How To Sell Inverted Jenny

Why would it cost "thousands" of dollars to get it authenticated? What's APS charge? The Philatelic Foundation? I'll bet the fee is negotiable (with anybody) considering the prestige and publicity the expertizer would gain.

There have been dozens of inverts portrayed on African souvenir sheets over the years...

I've never understood the way they price authenticating. Why should it cost more to examine using, presumably, the same tests to authenticate a $100,000 stamp, as it does to check a $500 stamp?

I guess APS charges a maximum of $800 for non APS members. This would qualify for the maximum.

Fixed my links. Thanks.

Why are you all so insistent on "proof" that the original poster has the stamp in question?

There was a simple question, a raft of dismissive posts, followed by a pile of misinformation given as gospel.

1: The best outlet for an inverted Jenny would be one of the top-tier auction houses specializing in US stamps. These days, that means Siegel or Matthew Bennett - www.bennettstamps.com .
2: Someone with such as stamp should contact them FIRST and heed their advise about how to best sell it.
3: Grading of an inverted Jenny is likely useless
4: The only relevant authority to certify such a stamp is the Philatelic Foundation
5: The original poster does not owe you any verification that they or their friend actually has the stamp. What's more, there is little reason for them to take a stamp potentially worth >$200,000 out of safe storage and throw it on a scanner for your benefit.
6: There is one specific trait to the genuine stamps - they were marked with the original sheet position on the back in pencil - that would make it easy to identify the plate position, which can easily be verified by comparing to the photo reconstruction in the Siegel catalog.
7: If you don't know what you're talking about, sometimes it's better not to guess.

Speaking of dismissive, the pot is calling names ...

Everything in your 7 points were covered in one or more posts throughout this thread. Thank you for berating us before consolidating our thoughts. You saved literally seconds of reading, and made an *** out of yourself in the process.




On the topic of misinformation, leaving out the APS as an authority on US stamps is ridiculous.

Brian

In my other hobby of classic cars, a fellow came onto the forum asking questions that suggested he had a very special and rare car, made even more rare with low-production, vintage over-the-counter accessories. The story seemed incredible and doubters took glee in demanding photos and deriding the new member. Well... the last post the fellow made was a few pictures of the car and accessories, saying goodbye to the hostile welcome he had received. That car is once again "lost" to those who would be most interested in seeing and studying it.

So someone makes their first post here stating that they have the most famous stamp in US History, that's all, no provenance, nothing.

We're supposed to give the benefit of the doubt ? Many did.

I have a very difficult time believing that someone with enough knowledge to acquire one of these would be at a loss when trying to liquidate it, especially with the power of Google today.

The reason we asked for a scan is that there is a 99.7% chance of it being some facsimile or collectible and a scan if in their hands should be easy to do. I'm thinking if it were the real deal it would be in a safe deposit box or similar. These singles can go from $160 - $225 Thousand.

Riley:
Yes, much was said prior, however, there were a plethora of "grade it" and "prove it" posts.
Also, it is not me who has put the PF at the top - it's the auction companies. They say that a stamp sold with a PF or PSE certificate is sold as per that certificate. You can take it up with them as to why they don't recognize APS certificates.

By the way, in the late 60s/early 70s, an Inverted Jenny sold for about $20,000

But I could buy a station wagon for $4700 back then !

It's listed in the 1925 Scott catalog at $750. And Phil couldn't buy a station wagon back then!

Are you sure? I was under the impression Phil was ... old?

The issue is that the station wagon had not been produced, yet. Phil, on the other hand...

k

It takes time and energy to participate here. On other forums, I have seen quite a variety of mouth-watering rarities dumped in our collective lap, everything from India to Great Britain to Japan to Mexico. I don't recall that any of them ever made it to the scanner glass. We are asking nothing more than your local stamp dealer would ask; there's hundreds of years' of collective philatelic experience here, growing every day, with many of our members apparently from Missouri (the "Show Me" state).

I still want to see a photo or scan of the stamp positioned on the front page of today's newspaper, wherever. That's a good beginning step.

Finally, the nature of the Internet itself has made it possible for one miscreant to taint the presentations of the next hundred legitimate seekers. P.S., I would not be impressed by a number pencilled on the back of an invert, and I readily defer to the experts.

My "Inverted Jenny" book by George Amick , copyright 1986, lists every Jenny number- written on the back of the stamp -( 96 accounted for at some time, 4 missing) with provenance (Dealers, Auction houses for that stamp up to 1986) and detailed written description of the stamp.

Edit: typo fixed