Upright $2 Jenny Invert is a learning experience

Linn’s Washington Correspondent Bill McAllister recently reported that the Inspector General of the United States Postal Service has taken the nation’s mail agency to task for intentionally creating 100 upright $2 Jenny Invert panes.

What’s more, the IG’s report makes a strong case that the Postal Service’s plan to distribute the 100 upright Jenny panes among the 2.2 million normal panes showing the plane upside down was anything but random.

Although the upright Jenny Invert has generated some great press for stamp collecting, there’s no denying that the Postal Service created a rarity that very few collectors will ever own.

And the closest most of us will ever get to one will be the pictures we see in Linn’s.

We’ve heard from more than a few collectors who said that the upright Jenny fiasco was the final straw, the one that turned them away from collecting modern U.S. stamps.

That, my fellow collectors, is the real tragedy here.

If too many of us become disgusted by the very objects we seek to collect, the future of the hobby is indeed a bleak one.

Perhaps a better approach is to view the upright Jenny Invert as a learning experience, one that will motivate those in charge of our nation’s stamp program to avoid making a similar mistake in the future.

If you are among those who bought a bunch of Jenny Invert panes, hoping to strike it rich, take heart.

You can use the stamps to dress up your mail to family, friends and fellow collectors.

I’ve used intact panes on registered letters to friends overseas who kindly return the letters to me.

Now I have a nifty collection of $2 Jenny Invert postal history to appreciate and enjoy.

That works for me. How about you?