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| The American Stamp Club of Great Britain |
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The American Stamp Club of Great Britain was founded in 1954. There are over 400 members from all over the world. |
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| THE 1901 INVERTS |
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| by John Edwards |
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Although few collectors can aspire to own copies of these inverts, there are some facts about these varieties that should be more generally known.
Three values of the 1901 Pan-American Exposition series are listed in Scott's specialised catalogue as being known with inverted centres. These are the 1c, 2c and 4c. Scott's have got it wrong! In fact they should be listed as having inverted frames not inverted centres.
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The 1901 issue printed normally. The centre designs were printed first,
with the coloured frames printed afterwards. |
Early bi-coloured stamps produced by the line engraved process had the black part of the design printed first and the coloured part last. This was because the sheets needed a second "wetting down" to take the second impression. Such a wetting caused any colour other than black to run, so the black was always printed first.
The line engraved process transfers the ink deposited in the recesses of the plate to the paper. In early printing methods this was more easily achieved if the paper had been wetted before the plate was applied to the paper. Depending upon the quality of the paper used, the paper shrank slightly after drying creating minute differences in the size of stamps. Modern printing techniques have improved. With better inks and equipment, the wetting down of the paper during the printing process of line engraved stamps has not been necessary since the late 1950's.
There were six values in the 1901 series, all issued on 1st May. In addition to the 1c, 2c and 4c mentioned above, there were also 5c, 8c and 10c values that are not found with inverted frames. They were printed from plates of 200 subjects. The sheets were cut in half horizontally, and issued in panes of 100 (10 x 10).
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| The One Cent Invert |
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For the reasons explained above, the centre was printed before the frame. The 1c centre went to press for the first time on 6 March 1901, with the first printing of the frames of the 1c on 15 March 1901.
Johl's The United States Commemorative Stamps of the 20th Century recorded in 1947 that five sheets (1,000 stamps) of the 1c with inverted frame were printed and issued. He says:
"When the inverts first reached the market they were sold at $25 a copy as it was expected that many more would be found. The number has never been sufficiently large to fill the demand for this item …. This is more frequently seen than any other of the bi-coloured errors among United States stamps. Records indicate that ten panes of 100 were reported although some of the stamps were used before the invert was discovered. Thirty-five copies were so used by a banking concern in Granite Falls, Minnesota."
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| The Two Cent Invert |
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There were 209,759,700 copies of the 2c stamp issued compared with 91,401,500 of the 1c. Johl states that:
"Although more than twice as many sheets of this value were printed than of the one cent there were considerably less inverts found. The only data available that has sufficient verification to make the facts acceptable, limits the finds to three people and only one was able to obtain a full sheet.
"The total known copies of the two cent invert believed to have reached philatelic hands consisted of 155 mint copies and three used. Copies have been seen which show the vignette, though inverted, to be well centred in the frame, while others are centred Northeast to a marked degree."
This suggests that at least two sheets of the 1c invert were printed and that at least one pane from each found their way to the public - a total of at least 200 stamps. Johl goes on to say that:
"It is quite possible that additional used copies may come to light from time to time as old letters and boxes of cancelled stamps fall into the hands of philatelists."
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| The Four Cent Invert |
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Some controversy surrounds the 4c inverted frame variety. The 1c and 2c varieties were printed with inverted frames accidentally, and copies found their way to the public in the normal way. But the 4c inverted variety was printed deliberately on the order of a high official.
Scott's list the variety and legitimise this with a footnote calling it a "special printing". Stanley Gibbons list it, also with a footnote, saying this variety "was not issued, but a sheet or two got out. Many of the stamps were overprinted 'SPECIMEN', but some were exchanged by the Museum at Washington without this word on them." The 'SPECIMEN' overprint was applied by hand in violet.
Fred J Melville in his book United States Postage Stamps, 1894-1910 (Melville Stamp Books, 1910) says:
"One sheet (400 stamps) [Note. Two sheets comprising 400 stamps were actually printed] was so printed, some of the stamps being overprinted 'specimen'. Of these 100 were sent to the Postal Museum at Washington, and 234 were found in the safe of the official responsible for their printing. This would leave 66 copies to be accounted for, but we are informed on the authority of a member of the Committee appointed to supervise the destruction of the balance that only 194 were destroyed, and as all but one copy were returned by the Museum, the total given out was 206 instead of 66 as recently reported".
Johl quotes the following from George B Sloan (Collectors Club Philatelist Vol 1 No 1):
"A stigma has always been attached the four cent orange brown and black with centre inverted. The stamp was never issued legitimately, but was 'created'. It came about in the following manner.
"A report reached the Post Office Department that the four cent had been discovered with the centre inverted. This report was later proven erroneous. However, upon receipt of this report the Department felt that inasmuch as the error 'already existed' it would not be amiss to make copies of the errors themselves for specimen purposes, and according to the official report to the President, issued later, the suggestion was made to the Bureau that if any further errors were discovered in the reserve stock of stamps on hand at the Bureau, they be turned over to the Department. None were found, and two sheets of 200 each (400 stamps) were printed and in due course delivered to Edwin C Madden, Third Assistant Postmaster General.
