11.11.2006

bet...

someone wants to cut off his tongue right now.

i'm no philatelist, but some fool in Broward County (FL) submitted an absentee ballot with this stamp on it...a 24-cent Inverted Jenny. the image on the stamp, a World War I biplane, was accidentally printed upside down on four sheets of (100) stamps. when the mistake was brought to light, three of the sheets were destroyed...but one (sheet) ended up going into distribution. it's one of the most coveted stamps among collectors...a pristine specimen is worth around $200,000! just last year, a block of four Jenny stamps was purchased for a cool $2.97 MILLION!

apparently, the county commissioner, who collected in his youth, came across the stamp while he reviewed ballots. not only was the ballot useless, since it had no name, but whomever was the owner of the stamp, can't claim it for at least 22 months - the amount of time the county keeps the ballot boxes sealed.

i wonder what's going to become of it now that the word is out. although the stamp is now canceled, it's still worth $20-100,000. i'm sure there are enough shady people who will try to procure this little collectible by any means. if there's any consolation for the fool (if he's even coherent) is that he can be identified as the stamp's owner via DNA sample...in 2008 :P

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