NY -- NYC -- New-York Historical Society -- Exhibit: One of a Kind:
- Bruce Guthrie Photos Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie Photos home page.
- Description of Pictures: One of a Kind
Displayed here are two objects of exceptional rarity in the fields of numismatics and philately: the 1933 Double Eagle Gold Coin and the “Inverted Jenny” 1918 Postage Stamp. Both owe their extraordinary value to historical flukes. In 1933, a half-million of the $20 coins were minted, just as the payout of gold was legally banned. All but a handful of the coins were melted down. The rest were never circulated. On display is the only 1933 Double Eagle that is legally owned by an individual. Similarly, only one sheet of 100 “Inverted Jenny” 24-cent stamps—featuring the image of an upside-down biplane—was mistakenly sold to an astute collector on the day of their issue in 1918. Commemorating the first official airmail flight, the stamps gained immediate notice for the printing error that created them. Separated and sold, the rare stamps became the target of both collectors and thieves. The fascinating backstories of these examples of the Double Eagle and the Inverted Jenny further enhance their distinctiveness for collectors and museumgoers alike.
The Unique United States 1933 Double Eagle Gold Coin
In 1934, two Double Eagles were sent to the Smithsonian Institution for preservation, but in 1944 the U.S. Secret Service determined that in 1937, a U.S. Mint employee had stolen a number of the coins destined for destruction. In 1996, the coin on display here—allegedly owned by King Farouk of Egypt—reemerged and in an out-of-court settlement was permitted to be sold at auction in 2002. In 2004, ten additional 1933 Double Eagles resurfaced, presented by attorneys representing the daughter of the Philadelphia dealer who had sold all the known stolen 1933 Double Eagles beginning in 1937. After drawn-out litigation in federal court, a 2011 jury unanimously declared the ten coins to be the property of the United States. The remarkable history of the 1933 Double Eagle has inspired four books, a documentary produced for the Smithsonian Channel, and an episode of the popular TV show The Closer.
The Unique United States “Inverted Jenny” 1918 Postage Stamp
In May 1918, the U.S. Postal Service released a stamp to celebrate the nation’s first airmail flight. Produced in haste before the inaugural run, the two-colored stamp featured a biplane, the Curtiss JN-4, or “Jenny.” First used in World War I, the plane was the nation’s first airmail carrier. The post office clerk who sold the only misprinted sheet of 100 stamps claimed ignorance, having never seen an airplane. The buyer rebuffed appeals by USPS inspectors to return the stamps, instead selling the sheet for a large profit. The new owner sold off individual stamps and groups, while retaining some for himself. The stamps on view here are known as a plate-block—stamps still attached to the original sheet and including the serial number of the printing plate, also inverted. The stamp memorializes the birth of airmail, which not only created a speedier mail service but also laid the groundwork for commercial aviation.
Designed by the renowned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the coin features the figure of Liberty striding before the Capitol building on the obverse and an eagle in flight on the reverse. The Double Eagle design was first minted in 1907.
- Recognize anyone? If you recognize specific folks (or other stuff) and I haven't labeled them, please identify them for the world. Click the little pencil icon underneath the file name (just above the picture). Spammers need not apply.
- Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.
- Accessing as Spider: The system has identified your IP as being a spider.
IP Address: 13.59.100.42 -- Domain: Amazon Technologies
I love well-behaved spiders! They are, in fact, how most people find my site. Unfortunately, my network has a limited bandwidth and pictures take up bandwidth. Spiders ask for lots and lots of pages and chew up lots and lots of bandwidth which slows things down considerably for regular folk. To counter this, you'll see all the text on the page but the images are being suppressed. Also, some system options like merges are being blocked for you.
Note: Permission is NOT granted for spiders, robots, etc to use the site for AI-generation purposes. I'm sure you're thrilled by your ability to make revenue from my work but there's nothing in that for my human users or for me.
If you are in fact human, please email me at guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can check if your designation was made in error. Given your number of hits, that's unlikely but what the hell.
- Help? The Medium (Email) links are for screen viewing and emailing. You'll want bigger sizes for printing. [Click here for additional help]
|
[1]
NYHS1K_171222_01.JPG
|
[2]
NYHS1K_171222_13.JPG
|
[3]
NYHS1K_171222_21.JPG
|
- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- NYHS1K_171222_01.JPG: One of a Kind
The United States 1933 Double Eagle Gold Coin and the "Inverted Jenny" 1918 Postage Stamp
Displayed here are two objects of exceptional rarity in the fields of numismatics and philately: the 1933 Double Eagle Gold Coin and the "Inverted Jenny" 1918 Postage Stamp. Both owe their extraordinary value to historical flukes. In 1933, a half-million of the $20 coins were minted, just as the payout of gold was legally banned. All but a handful of the coins were melted down. The rest were never circulated. On display is the only 1933 Double Eagle that is legally owned by an individual. Similarly, only one sheet of 100 "Inverted Jenny" 24-cent stamps -- featuring the image of an upside-down biplane -- was mistakenly sold to an astute collector on the day of their issue in 1918. Commemorating the first official airmail flight, the stamps gained immediate notice for the printing error that created them. Separated and sold, the rare stamps became the target of both collectors and thieves. The fascinating backstories of these examples of the Double Eagle and the Inverted Jenny further enhance their distinctiveness for collectors and museumgoers alike.
- NYHS1K_171222_13.JPG: The Unique United States 1933 Double Eagle Gold Coin
In 1934, two Double Eagles were sent to the Smithsonian Institution for preservation, but in 1944 the U.S. Secret Service determined that in 1937, a U.S. Mint employee had stolen a number of the coins destined for destruction. In 1996, the coin on display here -- allegedly owned by King Farouk of Egypt -- reemerged and in an out-of-court settlement was permitted to be sold at auction in 2002. In 2004, ten additional 1933 Double Eagles resurfaced, presented by attorneys representing the daughter of the Philadelphia dealer who had sold all the known stolen 1933 Double Eagles beginning in 1937. After drawn-out litigation in federal court, a 2011 jury unanimously declared the ten coins to be the property of the United States. The remarkable history of the 1933 Double Eagle has inspired four books, a documentary produced for the Smithsonian Channel, and an episode of the popular TV show The Closer.
Designed by the renowned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the coin features the figure of Liberty striding before the Capitol building on the obverse and an eagle in flight on the reverse. The Double Eagle design was first minted in 1907.
- NYHS1K_171222_21.JPG: The Unique United States "Inverted Jenny" 1918 Postage Stamp
In May 1918, the U.S. Postal Service released a stamp to celebrate the nation's first airmail flight. Produced in haste before the inaugural run, the two-colored stamp featured a biplane, the Curtiss JN-4, or "Jenny." First used in World War I, the plane was the nation's first airmail carrier. The post office clerk who sold the only misprinted sheet of 100 stamps claimed ignorance, having never seen an airplane. The buyer rebuffed appeals by USPS inspectors to return the stamps, instead selling the sheet for a large profit. The new owner sold off individual stamps and groups, while retaining some for himself. The stamps on view here are known as a plate-block -- stamps still attached to the original sheet and including the serial number of the printing plate, also inverted. The stamp memorializes the birth of airmail, which not only created a speedier mail service but also laid the groundwork for commercial aviation.
- Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.)
I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com
and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
- Connection Not Secure messages? Those warnings you get from your browser about this site not having secure connections worry some people. This means this site does not have SSL installed (the link is http:, not https:). That's bad if you're entering credit card numbers, passwords, or other personal information. But this site doesn't collect any personal information so SSL is not necessary. Life's good!
- Photo Contact: [Email Bruce Guthrie].