Expensive Stamps from 1854 to 1918

These are expensive stamps from 1854 to 1918 and as stated in a previous article, the value of stamps depend on several things. The date they were printed, the condition they are in, are they mis-prints, do they have irregular perforations or centering problems, are they hinged or unhinged, are they used or unused, do they have a cancellation ink stamp, and the overall condition of the stamps.

In case should ever come across any of the stamps listed below, this article gives you a little history of each stamp, and the value in today's market.

Western Australia 1854 - 4d Inverted Swan

The first stamp issued in Western Australia, in 1854, was the 1d blue with a symbol of the Black Swan. This particular stamp was produced in England by Perkins Bacon, but the 4d blue Inverted Swan was produced by Horace Samson in Australia.

The need for the 4d stamp were decided upon, in 1855, after the printing of the 1d blue. But when the stones were taken out of storage, it was discovered the damage was done to two of the impressions, and that they would have to be re-done.

In the process of re-doing the frames, one of them was accidentally done upside-down, and the other was tilted.

These stamps were made by using two transfers, one of the swan, and the other transfer was the frame or lettering. In the process of printing, one of the transfers was placed upside-down. What resulted was an inverted swan.

Before the mistake was discovered, 97 sheets had already been printed. This mistake was the world's first invert error, and 388 stamps were printed with the inverted swan, but still the error wasn't reported until years later.

Until the original printing stone was discovered, everyone believed it was the swan that was inverted, but instead it was the frame. Stamp collectors know of only 15 complete copies, and a partial in a strip of the 1854 4d Inverted Swan.

No one knows of any unused copies, but in the 1860's, one copy was found in Ireland that was
owned by the Duke of Leinster, who bequeathed it to Ireland in 1897. This particular stamp is now on display in a museum in Dublin. The other copies are a part of the Tapling Collection in the British Museum, and a museum in Sydney.

It appears the value of the stamps aren't all the same. One copy was auctioned for $80,000 dollars in 1980, while another was auctioned for $37,500 in 1983.

British Guyana 1856 - Sailing Ship British Guiana 1 Cent Black Magenta

In 1856, the former colony of British Guiana desperately needed more stamps. Even though a supply had been requested from England, it would take too long, and they needed the stamps now.

So the postmaster of British Guiana had an emergency supply of stamps - that was for local use only - printed by the publishers of the newspaper in Georgetown, the Official Gazette.

There was nothing pretty about these stamps. They were crude looking, black ink printed on the poorest quality magenta colored paper, but the publishers managed to print a one cent and a four cent denomination.

The stamps have a sailing ship with the name "British Guiana," and "Damus Petimus que Vicissim" ("We Give and We Seek in Return") printed on them, and to prevent possible forgeries, each stamp was initialed by an employee of the post office.

The one cent stamps were used only for newspapers, and the four cent stamps were used only on letters. They are shaped like a rectangle with the ends cut off, thus giving them an octagonal shape.

There was a very limited supply of the Black Magenta printed, and stamp collectors believe there is only one of these stamps left. Also, until recently, it was also considered to be one of the most expensive stamps in circulation.

It has been said that in 1873, a 12-year old local boy discovered an octagon-shaped, one cent "Black on Magenta" in his family's attic that had the initials "E.D.W" on it, and a postmark of April 4, 1856.

This young boy was reported to have sole the stamp for two shillings, or $2.50, to a man by the name of N. R. McKinnon, who was a local stamp collector.

The current owner of the stamp, John Dupont, who is serving a thirty-year jail sentence, purchased it in 1980 for the sum of $935,000. Over the years it became apparent that this stamp was unique because no other copies were ever discovered. The current value of this stamp is unknown.

US 1868 - Benjamin Franklin Z Grill 1 Cent Postage Stamp

These stamps depict a portrait of Benjamin Franklin and are embossed with a "Z-Grill" - being a pattern of tiny squares embossed into the paper and visible on the back of the stamps.

