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This lower-left corner block from the discovery pane of 100 of the 1918 United States 24¢ Inverted Jenny airmail error stamp is one of three position pieces sold for $2.5 million to a West Coast collector. A fourth block also traded hands. Six blocks of four still survive. Click on image to enlarge.

The stamp, Scott C3a, is such a part of the lore of the hobby and so expensive that each becomes a story when it is sold. It is a moment in history when one of the blocks trades hands, whether the transaction is private or at a public auction.

Dealer Charles Shreve told Linn's that he acquired three of the blocks on May 15 for a West Coast client for a sum approximating $2.5 million. The seller was Harry "Sonny" Hagendorf of the Columbian Stamp Co., in Scarsdale, N.Y. Hagendorf, or one of his clients, has had possession of the three blocks for a decade, and the Columbian Stamp Co. has used them extensively in its advertising.

All unique, the position pieces are: 1. The bottom-left corner block, illustrated here, showing parts of the printed initials "S. De B.," for Samuel De Binder, the siderographer at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing who prepared the printing plates.

In 1918, when Robey sold the pane to Philadelphia dealer Eugene Klein for $15,000, Klein penciled the plate-position number of each stamp on its back, starting (when viewed from the front) in the upper-left corner with 1 and ending in the lower-right corner with 100. The positions that make up the siderographer's block are 81, 82, 91 and 92

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The centerline block, valued at $825,000, is one of the three blocks sold for $2.5 million in May to a collector. Click on image to enlarge.

Hagendorf paid $660,000 for the block at a Christie's auction Sept. 25, 1991. The value of the siderographer's block, as listed in the Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers, is $1.1 million.

2. The centerline block, which is shown along with all the other blocks below, comes from positions 45, 46, 55 and 56. It was purchased by Hagendorf at the same Christie's auction for $550,000. Scott value: $825,000.

3. This multiple is known to collectors as the Lost Block, because its whereabouts was unknown for half a century until New Orleans stamp dealers Raymond and Roger Weill purchased it as part of a collection in the mid-1980s. It bears a horizontal guideline and is made up of positions 43, 44, 53 and 54. The Lost Block occupied a place in the pane just to the left of the centerline block.

The Lost Block sold for $528,000 when Christie's auctioned the Weill stock on Oct. 12, 1989. Hagendorf acquired the piece three years later, on Oct. 27, 1992, for $577,500 at a Superior Stamp Co. auction in Beverly Hills, Calif. Scott value: $850,000.

The three position pieces that Shreve brokered for approximately $2.5 million on behalf of his West Coast client cost Hagendorf a total of $1,787,500 in a 13-month period from September 1991 to October 1992. The Scott value of those three blocks is $2,775,000.

Known as the Lost Block because it was missing for half a century, this is the third position piece sold in May. Click on image to enlarge.

4. It may seem amazing, but Shreve said his client already owns a fourth Inverted Jenny position piece, the left arrow block, positions 41, 42, 51 and 52. The arrow block was auctioned for $297,000 Oct. 26, 1990, by Christie's Robson Lowe in New York City. The block may subsequently have been acquired by Japanese interests that parted with it privately in the mid-1990s for an undisclosed sum.

The arrow block has been reconstructed from two horizontal pairs, as evidenced by the stamp hinges that are visible through the row of horizontal perforations connecting the pairs. Scott does not list the arrow block but values a block of four at $750,000.

Shreve said he initially attempted to secure the three blocks for his client at the Pacific 97 show in San Francisco, where Hagendorf had taken the position pieces to display for crowds of rapt onlookers. "But nothing happened," Shreve said. "We approached him again recently and brokered a private sale from his client to our client."

Shreve described his client's collection as "clearly one of the most important ever to be formed. Someday, he will be known." Contacted to confirm details of the sale, Hagendorf said that the month of May had been particularly rewarding for him. "When it rains, it pours," he said, explaining that he had bought and sold another Inverted Jenny block, in addition to the three sold to Shreve's client.

The collector who acquired the three position pieces already owns this left arrow block from the original pane of 100. Click on image to enlarge.

5. This was the so-called Princeton block, once owned by the university and noted for its inferior centering. The positions for the Princeton block are 61, 62, 71 and 72. The Princeton block was involved in a scandal two decades ago when its value was grossly inflated by the speculative stamp boom of the late 1970s. It was sold by an investment agent to an investor for $500,000 in 1979. The buyer offered it at auction in 1982 under the glare of television lights.

Unfortunately, the bidding fizzled out at $192,500, inclusive of the buyer's premium, and the investor took a financial bath of more than $300,000 on his investment. A lawsuit followed. The purchaser, New Jersey stamp dealer Kenneth Wenger, is believed to have sold the Princeton block along with several Inverted Jenny singles to a Japanese group during the Ameripex 86 show near Chicago.

The block surfaced in 1997 on the cover of the sale catalog of Pascal Behr, the French stamp dealer. "Price on request," the catalog said. The block was shown at Pacific 97 in San Francisco. It was reported to have been sold at that international exhibition to a major American collector, from whom Hagendorf recently bought it. Hagendorf, who declined to disclose financial details of the transaction, said he sold the Princeton block to "an American who acquires interesting items in all different fields." Thus, four of the six blocks were sold in May.

Known as the Princeton block because it once belonged to the university, this position piece also was sold in May. Click on image to enlarge.

6. The last position piece is the plate-number block of four, reduced many years ago from a plate block of eight. Valued at $1.2 million in the Scott U.S. specialized catalog, the plate block last traded hands Oct. 10, 1989, for $1.1 million when Christie's auctioned the Weill inventory. The positions for the plate block are 87, 88, 97 and 98.

Apart from the Weill brothers and Hagendorf, few people have handled as many blocks from the original Inverted Jenny find as Edward H.R. Green, who bought Robey's pane from Eugene Klein for $20,000. The corpulent honorary colonel, who had a penchant for stamp errors, is shown with this story sitting in his car. Burdened by a cork leg, he often instructed his chauffeur to park on Nassau Street, where he inspected collections that were taken to his limousine for him by stamp dealers.

Green kept four position pieces and directed Klein to sell the rest of the stamps, according to George Amick, author of the best-selling Jenny!, published in 1986 by Amos Press, the parent company of Linn's and Scott. Green died in 1936. His vast stamp collection was auctioned in a series of sales in the 1940s. Included in those memorable auctions were the plate block of eight and the centerline, siderographer's and left-arrow blocks -- three of the four position pieces now owned by Shreve's client.

The plate-number block, which was last sold by Christie's in New York in 1989, is valued at $1.2 million. Click on image to enlarge.

Col. Edward H.R. Green paid $20,000 for the discovery pane of 100 Inverted Jennies. He is shown sitting in his car. He often parked on Nassau Street, where stamp dealers took him their wares to examine in the comfort of his limousine. Click on image to enlarge.


This is an edited version of a Linn's article that appeared in the June 17, 2002, issue of Linn's Stamp News. For the complete story, subscribe to Linn's Stamp News.