Lot 2117
1979, $1 Lamp, brown (candle flame) inverted (1610c), perfectly centered. O.g., never hinged. Superb. Only 95 issued.
Scott $20,000
A FLAWLESS EXAMPLE OF THE FAMED "CIA INVERT".
A pane of 100 stamps was purchased by the C.I.A. for use on agency mail. When the employee making the purchase discovered the error he and a few fellow employees pooled their money to buy a replacement pane for the agency and took the error pane for themselves. Reportedly, each kept a single copy and the balance was sold to a stamp dealer. The source of the error eventually became public setting off a series of inquiries and threats. The C.I.A. attempted to claim ownership and employees who refused to surrender their stamps were dismissed, while at the same time postal inspectors tried to retrieve the rest of the pane from the dealer. It was subsequently determined that the dealer had legal ownership since the original purchase was made over the counter at a post office.
Currently 95 of the original 100 examples can be accounted for. The balance were presumably used on mail and none have been recovered.
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