Philosophy
Fair is fair and the philatelists must be mentioned too. The rarest and most expensive U.S. stamp is the Benjamin Franklin Z-Grill Stamp.
Wikipedia...
The Benjamin Franklin Z-Grill Stamp "...is a 1-cent postage stamp issued by the United States Postal Service in February 1868 depicting Benjamin Franklin. While stamps of this design were the common 1-cent stamps of the 1860s, the Z-Grill is distinguished by having the so-called "Z" variety of a grill pressed into the stamp, creating tiny indentations in the paper. The 1-cent Z-Grill is generally considered the rarest and most valuable of all US postage stamps, although the 10-cent Washington and 15-cent Lincoln Z-Grills printed at the same time as the 1-cent Franklin are also extremely rare.
The purpose of the grill was to permit the canceling ink to be better absorbed into the stamp paper, thus preventing reuse of stamps by washing out the cancellation marks. The use of grills was found to be impractical and they were soon discontinued.
There are currently only two known 1-cent 1868 Z-Grills, both with cancellation marks. One is owned by the New York Public Library as part of the Benjamin Miller Collection. This leaves only a single 1-cent 1868 Z-Grill in private hands.
This 1868 1 cent Z-Grill stamp sold for $935,000 in 1998 to Mystic Stamp Company, a stamp dealer. Siegel Auctions auctioned the stamp as part of the Robert Zoellner collection. Zachary Sundman, the eleven-year-old son of Mystic Stamp Company President Donald Sundman, was the individual responsible for wielding the paddle and doing the actual bidding.
Later, in late October 2005, Sundman traded this Z-Grill to financier Bill Gross for a block of four Inverted Jenny stamps worth nearly $3 million. By completing this trade Gross became the owner of the only complete collection of U.S. 19th century stamps."
I still think Chia Obamas would be a good investment too.
- Lick 'em And Stick 'em...some Postal History
"The Story of the First Postage Stamp" July 19th, 2013 Smithsonian.com “Philately” (get your mind out of the gutter) is the proper term for the studying of stamps and stamp collecting. It was coined in 1865 by Georges Herpin, who very well may have...
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- Cry For An Old Form Of Communication Or To Generate Revenue?
"Revenue", I would bet. The U. S. Postal Service is in deep trouble and they will try anything. Think about it...when was the last time you received a genuine, hand-written first class letter? Been a while, hasn't it. "U.S. Postal Service unveils...
- Deceased--paul Calle
Paul Calle March 3rd, 1928 to December 30th, 2010 "Paul Calle, Postage Stamp Designer, Is Dead at 82" by Margalit Fox December 31st, 2010 The New York Times Paul Calle, a commercial artist whose most famous work was no bigger than a postage stamp,...
- Philatelic Astronomy
Cool medium of celebrating astronomy over the years of philatelic commemoratives. ASTRONOMY AND COSMOLOGY IN STAMPS British astronomy on stamps of other nations International Year of Astronomy 2009 at Stockholm University Space and Astronomy Stamps...
Philosophy
Benjamin Franklin Z-Grill Stamp
Fair is fair and the philatelists must be mentioned too. The rarest and most expensive U.S. stamp is the Benjamin Franklin Z-Grill Stamp.
Wikipedia...
The Benjamin Franklin Z-Grill Stamp "...is a 1-cent postage stamp issued by the United States Postal Service in February 1868 depicting Benjamin Franklin. While stamps of this design were the common 1-cent stamps of the 1860s, the Z-Grill is distinguished by having the so-called "Z" variety of a grill pressed into the stamp, creating tiny indentations in the paper. The 1-cent Z-Grill is generally considered the rarest and most valuable of all US postage stamps, although the 10-cent Washington and 15-cent Lincoln Z-Grills printed at the same time as the 1-cent Franklin are also extremely rare.
The purpose of the grill was to permit the canceling ink to be better absorbed into the stamp paper, thus preventing reuse of stamps by washing out the cancellation marks. The use of grills was found to be impractical and they were soon discontinued.
There are currently only two known 1-cent 1868 Z-Grills, both with cancellation marks. One is owned by the New York Public Library as part of the Benjamin Miller Collection. This leaves only a single 1-cent 1868 Z-Grill in private hands.
This 1868 1 cent Z-Grill stamp sold for $935,000 in 1998 to Mystic Stamp Company, a stamp dealer. Siegel Auctions auctioned the stamp as part of the Robert Zoellner collection. Zachary Sundman, the eleven-year-old son of Mystic Stamp Company President Donald Sundman, was the individual responsible for wielding the paddle and doing the actual bidding.
Later, in late October 2005, Sundman traded this Z-Grill to financier Bill Gross for a block of four Inverted Jenny stamps worth nearly $3 million. By completing this trade Gross became the owner of the only complete collection of U.S. 19th century stamps."
I still think Chia Obamas would be a good investment too.
- Lick 'em And Stick 'em...some Postal History
"The Story of the First Postage Stamp" July 19th, 2013 Smithsonian.com “Philately” (get your mind out of the gutter) is the proper term for the studying of stamps and stamp collecting. It was coined in 1865 by Georges Herpin, who very well may have...
- New Horizons Stamp--one Week Left
PARTICIPATE"New Horizons Stamp Drive Completes a 10K – and Keeps Going!"March 7th, 2012NASAAs fast as NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is heading toward Pluto, the drive to honor this historic exploration of the ninth planet is speeding toward its finish....
- Cry For An Old Form Of Communication Or To Generate Revenue?
"Revenue", I would bet. The U. S. Postal Service is in deep trouble and they will try anything. Think about it...when was the last time you received a genuine, hand-written first class letter? Been a while, hasn't it. "U.S. Postal Service unveils...
- Deceased--paul Calle
Paul Calle March 3rd, 1928 to December 30th, 2010 "Paul Calle, Postage Stamp Designer, Is Dead at 82" by Margalit Fox December 31st, 2010 The New York Times Paul Calle, a commercial artist whose most famous work was no bigger than a postage stamp,...
- Philatelic Astronomy
Cool medium of celebrating astronomy over the years of philatelic commemoratives. ASTRONOMY AND COSMOLOGY IN STAMPS British astronomy on stamps of other nations International Year of Astronomy 2009 at Stockholm University Space and Astronomy Stamps...