Stamps Over Time

: C3a. The “Inverted Jenny” airmail stamp of 1918, perhaps the world’s most famous stamp. A copy of this stamp sold in late 2012 for over $260,000. A sheet of 100 of this stamp (the only sheet known) was purchased by a bank clerk in Washington, D.C. on May 15, 1918. In less than a week, he had sold the entire sheet of 100 stamps for over $15,000.

: The Rarest Stamp in the World. The one cent magenta stamp from British Guiana, issued in 1856. The only known example of this stamp that exists. Now worth more than $5 million.

: The Second Rarest Stamp in the World. The Treskilling Banco Error of Color from Sweden. Only three copies of this stamp are known; sold in the mid-2000’s for over $3 million.

: The U.S. First Stamps, Nos. 1 and 2. The 5 cent and 10 cent stamps depicting Franklin and Washington were the very first postage stamps issued by the U.S. First release in 1847.

: Post Office Mauritius stamps. Printed in 1847 in Mauritius, a British colony at that time, this stamp’s appearance has an important error— instead of “Post Paid” as it should have appeared on it, the words “Post Office” were engraved. One of them was sold 1993 for over $1 million.

: The “Z” Grill stamp from the U.S. With only 2 stamps existing now, this one is the rarest in the US. It depicts Benjamin Franklin and the z-grill refers to the tiny indentations on the paper as a method of preventing forgeries. It is valued by its owner, the National Postal Museum, at well over $1 million.

: The Red Lady in the Green Dress. Printed in 1897 and part of a trial printing, there are only 9 examples of what is recognized as the most expensive Chinese stamp. The stamp is valued at nearly $1.3 million.

: The Swiss Double Geneva. Counted as extremely rare this is the third oldest European stamp and it was printed in 1843. Only 600 survived the test of time. Printed in black on green paper, at the top it indicates 10 centimes cantonal postage, which was the rate for sending letters to another city and each half had 5 cents inscripted on them, which was the rate for local postage. The estimated value is around $70,000 for the pair.

: The Baden 9 Kreuzer. This is Baden’s first postage stamp and was printed in 1851. Sprung out of an error since green paper was intended for the 6 Kreuzer value, there are only 4 examples of this stamp known at the moment which makes it among the rarest collectible stamps in the world. One of them was sold for $1.3 million in 2008.

: The Canadian Blue Nose. Depicting the world famous yacht, “The Blue Nose,” stamp collectors the world over consider this particular stamp to be the most beautifully-designed stamp ever issued. It is within the reach of most collectors and valued at less than $150.00.

: The 1898 $1.00 “Cattle in a Western Storm” stamp from the U.S. This intriguing stamp printed only in black has long been considered the most beautiful ever issued by the United States.