Posted on 11/11/2006 2:02:01 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
MIAMI (Reuters) - A Florida voter may have unwittingly lost hundreds of thousands of dollars by using an extremely rare stamp to mail an absentee ballot in Tuesday's congressional election, a government official said on Friday.
The 1918 Inverted Jenny stamp, which takes its name from an image of a biplane accidentally printed upside-down, turned up on Tuesday night in Fort Lauderdale, where election officials were inspecting ballots from parts of south Florida, Broward County Commissioner John Rodstrom told Reuters.
Only 100 of the stamps have ever been found, making them one of the top prizes of all philately.
Rodstrom, a member of the county's Canvassing Board, said he spotted the red and blue Inverted Jenny on a large envelope with two stamps from the 1930s and another dating to World War Two.
The nominal value of the four vintage U.S. Post Office stamps was 87 cents, he said.
"I thought, 'Oh my God, I know that stamp, I've seen that stamp before,"' said Rodstrom, 54, who dabbled in stamp collecting as a boy. "I'd forgotten the name. I just remembered there was a stamp with an upside-down biplane on it and that it was a very rare, rare stamp."
Rodstrom said he did not examine the envelope's postmark, but it had no return address and the ballot was disqualified because it gave no clue as to the identity of the voter.
Election officials have been too busy certifying the outcome of Tuesday's race to have the stamp authenticated, Rodstrom said.
A block of four of the stamps sold for almost $3 million last year, however, and Rodstrom said the one that turned up Tuesday night could fetch about $500,000 for Broward County at auction.
"It's now government property," he said.
A postmark on a stamp usually would hurt its value but Rodstrom said the story behind this one -- plus the fact that it is joined by other old stamps on the envelope -- might actually increase its worth.
Rodstrom said he doubted the stamp would ever be handed over to someone claiming to have mailed it inadvertently.
"It would be hard to prove, I guess you would have to say it was a person who had Alzheimer's," he said.
"It's now government property," he said.
Yes ol' master. I worship thee Government.
Leave it to a Broward county blue hair Dem to do something this stupid. Probably a widow who found now dead husband's stamp collection and thought she was saving a trip to the post office to buy new stamps.
Why is it always Broward County Florida???? Is it something in the water? The air? Not in the skulls of its citizens?
Rodstrom said he doubted the stamp would ever be handed over to someone claiming to have mailed it inadvertently.
If it was mailed to me I'd give it back under the condition I get a taste if the rightful owner ever auctioned it off.
ML/NJ
I'm sure it was not a vote for Katherine Harris. So I am happy about it.
I actually think the sender COULD prove it... by comparing the claimant's DNA with the DNA on the back of the licked stamp...
Nope. It was for a one ounce, first class, AIR MAIL delivery... hence the Jenny. We once paid a premium for air mail's speed of getting to its destination.
I agree a lot of older people have valuable stuff that they don't even realize it's valuable. To them it's just "junk."
Odds are it was a fake.
I hope it was a vote for the Democrats. Only Democrats could be that stupid.
That's probably the real story.
ping
My only reply to the stamp.
I SURE HOPE IT BELONGED TO A DEMOCRAT!!!!!!!!!!
Something quite similair happened to me back in my college days when I worked as a cashier in a grocery store. A gentleman paid me half in quaters telling me he needed to empty out the change that had been collecting up in his basement. Noticing some of the quarters had strange markings, I took four of them and found out they were standing liberty quarters.
I still have them :)
I worked with a guy who lived there a long time and he laughs about it, he says they do call it "Flori-duh" for a reason.
The ballot probably had an inadvertent vote for Pat Buchanan.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.