25:
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Nixon stamps from a woman who had purchased the stamps from a post office in
Virginia (The official sale is crucial in designating a stamp error). They met again in June, and Langs received 120 inverts from Robie in exchange for $ 60,000 worth of rare US stamps. Later that month, after Robie complained about the stamps he had received, Langs gave him a check for $ 1,000 and additional rare stamps worth approximately $ 4,000-$ 5,000.
327:
recovered all but two of the inverts. Investigators said that one dealer reported that he had lost one of the stamps and another said that a stamp was lost in transit. Though these stamps may be in private collections, they are considered stolen government property and cannot be openly displayed or
319:
In August 1995, Robie contacted Gary Posner, another stamp dealer, in hopes of selling the remaining 40 stamps. The pair met in New Jersey and Robie again said the stamps had come from a woman in
Virginia. Posner acquired the 40 stamps in exchange for $ 7,000 in cash and a collection of stamps
288:
auction house in New York City. Christie's spokeswoman Laurie Dodge said that the stamp owner owned 160 of the misprinted stamps, but planned to auction a single stamp to gauge the market. Inverted stamps are extremely rare, and so the claim of 160 stamps and the lack of information surrounding the
315:
Robie first contacted
William Langs, a prominent stamp dealer with a known interest in misprints, in March 1995 and told him he would be obtaining some "error stamps," though he did not specify what kind. In May, the pair met in New Jersey, and Robie told Langs that he would be acquiring inverted
215:
mistakenly sold by the Postal
Service, the inverts were printer’s waste—material taken from a printing plant or wastepaper destruction facility and sold illegally. While errors sold by the Postal Service are highly prized, printer’s waste is not and, as was the case with the Nixon invert, may be
210:
Originally reported in
January 1996, the invert drew considerable attention; however, in December of that year, Clarence Robert Robie, a printing plant employee, was arrested on charges of having stolen the misprinted stamps from the plant where he worked. This meant that, rather than being a
311:
Clarence Robert Robie, a former cutting machine operator at BCA's
Suffern plant, was arrested on December 12, 1996, and charged with theft of property made under contract for the United States (the initial removal of the 160 stamps from the Suffern plant) and transporting stolen property in
131:
248:
The "Nixon invert" shows the portrait of
Richard Nixon, "USA," and the 32¢ denomination inverted relative to the printed name "Richard Nixon." The portrait was additionally shifted so that it was split across the stamp's perforations. The stamps were in mint condition, never hinged.
224:
The 32¢ Nixon commemorative stamp was issued on April 26, 1995, following
Richard Nixon's death the previous year. The stamps were designed by Daniel Schwarz and printed in combination offset-intaglio process by the Banknote Corporation of America. It was issued in panes of fifty.
312:
interstate commerce (Robie had transported the stamps from New York to New Jersey in order to sell them to two separate dealers). He was convicted on both counts after a four-day trial in May 1997. Neither dealer was changed, as they were apparently unaware of the theft.
320:
with a retail value of approximately $ 12,000-$ 15,000. Posner later traded the inverts to Langs for other rare stamps. In
November, Langs sold 141 of the Nixon inverts to a single dealer for $ 800,000 through an auction sale at Christie's.
292:
Christie's had initially estimated that the initial stamp sale would fetch between $ 8,000 and $ 10,000, but bidding reached $ 14,500. With the 15 percent auctioneer's commission, the stamp finished up at $ 16,675.
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Two days previously, dealer Dana Okey of San Diego had purchased 141 of the inverts from
Christie's, and by April was selling them for $ 12,500, characterizing the response as "awesome."
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This inversion was made possible because the stamp was printed in two steps. First, the portrait and denomination combination was printed by
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to not issue the stamps, but Runyon maintained that presidential memorial stamps were tradition and approved the stamp.
