CIA invert
CIA invert | |
---|---|
Country of production | United States |
Date of production | 2 July 1979 |
Nature of rarity | Invert error |
No. in existence | 100 |
Face value | US $1.00 |
Estimated value | US $15,000 |
The CIA invert is a one-dollar value
When the one known pane of this invert was discovered, in the spring of 1986, it had already been on sale at the post office in
Initially, Schiff shielded the members of the group from scrutiny, announcing that the fourteen stamps from the sheet not sold to him had all been used on CIA mailings. However, after the true story surfaced in the mass media (revealed by The New York Times and CBS news), the stamp became known as the CIA invert, and the agency was obliged to make its own investigation. Ultimately, the CIA demanded that the nine employees return their inverts to the agency, stating that anyone who failed to comply would be terminated. Four returned their stamps and kept their jobs, four refused and were fired, while the ninth claimed that he had lost his stamp and remained a CIA employee.
Stamp catalogs list its price as only $15,000, one-tenth of the Inverted Jenny that is valued at $150,000, despite the fact that about the same number of each stamp exist. A block of four stamps sold in 2004[3] for $60,000 and a second block was sold in 2015 for $71,875.[4] Reproductions have been sold on eBay.[5]
See also
- Inverted Jenny
- Pan-American invert
- List of notable postage stamps
Sources
- ^ "Collecting Culture". USPS Stamps. Retrieved 2015-11-03.
- ^ "Arago People, Postage and the Post". Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Retrieved 2015-11-03.
- ^ "CIA Invert: Lot 2118". Sale 283 the 2004 Rarities Sale. Matthew Bennett International. 2004-11-13. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
- Linns Stamp News. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
- ^ "1979 $1 Rush Lamp CIA Invert Error Reproduction # 1610c". eBay. 19 October 2022. Archived from the original on 19 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
The listing notes 74 reproductions sold