"A part of these stamps were hand-stamped 'Specimen' in a very small type, and a great many copies with and without 'Specimen' were distributed gratis to Mr Madden's personal friends, both in the Department and elsewhere. A sheet of 100, without the overprint, went into the files of the Post Office Department for the Government stamp collection and 194 copies were destroyed, leaving 106 which had been given away. It is not known just exactly how many were hand-stamped 'Specimen' but the quantities of those in existence today with and without the overprint are about even." (Note by Johl: With the margin in favour of those without imprint.)
These accounts leave us with some uncertainty about the number of inverts that are actually in existence. The best estimate is that of the 400 stamps printed, 194 are known to have been destroyed. That leaves 206 copies unaccounted for, and presumably in the hands of collectors and the heirs and descendants of Mr Madden's friends. We can check this because we know that the 100 stamps passed to the National Museum at Washington for the National Collection were exchanged for other stamps missing from the collection. Of the remaining 300 stamps, 194 were destroyed leaving 106 which we must assume were distributed by Mr Madden to his friends. That gives us the 206 copies.
The evidence suggests that the copies passed to the National Museum were without the 'Specimen' overprint (100 stamps), and those distributed by Mr Madden to his friends were with the overprint (106 stamps). This would at first sight appear to conflict with Johl's statement above that there are more copies in existence without the 'Specimen' overprint.
However, it seems likely that many more of the copies exchanged by the National Museum will have survived in the hands of collectors than those given away by Mr Madden. Furthermore, it seems from the above accounts that not all copies distributed by Madden were overprinted 'Specimen'.
Thus my conclusion is that the sheet of 100 passed to the National Museum were without the 'Specimen' overprint, and those distributed by Mr Madden were normally with it. If any reader knows the antecedents of a copy which proves otherwise, I should like to hear from him or her.
The creation of these unnecessary errors, and more particularly their distribution by favour caused protests in the philatelic press and by many collectors. Public pressure eventually resulted in an official investigation of the matter. Assistant Attorney-General Charles H Robb made the following statement to President Roosevelt in 1904:
"The Third Assistant Postmaster General verbally requested the superintendent of the stamp division to suggest to the Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing that if any more 'inverts' were discovered, instead of destroying them, they be turned over to him for specimen purposes. None being discovered, the superintendent of the stamp division, without the knowledge of the Third Assistant Postmaster General, suggested that a sheet be printed, which was done and duly turned over. Part of the stamps were gratuitously distributed. The cost to the Government was but a few cents and there is no claim on the part of anyone that Mr Madden did not act in perfect good faith in this matter. He certainly did not receive a penny, either directly or indirectly, for the specimens distributed."
It is worth recording that in 1904 the President himself - President Roosevelt - insisted that no special varieties should be created, and caused an investigation to be carried out to discover the circumstances of the 1901 'inverts', resulting in the destruction of all 'created' inverts found. It is a pity that some later Presidents have not been so punctilious in this respect.
A couple of final points need to be clarified concerning the 4 cents invert. Johl records that 97 copies from the sheet of 100 turned over to the National Museum in Washington were exchanged for items missing from the collection. It is also recorded that the Museum kept one copy. Did they return the other two copies for destruction? If so, Mr Madden distributed 108 stamps, not the 106 stamps recorded above.
Johl also records that the copies from the Museum were with part gum. This is explained in a letter from J M Bartels as follows:
"In reply to your inquiry regarding the sheet of inverted Pan-American 4c stamps, I take pleasure in stating that I recall that on several occasions I saw in the Stamp Division of the Post Office Department a volume containing numerous sheets of stamps, among these was a full sheet of the inverted 4c Pan-American. These were stuck firmly to the pages of this volume, which is designated as part of the 'archives of the department'. It was stated that they would remain there and that they had been stuck down like all other sheets to avoid the possibility of their being extracted by anyone.
"This entire volume was later turned over to the National Museum and all duplicates including the entire sheet of 100 of the said 4c inverted were used for exchange purposes with stamp dealers and collectors.
Yours very truly 
(signed) J M Bartels"
The Museum was able to remove the partially stuck down sheet from the volume, but the sheet so removed was only partially gummed.
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| The Remaining Values |
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| Bartels also records that sheets of the 5c, 8c and 10c values were also created with inverted centres [or more correctly inverted frames], according to information he gained from the Bureau. The publicity caused by the inquiry into the creation of the 4c 'invert' caused the destruction of these other inverts. Bartels information is that all copies of these values were destroyed, and certainly none have ever appeared on the market. |
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| Post Script |
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Collectors will appreciate from this account that there are good reasons to regard the 4c invert as a variety of "dubious" status, and wonder why there is a demand for examples of the variety!
I suppose if an error exists, whether produced accidentally or deliberately, there are always collectors willing to purchase it. There are of course more recent examples of "errors" produced on purpose, such as the Farley imperforates and the Dag Hammarskjold issue with inverted colour, both of which I confess I have in my collection. The USPS has got us taped - many collectors want to collect everything in their chosen field, and this allows them to be exploited by profiteering postal agencies. There must be a lesson to be learned here! |
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| Reprinted with permission from The Mayflower, journal of the American Stamp Club of Great Britain |
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