Mccoy Jennie Being Handed Over Today 3pm At Wss

The subject line says it all.

I would add, handed over to the APS. Very cool.

This is actually making national press:

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...rned-n584551

Nice to see stamps in the news, and in a good way!

Is it the real mccoy?

Yes it is

The Real McCoy

Don Sundman of Mystic handing a symbolic check for $50,000 to Keelin O'Neill of Ireland as the reward for finding and returning the inverted Jenny. Scott English of the APS is at left, Roger Brody of the APRL is between Sundman and O'Neill, and Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is at right.

Doing the "right thing" is much easier with $60-grand in rewards, a free trip to the Big Apple and philatelic rock-star treatment! Arguably, the documentation that accompanies the stamp is every bit as valuable as the stamp itself.

No point speculating on what really happened here- but the article in Linn's was more detailed and the grandfather in my mind had to know this was hot property. He just wanted to own one. That article indicated that the stamp was accompanied by a letter from a 'New York dealer'. Possibly the guy used as the fence for them. I could hazard guess as to who he was. All the principals are dead and gone now.

If someone is found in possession of stolen property that has been in one's family for some time, do they usually get the reward offered for finding it?

The June edition of The American Philatelist has a detailed story written by Ken Lawrence. (And please do not sully the name of this family - that is undeserved, unwarranted, etc. Legal authorities have approved this process.)

Here are media stories:

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...rned-n584551

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/06/0...o-owner.html

It's Sundman's money and he can give it to whomever he wants for whatever reason. While I wouldn't have accepted the reward (I probably wouldn't even want it publicized that it was found in my family's possession), the no-questions-asked reward does has its benefits (not that I'm a fan of this method).

The reality is that a lot of stolen property and unsolved crimes have been resolved through rewards/amnesty/immunity and following through on the reward program. Otherwise, people would just ditch stolen property or just keep things secret.

I was under the impression that he didn't know it was stolen until informed. But I haven't read the Linn's article nor subsequent news updates. Now that he has accepted the reward, what he does with the reward is between him and his conscience. He is under no obligation and it's probably not fair to evaluate since we don't have all the past and future information. Having worked with a lot of people, I can tell you that some receivers of gifts/rewards re-examine things later on, and end up giving the money/gifts quietly away or even throwing it away.

Regardless, the whole event and subsequent publicity has definitely benefited philately. And that's good enough for me.

Thanks for pointing out the APS story in The American Philatelist, centerstage98.

It certainly has. I have had non-collecting friends and co-workers mentioning they saw it in the news.

No inference was intended toward the family involved. For all we know, this guy's grandfather bought this stamp in innocence, he may not have been all that advanced a collector. The vendor he bought it from is a different matter. It would appear that individual was knowingly dealing in stolen goods.

As I said, all parties have passed on by now, nothing is solved by speculation. Still it is interesting to wonder..