The purpose of the "Z-Grill was to permit the canceling ink to be absorbed into the stamp paper thus preventing those who wanted to cheat the post from washing out cancellation marks. The use of "Z-Grills" was not found to be practical and the practice was soon discontinued.

The 1-cent 1868 Z-Grills stamp is the rarest of all U.S. stamps, as only 2 copies are known to exist, and one was donated to the New York Public Library in 1925 by Milwaukee attorney Benjamin Kurtz Miller.

This leaves only a single 1-cent 1868 Z-Grill in private hands, and it was sold for $935,000 in 1998 to Mystic Stamp Company as part of the Robert Zoellner collection. This company has been based in Camden, New Jersey since 1923, and is a mail-order postage stamp dealer... one of the largest in operation and notable for both its promotion of stamp collecting as a hobby and for its acquisition of the Z Grill.

In late October 2005, Sundman traded the z Grill for a block of four Inverted Jenny stamps, which are worth $3,000,000 dollars to financier William H. Gross. William H. Gross is a United States financial manager and investment author, and by completing this trade Gross became the owner of the only complete collection of
U.S. 19th century stamps.

Sweden 1885 - 3 Skilling Sverige Yellow

The three skilling stamp happen to have been Sweden's first stamp, and it was printed incorrectly. Instead of being printed a blue-green, the stamp was printed a yellow-orange, which was for the eight skilling stamp.

Stamp collectors say there is only known stamp in existence as of now, and it was found by Georg Wilhelm Backman, a young boy in Stockholm. He found the stamp while going through letters that belonged to his grandmother.

This is another stamp that has gone through a lot of hands. In 1984 David Feldman sold it for $840,210 dollar, in 1990 someone else purchased it for over $1,000,000 dollars, and on November 8, 1996, an anonymous collector purchased it at auction for the whopping sum of $2.27 million dollars.

United States 1918 - Inverted Jenny

The US Postal Service was always looking for faster ways to deliver the mail, and in 1910 they decided to use the Curtiss Jenny as a way to do this. They also wanted a new airmail stamp for this service, so they rushed the production of the stamp.

Since the stamp has two colors on it, red and black, this meant the sheet had to be run through the printer a second time. During the process, the sheets were put through the printer the wrong way, which caused the plane to come out upside down, and this is how the Inverted Jenny came about.

Instead of the usual 400 stamps per sheet, these sheets had 100 stamps printed on them. When the mistake was discovered, three of the sheets were destroyed, but apparently a sheet with 100 stamps escaped, and this sheet still exist today.

When the mistake was made public, collectors swamped the post office hoping to buy the new stamp, but the entire sheet had already been purchased by W.T. Robey who went there to just purchase stamps.

When Mr. Robey discovered the mistake, he asked the clerk if he could see more sheets, but unfortunately, the one he had was the only sheet with the misprint.

Once he started telling people about his find, Mr. Robey soon had a visit from the postal inspectors, but he hid the stamps and later sold the sheet for $1,500 dollars - to Eugene Klein, a stamp dealer from Philadelphia.

Mr. Klein then sold the sheet to Colonel H.R. Green for $20,000 dollars. Mr. Green being the smart one placed a stamp in a locket and gave it to his wife as a gift. Then he divided the rest of the sheet into equal sections and sold them.

During the 2006 elections, a Florida election worker discovered an Inverted Jenny on a ballot that was mailed in. There was no name or return address so they disqualified the ballot, but they didn't say what became of the stamp!

There are suppose to be only 100 stamps still in existence, so this makes them extremely rare and valuable. If you wanted to buy one of these sections today it would cost you about $600,000.

If you're interested in collecting expensive stamps or stamps that will one day be expensive, just remember there are different grades of stamps. You have poor, good, fine and very fine. The condition of the stamp determines its' value.

And if your intention is to sell them, then handle them carefully and store them properly.