Inverted Jenny 2013 Error?

I wonder what it will be priced at?
Tom

A dealer had an ad in the APS magazine last month offering $25,000.

I saw that but this is a dealer who got it. He also has 1800 stamps to sell off.
Tom

To compound the difficulty of collectors acquiring one of the "un-vert" panes is the suggestion by a writer into Linn's that unscrupulous postal clerks are opening the Jenny sealed envelopes and using them for postage rather than other high value stamps (like the Waves) or their postage meter. This obviously gives them a serious "leg-up" in finding one of the intentionally errored panes. This should really come as no surprise since postal clerks obviously have first shot at seeing errored stamps. For example, an acquaintance of mine purchased a collection at an estate sale of a local postmaster who passed away, and discovered an entire roll of errored imperforate coils (CV $100 a pop). If postal clerks are doing this with the Jennys, it skews the odds even further that any of us will ever chance upon one of these panes. For obvious reasons, these clerks aren't going to announce to the world of their "find". USPS should have known all along that something like this could occur.

lpmiller: I don't think you have to worry about the clerks.

1. Most are unaware of the special Jenny sheets, especially the part-time non-union clerks.

2. There's a warning on the wrapper not to buy opened envelopes. I'm sure it's grounds for dismissal if a clerk opened one. This is not to say they wouldn't squirrel away all the opened packages, but they cannot sell them to the public. I'll have to ask the clerks, but I don't think they're even allowed to use them for postage on packages unless the customer buys them specifically for that purpose. The customer has to open it as well.

Sidenote: 1800 $2 stamps wouldn't last me a year with the 2oz. International rate with the non-machinable surcharge now at $2.34 and the 4oz. parcel rate at $9.45.

I have used several $2 Jenny's for postage. All the clerks at my local PO know about the sheets. A few weeks ago when I went to ship some philatelic items I sold on ebay, I told the clerk I wanted to use $2 Jenny's and have him do a nice cancel. He gave me the sheet and had me open it. He said they are not allowed. He and the clerk next to him waited in anticipation to see if I "won".... I did not.

More on the right-side-up Jenny Souvenir Sheet finds: The tally is up to 15 reported to Linn's; only eight (8) of which were reported to the USPS. The latest finds: Austin, TX, two (2) in separate post offices in New Hampshire and another find in a mail order purchase from the USA Philatelic catalog:

http://linns.com/news/breaking-stam...-count-at-15

I bought a "stamp item" today at the PO. The postal worker was like, "You know these are $2 stamps, right?" I sighed and said, "Yes, I know." I haven't opened the packet yet. I am still savoring the possibility that it may be one of the rare ones. :D

I have mentioned this before, but my post office does not have any high value stamps, let alone the Jennies.
This morning I went to mail a couple of stamp circuits, and used some Jennies and some Waves. Both packages went to every clerk in the post office, no one had seen these stamps yet!

Peter

An interesting Linn's editorial on the Inverted Jenny Reprint. Although I'm not sure I agree with all of the analogies presented, the bottom line is that it was/is a USPS failure and hopefully they'll learn from it in the future. But then again, we're talking about the USPS, where anything is possible!

http://linns.com/news/editorial-ins...nded-in-2015

Agree. If they had mounted a small advertising campaign it likely would have done much better
Tom

I like to think of them like buying a pack of baseball cards where you have the chance of getting an auto or jersey card. I agree the Wonka analogy is not the same. I really liked the idea of the error reprint, it kind of brought me into the hobby. I am saddened to hear that many of these stamps will be destroyed and not sold. I still think they are an amazing looking stamp.

The $2 denomination is a big stumbling block. Other than stamp nerds, who the hell even uses a $2 stamp to mail anything. I would bet that 99% of the population doesn't even know a $2 stamp exists.

I had to explain the entire story about them at my local post office. Advertising would work. How many boxes are mailed? If you're going to mail a book just put $2.00 on it and pay the difference. They'll be gone in no time.
Tom

I agree with many members here in their criticism that the USPS did a very poor job of getting the word out about this special issue. This could have been a success for them would they have done this with smart advertising.

Anyway, a much more important concern I have is whether or not the special "unverted" Jenny sealed packet weighs more than a normal one. There's at least 1 extra card in every one of the "unverted" packets. So there may be a measurable difference of weight using a good scale. Can the USPS scales detect very small weight differences? What might be the difference between the weight of a regular sealed packet and one of the "unverted" sealed packets? What's stopping clerks in every post office branch from weighing each sealed packet and pulling for them self any one which has an unusually heavier weight?

I know if I were a post office clerk and I knew about the 100 special "unverted" Jenny sheets, I'd be very tempted to weigh every sealed packet just to see if there's any notable weight difference between them.