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353:"United States of America, Appellee, v. Clarence Robert Robie, Defendant-appellant, 166 F.3d 444 (2d Cir. 1999)"
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Michael Baadke, "Printing plant employee stole Nixon inverts, U.S. attorney alleges; N.Y. resident arrested",
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Michael Baadke, "Nixon invert found near Washington, D.C.; Christie's will auction single stamp Feb. 1",
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Federal prosecutors identified the Nixon inverts as stolen material and the
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425:"Stamp errors explained: The definitive guide to rare error stamps"
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The stamp first came to public attention from an announcement from
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Michael Baadke, "Robie trial answers some questions, not all",
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shows how the inverted portrait falls in between the stamps.
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Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States
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The auction house did not supply the name of the consignor
1078:
List of people on the postage stamps of the United States
1068:
Commemoration of the American Civil War on postage stamps
515:"Inverted Nixon stamp sells for $ 16,675 - UPI Archives"
1088:
Presidents of the United States on U.S. postage stamps
268:, where the intaglio inscription was applied using a
289:discovery generated both interest and skepticism.
49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
1329:Higgins & Gage World Postal Stationery Catalog
674:
564:"Lawyers Fight to Keep Auction Sellers Anonymous".
580:"Charge Is Sticky Fingers In Nixon Stamps Caper".
540:"MISPRINTED NIXON STAMP NETS $ 16,675 AT AUCTION"
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719:Alexandria "Blue Boy" Postmaster's Provisional
1103:U.S. space exploration history on U.S. stamps
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724:United States postmasters provisional stamps
1098:Territories of the United States on stamps
667:
653:
499:"THIRTY-TWO CENTS NIXON, CENTER INVERTED".
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
801:All Aboard! 20th Century American Trains
377:"Alphabetilately: I is for Invert Error"
1063:Artworks on stamps of the United States
537:
325:United States Postal Inspection Service
1526:March 1995 crimes in the United States
1518:
1229:History of United States postage rates
926:Washington Bicentennial stamps of 1932
596:"Most Richard Nixon inverts recovered"
473:"Four sheets of Nixon "inverts' found"
648:
1429:American Philatelic Research Library
1300:United States Post Office Department
1239:Pneumatic tube mail in New York City
1007:List of United States airmail stamps
494:
492:
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256:on a Heidelberg six-color sheet-fed
47:adding citations to reliable sources
18:
1541:Postage stamps of the United States
1490:Revenue stamps of the United States
1163:Cardinal Spellman Philatelic Museum
538:Content, Contributed (1996-02-02).
306:
260:, then the stamps were sent to the
13:
1219:Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee
911:U.S. Parcel Post stamps of 1912–13
562:Mashberg, Tom (February 3, 2013).
14:
1557:
1439:Rocky Mountain Philatelic Library
1224:Express mail in the United States
992:1918 Curtiss Jenny airmail stamps
729:New York Postmaster's Provisional
489:
338:
1500:United States Postmaster General
1449:U.S. Philatelic Classics Society
1444:United Postal Stationery Society
1399:Bureau of Engraving and Printing
1204:Apollo 15 postage stamp incident
129:
23:
1295:San Antonio–San Diego Mail Line
969:Statue of Liberty Forever stamp
963:Raising the Flag at Ground Zero
588:
572:
556:
34:needs additional citations for
974:2017 Total Solar Eclipse stamp
947:Distinguished Americans series
916:US Regular Issues of 1922–1931
676:Philately of the United States
569:. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
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234:Nixon's subsequent resignation
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1073:History of Virginia on stamps
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272:. The Bank Note Company also
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1305:United States Postal Service
1280:American Letter Mail Company
821:Breast cancer research stamp
504:Retrieved February 22, 2023.
262:American Bank Note Company's
216:confiscated by authorities.
205:United States Postal Service
7:
1546:Postage stamp invert errors
1454:United States Stamp Society
1434:American Philatelic Society
1404:Homer Lee Bank Note Company
952:Elvis Presley Forever stamp
10:
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1505:United States Post Offices
1495:United States postal notes
1394:American Bank Note Company
1173:National Philatelic Museum
1158:Benjamin Miller Collection
1134:Earliest reported postmark
931:Washington–Franklin Issues
891:Prominent Americans series
401:"What is printer's waste?"
