USPS $2 Inverted Jenny "Collectors Edition" Stamps & Proofs

I don't know if it makes a difference but I have what I am calling an red ink run on the two stamps on the right of the sheet. I will have to open the other to see it it has the same thing ------ the second one has the same thing, and so does the third one. So I guess nothing special.

Somebody posted on another forum some FDOI cancels and the stamps showed a similar "run" in the red/blue ink, especially noticeable in the area under the words "U.S. Postage".

Also, some of the stamps used for the FDOI covers look a bit off center from what I can see in some scans.

Chalk it up to poor QC, I guess ... but that should not be, given the printing technologies in use today.

For those who do not know, most of the questions about the C3a have been answered in a very fine book called Jenny, by George Amick. Highly recommended. Anyone interested in the story should read it.

The much-discussed souvenir sheet.







And a better view of an individual stamp (the upper left corner).







The back of the souvenir sheet







The First Day postmarks.

It looks like many (most?) of the Souvenir Sheets show a distinct migration of the color blue into the red frame of the stamps.

I have to much work today so here is a quick photo, I hope it looks ok if not I will do later today. You can see the extra red ink on the right side.

It's great that the invert was re-used, but as many have said, it's too bad it did not carry a different denomination. It's a rare chance that a non-collector will use any for postage - finding those non-philatelic covers will be a true rarity.

As I mentioned in one or two previous threads, I have written about the original invert and the theft of the McCoy block in 1955 in my new mystery (with history) novel, "Chasing Jenny." I had hoped it would have been out by now, but my last editor is giving it a last read. With any luck I will have it available as an eBook before the end of the month; and in print version soon thereafter. Please stay tuned. Thanks.

I will state that the new Inverted Jenny is one of my favorite stamps. A great idea and job by the USPS. I bought way more than I should have they were that good.

However I do not get the packaging or the marketing tactic that McGowan spoke about.

According to Stamp Services and Corporate Licensing Director Susan McGowan, the special preparation is part of a promotion to "create excitement when opening the envelope and for other reasons that will be announced at a later date."

Did I miss something? Personally I could have done without the very cheap plastic wrap, it was well junky and cheap. I liked the envelope they came in with the cardboard added.

Now to my day, I stopped at my local post office at 8:30AM. The post master was off and a young clerk was behind the counter. He was told he had to call a certain lady in another office and well this young kid started complaining if he is having his hours cut he is going to the union. Like I cared to hear that and then he took the time to explain the problems of his pay and the union etc.

In any event he finally asks me if he can help me. I ask for the sheet of Inverted Jenny Stamps. He looks at me and states are they out yet? I say yes they are. He then says I don't know if we have any. I tell him he has $500 dollars in stock because the Postmaster showed me the sealed packages on Friday.

So he starts to look and then I explain what they look like and he said ok are your sure. I said yes I saw them this past Friday. So now he finds them. You would think he would have been more concerned about me than filing a complaint with his union.

Later I stopped at another post office only 3 miles from the first. A nice young lady was at the counter. I asked about the Inverted Jenny's and at first caught her off guard, this was around 2:00PM. She said give me a minute I have not taken them out of the safe yet. She was a blast though as we started talking and I waked out with a few more sheets of the 1863 CW and Ray Charles.

So somehow excuse me if I missed the special excitement and they can save the extra expense of marketing when all that I want is the stamps.

I will note the Postmaster at the first place is a great help to stamp collectors but he was off today. The second post office is also a good place to do business with. However some of these younger employees should worry more about the customer and less about what and how much they make, or at least in public and they better know what they have on hand.

In the end I have plenty of new Inverted Jenny's and I am very happy the USPS came out with these.

that sounds awesome! Sounds like that might be the next book I end up reading. Let me know when it's available please - thanks

Those postmarks just overpower the stamps. A typical example of over embellishment. That with the poor printing and the high price rule them out for me.

Terry

Terence I agree the postmark cancellation is over powering and to be frank ugly. But your wrong on the poor printing. While it is true have some have the color bleeding or what ever, the others that I picked up latter in the day do not.

The printing and look of those stamps are among the most beautiful stamps ever put out by anyone. I can not put into words have perfect they are.

I just didn't want you to think these were not nice looking stamps, in person they are just excellent. I do rank them a 10 out of 10.

I bought 30 sheets in palatine Illinois today. My general observation is first they are beautiful and well done intaglio printings. I was hoping I might find a right side up invert of an invert as the special marketing ploy the USPS says will be more clear later. 1% of the sheets randomly being that way would have been quite cool and fun to pursue. Who knows maybe they are out there?

Amazingly I observe virtually every stamp is off center to the right so all stamps appear to be no better than VF. I am sure there must be better centered copies but I did not get any in my batch of 30 sheets (180 stamps).

The stamps are untagged non luminescent. However there are some random dots on some sheets that are luminescent. Must be something from the production process but too trivial to be of significance.

The position 4 of the panes was completly absent in my batch of 30. I had several of each other position 1,2,3,5, and 6. That is surprising.

I also observe the bleeding of inks between the frame and vignette. And a few heavier red ink lines in the frame that appear to be minor over inking.

I did not note any double transfers or shifted transfers, but I would suspect they might be possible.

I put together a few certified mail covers and sent them to my mom each franked with 2 of the stamps. Rate for 2 ounces $3.76 so a minor overpayment but they will be neat practical first day usages since Sunday most post offices were closed. They are pretty stamps I look forward to using them.

Hi mkfarm,

Yes I agree the stamp looks great, and I would love to have, or be able to buy, just one stamp without the expensive embellishments. So the ink run would be a result of poor printing quality control then. One print pass not having fully dried on some sheets before receiving the next colour pass. Maybe due to erratic inking? Enough for me, should I want to buy the pack, not to risk my huckleberries and maybe get a poor print example.

Terry

Since everyone seems to be posting their Inverted Jenny Souvenir Sheets, take a look at this ... the right two stamps of the block of 6, with the red smeared ink very noticeable on the UR side of each stamp (the color migration and horizontal centering is also off, too.):



I guess one just chalks it up to poor quality control. This one is from Plate Position 5 (I wonder if that makes any difference)?

Here's an interesting footnote to this issue. Way back in the early part of 2013 when the USPS first announced its plans for the Inverted Jenny Reprint Souvenir Sheet, this was the official illustration they used:

Actual S/S

Notice anything different about it? If you look closely on the map, the text for "New York City" is positioned differently. If you really want to flyspeck this illustration, you will notice the city "Washington, D.C." is also slightly moved. In fact, you can flyspeck this illustration and discover some other minor differences, too, such as as the cloud formations above the building in the background.

Not a big deal, but it does show some of the minor "tweaking" that was done to the "preliminary" design before the final design hit the presses.