
An Inverted Jenny Surfaces - e15ctr0n
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/06/nyregion/inverted-jenny-stamp.html
======
laurencei
"“The owner was even afraid of handling it,” Mr. Lyons said. “He asked me to
come and get it. I said, ‘Put it in a FedEx envelope and send it to me.’ He
said, ‘I’m not doing that.’”"

I cant believe he even asked him to do this. Placing a stamp worth anywhere
from $300,000 to $1,300,000 into a FexEx envelope? The risk of loss, damage or
theft would have been too high.

~~~
userbinator
_Placing a stamp worth anywhere from $300,000 to $1,300,000 into a FexEx
envelope? The risk of loss, damage or theft would have been too high._

Loss and damage I agree with, but the risk of theft might be relatively low
purely because the number of people who would be able to recognise and know
the value of a rare stamp is probably a very small minority.

(Count me as one of those who clicked on this article purely to find out what
an "Inverted Jenny" is. My far-off guesses were topology (Jenny Surfaces?) and
textile machinery.)

~~~
dzdt
Are there any weekend moderators these days? "Extremely rare Inverted Jenny
stamp surfaces" would be a better HN title.

------
xref
"The dealer he sold them to quickly resold them, for $20,000, but not before
writing little numbers on the back of each stamp. The number “49” was visible
on the stamp in the cellphone photo."

Hah what a great story, I love how the small act of numbering each of the 100
on the sheet by a stamp dealer in 1918 has contributed so much to tracking the
stamps

~~~
Waterluvian
Marking up a rare find like this seems like a good way to perceivable ruin a
rarity. But in time it turned out to be invaluable and became a part of their
story.

------
skookumchuck
Collecting pricey stamps these days is a huge problem because the fakes are so
good.

But with the Jennys being numbered and so valuable, it'd be pretty hard to
fake them.

~~~
Someone
It isn’t a secret that the stamps are numbered, or what numbers are missing.

You can’t make hundreds of fakes, but until recently, you could make 2, and
this might be one of them. If this stamp sells for a million, which doesn’t
seem unlikely, spending $100k or even $200k on a fake and its fake background
story may seem a good investment.

There’s also the _”the man […] could not explain why his father never put it
in an album with his other stamps.”_ remark. That’s very good for keeping the
stamp in good condition, increasing its value for collectors, so if that is
exceptional for a stamp collector, I would be extra suspicious of it being a
fake.

~~~
skookumchuck
The more value the stamp has, the more resources can be applied to determining
if it is fake. That's all I meant. The sweet spot for counterfeiting would be
where making it doesn't cost more than a certain percentage of what the real
one is worth, while not making it worthwhile to spend money detecting the
fake.

Stamp collecting gets pretty dodgy if you're collecting ones worth more than a
few bucks. First off, there's the problem of counterfeits. Next, even if the
stamp is genuine, the grade of a stamp is a matter of opinion, and they'll
sell you a stamp of a high grade, but insist it is lower when selling it back.
Lastly, subtle variations in the color can dramatically shift its value (for
genuine stamps) and of course color is a matter of opinion just like grade.

~~~
Someone
_”The more value the stamp has, the more resources can be applied to
determining if it is fake.”_

True, but that doesn’t work that well for paintings. Why would it work better
for stamps?

~~~
evgen
I would guess that because this particular item was part of a botched mass-
production run it might be possible to perform checks that are not available
for a piece of art. Do the edges of #49 match up with any other available
samples? Beyond simple chemical tests that will be performed is it possible to
match up the actual paper fibers; both directionality and even if cut lines in
fibers match up with edges of the stamps around it on the master sheet?

In addition to testing it like a piece of art you can also test it as if it
were a piece of a puzzle (the master sheet) to make sure it fits into place. I
am not sure if the information necessary to fake this is out there or not, but
the fact that this stamp is cut out of a sheet makes it a bit different than a
painting.

------
singularity2001
Why do stamps remind me of Bitcoin?

~~~
taneq
Value based only on consensus and artificial scarcity?

~~~
2muchcoffeeman
That's a criticism that could be placed on any collectors markets. Star Wars
toys, Beanie Babies (actually are worthless), Coke bottles, comics.

The main difference is, good collections usually aren't just about
speculation. People really enjoy watching Star Wars, drinking Coke and reading
comics. The collection is an extension of their enjoyment. Even if the
collection keeps no value beyond what they paid, people had a good time.

