Inverted Jenny

Topical Reference Page
Inverted Jenny stamp

The "Inverted Jenny" is a misprinted U.S. postage stamp showing an inverted image of a blue airplane. The error occurred on the 24-cent airmail stamp of 1918. Only one sheet of one hundred inverted center stamps was sold, and no other examples have been discovered.

Glossary: Inverted Jenny

Inverted Jenny Air Post Block of Four
William H. Gross Stamp Gallery - 1918: The Inverted Jenny
Exhibition
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1918 “Jenny” airmail stamp
Stamps Take Flight - Adding a Second Color
Exhibition
A stamp in one color can be elegant, but the Post Office and the public soon looked for the visual interest of a second color of ink. The first U.S. “bicolor” postage stamps with two colored inks were issued in 1869.
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24-cent Curtiss Jenny invert stamp
Director’s Favorite 15 - Flying Upside Down
Exhibition
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Glossary
Glossary: I
Glossary terms from "A" to "Z" related to stamp collecting and postal operations.

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Stamps Take Flight - Inverted Jenny Die Proof
Exhibition
At the request of the Post Office, a very small number of die proofs have been deliberately printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing over the years to illustrate the error.
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24-cent Curtiss Jenny invert single
Certified Plate Proofs - To Err Is Human
Exhibition
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A 24-cent Inverted Jenny airmail stamp
Fad to Fundamental: Airmail in America - US Airmail Stamps/Inverted Jenny
Exhibition
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Related Blogs

Stamp of the Century book cover
Stamp and Flight Families: Part I
05.01.2019

Researching a book as eclectic as Stamp of the Century gives one a good, friendly reason to look up interesting...

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Alexander Dockery headshot
Letters to the Post Office: “It is these discrepancies that are turning my hair gray.”
05.11.2017

Third assistant Postmaster General Alexander Dockery was the first government official to...

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Dispatch board
Treasure-Hunting Heaven
01.19.2017

The National Postal Museum is happy to host two guest bloggers – Deborah Fisher and Kellen Diamanti – who recently spent a chunk of time in the National Postal Museum’s library collecting information for their forthcoming book about the famed Inverted Jenny, entitled Stamp of the Century.

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Design for the Inverted Jenny stamp
USPS Unveils Inverted Jenny Stamp
01.18.2013

Museum Director Allen Kane and USPS Director of Stamp Services and Corporate Licensing Susan McGowan unveiled the preliminary design for an Inverted Jenny stamp at the APS AmeriStamp Expo stamp show in Louisville, Kentucky.

Learn more About USPS Unveils Inverted Jenny Stamp

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Stamps

24-cent Inverted Jenny stamp with upside down airplane

24c Curtiss Jenny Invert Single

This 24-cent stamp represents plate position 70 of the only sheet of 100 inverted Jennys sold by the Post Office Department. Because the bicolor stamp was printed from two printing plates (one for the carmine-colored stamp frame, one for the blue vignette), the error resulted from the misfeeding of sheets or the misorientation of one of the plates.

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24-cent Inverted Jenny stamp with upside down airplane

24c Curtiss Jenny Invert Single from the Jefferys Collection

Harry L. Jefferys bequeathed this stamp with his collection to Philadelphia's Franklin Institute in 1948. The Smithsonian's National Postal Museum received the Jefferys collection from the Franklin Institute in 2008.

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