1485:Postal Reorganization Act
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1424:American Air Mail Society
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1285:Butterfield Overland Mail
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997:1930 Graf Zeppelin stamps
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876:Oklahoma Statehood Stamps
871:Norse-American Centennial
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429:www.warwickandwarwick.com
276:and finished the stamps.
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1378:American stamp designers
1322:The American Philatelist
1244:Postal history of Oregon
1214:Boat Railway Post Office
881:Overrun Countries series
1030:Dag Hammarskjöld invert
901:Special handling stamps
846:Five cents John Kennedy
780:Western Cattle in Storm
775:Trans-Mississippi Issue
279:
1178:National Postal Museum
856:Great Americans series
811:Antarctic Treaty issue
1470:American philatelists
1264:U.S. Special Delivery
1168:Florida Postal Museum
1093:Puerto Rico on stamps
826:Celebrate the Century
765:Hawaiian Missionaries
585:. December 13, 1996.
147:Country of production
136:A block of four plus
1475:American postmasters
1249:Railway Mail Service
1194:Air Mail Act of 1925
906:Transportation coils
836:Elvis Presley single
831:Comic Strip Classics
750:1869 Pictorial Issue
695:Henry Thomas Windsor
303:a common practice.
43:improve this article
1254:Rural Free Delivery
1045:Pan-American invert
851:Fourth Bureau issue
816:Bicentennial Series
632:, December 30, 1996
453:postalmuseum.si.edu
381:alphabetilately.org
1480:Postal Service Act
1108:Women on US stamps
921:War savings stamps
886:Presidential Issue
841:Federal Duck Stamp
623:, January 29, 1996
583:The New York Times
578:Richardson, Lynda
567:The New York Times
449:"32c Nixon single"
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1336:Linn's Stamp News
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957:Nature of America
638:Linn's Stamp News
629:Linn's Stamp News
620:Linn's Stamp News
266:Suffern, New York
230:Watergate scandal
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1342:Minkus catalogue
1209:Barefoot mailman
1199:Air Mail scandal
1148:Collections and
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806:Americana series
770:Lost Continental
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307:Theft and arrest
238:Marvin T. Runyon
181:$ 8,000-$ 10,000
157:Nature of rarity
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16:US stamp variant
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1273:Postal services
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861:Hanukkah stamps
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760:Columbian Issue
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734:St. Louis Bears
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641:, June 16, 1997
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161:Printer's waste
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189:"Nixon invert"
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58:"Nixon invert"
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1536:Richard Nixon
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1417:Organizations
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1187:Miscellaneous
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866:Liberty Issue
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32:This article
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1314:Publications
1290:Pony Express
1234:Mail jumping
1139:Fancy cancel
1040:Nixon invert
1039:
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940:21st century
794:20th century
743:19th century
690:Thomas Neale
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603:. Retrieved
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258:offset press
254:Barton Press
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193:invert error
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124:Nixon invert
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41:Please help
36:verification
33:
1259:Star routes
709:Provisional
502:Christie's.
270:Giori press
211:legitimate
1531:1995 works
1520:Categories
1364:production
1025:CIA invert
755:Black Jack
605:2024-02-22
549:2024-02-22
524:2024-02-22
482:2024-02-22
458:2024-02-22
434:2024-02-22
410:2024-02-22
386:2024-02-22
362:2024-02-22
357:Justia Law
332:References
286:Christie's
274:perforated
244:Appearance
220:Background
207:in 1995.
167:Face value
69:newspapers
1387:Companies
1371:Designers
1126:Postmarks
683:Pre-stamp
264:plant in
199:memorial
1055:Topicals
984:Airmails
170:32 cents
1463:Related
1150:museums
785:Z Grill
195:of the
138:selvage
83:scholar
711:stamps
328:sold.
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1362:Stamp
213:error
179:US $
90:JSTOR
76:books
1017:EPOs
280:Sale
232:and
187:The
62:news
519:UPI
45:by
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