Robert A Siegel sold an Inverted Jenny stamp for $330,000 in New York on February 28.
That equates to a rate of return of 7.5% per annum since it last sold for $2,600 in 1950.
Another Jenny realised $299,000 at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers in February this year.
The Inverted Jenny is the world's most famous error stamp
The 1918 Inverted Jenny is perhaps the world’s most famous error stamp.
Only a single sheet of 100 is known to exist.
It was discovered, in the year of its manufacture, in a post office in Washington, DC by collector William T Robey, who instantly recognised its worth and bought it.
Robey sold it on to a dealer named Eugene Klein, whose letter confirming payment for the sheet also featured in the sale.
It reads: “Dear Sir: Confirming our telephone conversation at 4.30 P.M., I will take your sheet of inverted center 24c Airplane stamps for $15,000, which you agreed to deliver at my office tomorrow.
“I am looking forward to your arrival at about noontime to-morrow [in manuscript], as stated.”
The historic note achieved $42,500, almost triple its $15,000 estimate.
It’s a piece with huge appeal to Inverted Jenny collectors, hence the increase in price.
Siegel notes the cover has been ripped “no doubt due to Robey's eagerness to get to the contents”.
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