Invert Stamp Errors - Collectible and Valuable Stamps


One of the attractions of stamp collecting is its potential for profit down the road. Stamps as investments are currently outperforming the stock market by a wide margin.

We've already discussed some of the most valuable stamps in the world, including the one cent British Guiana black on magenta, the Treskilling Banco Yellow stamp and the US Benjamin Franklin one cent Z Grill. But many other stamps are valuable too. Some of the most interesting valuable stamps are invert errors.

Invert stamp errors are stamps where part of the image is accidentally printed upside-down. They occur (very rarely, hence their high value) in multi-color stamps that are printed by passing the stamp paper through the printing press more than once. After one or more passages through the press (each passage prints a particular color used in the stamp), someone accidentally feeds the paper through the wrong way for the next color, and that part of the image is then printed upside-down relative to the other image components. The invert stamps are usually caught almost immediately and destroyed by the printer before they ever reach the public. But every so often a glorious moment (for stamp collectors) occurs, and invert stamps are purchased by the public before the mistake is ever noticed. Because they're so rare, many are worth a small fortune.

A few famous invert errors include the US "CIA Invert," Scott 1610c, the Canadian "St. Lawrence Seaway Invert," Scott 387a, and the US "Inverted Jenny," Scott C3a, but there are others.