand-cut piece of work, and differing slightly from the one next to it.
Hey thanks for the info. I never knew he wrote the position number on the backs of all the stamps on the sheet. I do have some stamps in my childhood collection that have numbers written on the back but they are Scott catalog numbers.
email bcmiller7@comcast.net
Yep! Quite a lot of old stamps were notated on the back as to their scott catalog #, I don't know whether it was more dealers who did so or collectors organizing their stockbooks, but it was done all the time. I have a few like that as well. Particular old collections might also have expertizing marks/signatures/stamps on the back of rare old individual stamps -- the famous 1 cent British Guiana that recently sold for just shy of $10 million has quite a few on its backside.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Guiana_1c_magenta
I traded 20 pounds of old cards for an inverted Jenny after the stamp bubble burst.
If they were 1988 Topps and 1988 Donruss cards, you made a steal.
email bcmiller7@comcast.net
Adding 10 to the position should make it much more enjoyable