Those of you 100 years of age or older, probably remember The Inverted Jenny (also known as an Upside Down Jenny, Jenny Invert). On May 10, 1918, a United States Postal Service released a stamp featuring the image of a Curtiss JN-4 airplane.
On 100 of these stamps, the "Jenny" biplane was accidentally printed upside down. On May 31, 2016, an unusually well-centered "Jenny invert" was for a record high price paid for this copy to $1,351,250!
The "Inverted Jenny" stamp, 1918
Roll the tape ahead a century, and note that a similar situation has recently occured. Inadvertently released in error, fifty EYMER BRAND Laboratories + Think Tank promotional stickers are currently circulating throughout the planet. The marred design contains a critical error and is causing significant embarrassment throughout the EYMER organization.
An unnamed EYMER employee had this to offer, "We had just hit the APPROVED button from Sticker Mule, a preferred vendor when we realized that the word TANK was misspelled and appeared as THANK."
An unpaid and overworked EYMER college intern replied, "We quickly notified Sticker Mule but soon realized that despite our marketing communications firm's swift action, it was too late."
She went on to add, "We are only guessing that Sticker Mule is managed by an elite crew of high-end robots programmed with exceptional speed and accuracy. We will continue working with this vendor but realize that we, as humans, need to do a better job of proofing before pushing the big orange button."
Meanwhile, philatelists and adhesive label collectors are leaving no stones unturned when it comes to locating the fifty "THANK STICKERS". – Doug.