U.S. & Worldwide Stamps & Postal History
June 2-3, 2020
Welcome to our June 2-3, 2020, to be held via CherrystoneLIVE. This sale contains 1,215 lots of Rare Stamps and Postal History of the World, with United States and Europe, including Austria, with a fine showing of Rocket Mail and Austrian Levant, France and Colonies, German Area, Italy and Colonies, Poland, Russia, specialized Vatican City and other areas. Great Britain and British Commonwealth are well represented with many high values and sets covering all reigns from Aden to Zanzibar. This sale concludes with a good selection of large lots and collections, which range from single country albums to a specialized collections and multi-carton worldwide stocks and cover lots.
This is a public auction, with live Internet bidding (via CherrystoneLIVE at cherrystoneauctions.com). Our usual catalogues have not been printed for this sale, due to completely unreliable postal service (we hope to resume printing catalogues for the future auctions)
| Images | Description | Current Bid |
 | Lot #6062 United States Modern Issues 1979 $1 tan, brown orange and yellow, brown inverted, block of four, n.h. and post office fresh, v.f., one of only three known blocks of four of this popular error, significantly undervalued given its rarity. Discovered in 1985, the CIA Invert was the first major inverted stamp in 66 years. The story began when an auctioneer specializing in U.S. error stamps announced the discovery (by a "business in northern Virginia") of 85 inverted 1979 $1 Rush Lamp stamps. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing launched an internal investigation and found that there were no indications of impropriety by its employees. It was discovered that an on-duty C.I.A. employee had purchased a partial sheet of 95 inverted stamps at a small post office near McLean, Virginia. When the office workers realized what they had, they pooled their money and substituted non-error $1 Rush Lamp stamps for the inverts. Each of the nine co-workers kept a stamp. The remaining 86 stamps, including one that was damaged, were quietly sold to the auctioneer. The story made headlines across the nation and was featured on every major television network. The CIA launched an ethics investigation and demanded that the co-workers surrender their inverts or face 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine for conversion of government property for personal gain. Five employees returned their stamps, one claimed his had been lost, and three people resigned. The CIA donated the recovered inverts to the National Postal Museum,  **Catalog #1610C Catalog Value $68,000 | Price Realized $60,000.00 |
