FBI Returns $1 Million Postage Stamp Lost for 60 Years

A rare stamp known as an “Inverted Jenny” (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

You usually don’t think twice before licking a stamp and placing it on an envelope. But in 1918, the U.S. Bureau of Printing and Engraving made a blunder on a stamp that turned into gold for collectors. Misprinting the 24-cent stamp featuring the Curtiss JN-4D biplane (a.k.a. the “Jenny”), the government agency released a minuscule portion of the print run—just one sheet of 100—with the biplane appearing upside down. Years later, the “Inverted Jenny” has become a rare and expensive collectible, with one recently selling for over $1 million.

The Washington Post recently followed one of the famed stamps from its robbery at a stamp convention in 1955 to its rediscovery by the FBI in 2016. Read the story here. For more on the Inverted Jenny, watch the short video below.