April 18, 2011--Lady Liberty
The Inverted Jenny is a United States postage stamp that was first issued on May 10, 1918 in which an image of a Curtiss JN-4 airplane in the center of the design was accidentally printed upside-down. It is the most famous error in American philatelic history.
Only one sheet of 100 of these stamps was ever found, making this mispint one of the most prized in all of stamp collecting. Their being so rare makes them extraordinarily valuable. Philately is the ultimate supply-and-demand business. To give you a sense of that, a single Inverted Jenny was sold at auction in November 2007 for $977,500.
An image of this notorious stamp is linked below.
We now have another Postal Service flap--their recent issuance of a new "forever" stamp with an image of the head of the Statue of Liberty.
Actually, the image of the head and crown of a styrofoam replica of the statue at the New York-New York hotel and casino in, where else, Las Vegas.
This time, to avoid creating an artificial market for these stamps, at the moment they go for 44 cents each, the USPS has printed a few billion of them. So they will serve more as a curiosity than a tradable commodity.
And they will also serve as a metaphor of cultural and commercial debasement.
First of all, why is there is a faux Statue of Liberty gracing the grounds of a cheesy gambling casino? Why is there, of all things, a New York-New York Hotel with pint-sized "replicas" of the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings? Why would anyone want to stay there when they can visit the real thing? And what are all there all those crazy Americans doing gambling away their 401(k)s and Social Security checks?
Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free?
More appropriate for Las Vegas, "Deal me an ace so I can be debt free."
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me?
Rather, for the casino-besotted, "I'll be homeless after these dice are tost."
Only one sheet of 100 of these stamps was ever found, making this mispint one of the most prized in all of stamp collecting. Their being so rare makes them extraordinarily valuable. Philately is the ultimate supply-and-demand business. To give you a sense of that, a single Inverted Jenny was sold at auction in November 2007 for $977,500.
An image of this notorious stamp is linked below.
We now have another Postal Service flap--their recent issuance of a new "forever" stamp with an image of the head of the Statue of Liberty.
Actually, the image of the head and crown of a styrofoam replica of the statue at the New York-New York hotel and casino in, where else, Las Vegas.
This time, to avoid creating an artificial market for these stamps, at the moment they go for 44 cents each, the USPS has printed a few billion of them. So they will serve more as a curiosity than a tradable commodity.
And they will also serve as a metaphor of cultural and commercial debasement.
First of all, why is there is a faux Statue of Liberty gracing the grounds of a cheesy gambling casino? Why is there, of all things, a New York-New York Hotel with pint-sized "replicas" of the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings? Why would anyone want to stay there when they can visit the real thing? And what are all there all those crazy Americans doing gambling away their 401(k)s and Social Security checks?
Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free?
More appropriate for Las Vegas, "Deal me an ace so I can be debt free."
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me?
Rather, for the casino-besotted, "I'll be homeless after these dice are tost."
posted by Steven Zwerling at
5:01 AM
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