January cartoon caption contest winner cleans the cockpit

U.S. Stamp Notes by John M. Hotchner

Forgetfulness seemed to be the common theme of the captions submitted by those who entered the January cartoon caption contest. The contest featured the 1918 24¢ Jenny Invert (Scott C3a).

Ken Morrison from Manassas, Va., was the first person I received a reply from with his caption that reads, “Oh darn! I forgot I had a wing-walker!”

Going in a different direction, reader Harold Forbes of Castleton, Vt., sent in this entry, which requires a bit of explanation: “I’d rather be upside down in an airplane than in a ship, a train, or an automobile.”

Forbes provided a post script: “This refers to the 1901 Pan-Pacific Exposition inverted center stamps.” Long time collectors will know that three of the six stamps in this bi-color set exist with inverted centers, the 1¢ Steamship (Scott 294a), 2¢ Locomotive (295a), and 4¢ Electric Automobile (296a).

Our winner in the non-philatelic category is shown in the box above. It is from Bruce M. Juba, by email. He takes advantage of the fact that the plane has an open-air cockpit.

For the best philatelic caption, Stephen Patrick of Apopka, Fla., takes the prize with, “I’m trying to get noticed by Col. Green!” This may require some background if you are not steeped in the lore of the Jenny Invert.

It was legendary invert collector Col. Edward H.R. Green (1868-1932) who laid out $20,000 for the pane of 100 error stamps that had been purchased at face value at a Washington, D.C. post office counter by William T. Robey.

Shortly after first purchasing the inverted stamps, Robey sold the pane to dealer Eugene Klein for $15,000. Klein turned a quick profit by then selling the pane to Col. Green. Both were betting that this would be the only such pane discovered, and they were correct. These days a single stamp sells for many times the amount that Col. Green paid for the entire pane.

Both cartoon caption contest winners will receive a 13-week subscription to Linn’s (a new subscription or an extension).

The best of the rest of the entries include:

“Uh, okay. I’ll take the stick back now, thank you.” by Jay Joyce from Cincinnati, Ohio.

“It’s a good thing they put a cover on the mail compartment before I took off!” from Ken Trettin of Rockford, Iowa.

“Anybody see my wallet?” sent by Jeffrey Whitney of O’Fallon, Ill.

“Oops.” from G.J. Weinberger of Unionville, Conn.

“I don’t care if technically, it’s the frame that’s inverted – I feel sick!” from Ken Bonvallet of Westerville, Ohio.

“Mama always said there’d be days like this.” by John Bower of Bloomington, Ind.

Thanks and a tip of the hat to all who entered. The next contest will be announced in the March 10 issue of Linn’s.

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