Rare US Stamp Fetches $2 Million at Auction in New York

At an auction in New York, a rare postage stamp known as the "Inverted Jenny" was sold for $2 million, setting a record as the most expensive stamp ever sold in the United States, as reported by the BBC.

The red, white, and blue stamp, dating back to 1918 and initially priced at 24 cents, gained its rarity due to an error in printing, with the Curtiss JN-4 airplane depicted upside down. Only 100 such stamps were printed, part of a collection commemorating the initiation of regular airmail service.

The 76-year-old collector, Charles Heck, acquired the rare stamp, expressing a lifelong dream fulfilled and dubbing it the "holy grail of postage." This isn't Heck's first "Inverted Jenny"; in the early 2000s, he purchased one for $300,000, and in 2007, he spent $1 million on a higher-quality specimen ranked 57th on the sheet of 100 stamps. The recently sold stamp is the 49th, unseen since its purchase in 1918.

The stamp, along with its descendants, had been kept in a bank vault until its sale in 2018. According to the Siegel auction house, it is considered "one of the best-preserved examples" of the "Inverted Jenny" because it was rarely exposed to light, preserving the vibrancy of its colors and the brightness of the paper.

Heck intends to continue the century-old tradition of safeguarding the stamp from light, considering it a part of "American history." Notably, the "Inverted Jenny" even made an appearance in an episode of "The Simpsons" in 1993.

In a related note, in the United Kingdom, twenty-four bottles of whiskey dating back to 1833 were auctioned. Discovered by chance in the basement of a Scottish castle, each of the twenty-four whiskey bottles is expected to fetch £10,000. These bottles will be auctioned at Whisky Auctioneer in Perth from November 24 to December 4. The chief curator, Joe Wilson, described this event as a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," emphasizing the chance to acquire the "oldest Scottish whiskey in the world."

Experts believe these bottles could indeed be the oldest whiskey on Earth known to date. Distilled in 1833 and bottled in 1841, the whiskey was later transferred to various containers in 1932.