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Q Is my First Day Cover [FDC] of this Inverted Jenny valuable because of the error made by the Postal Service? S Soliani, Panasoffkee, FL

A. Your FDC stamp of the original Inverted Jenny is a 22K, gold-plated replica made for commercial resale to collectors However, the story of the Inverted Jenny is one of the most interesting told by philatelists (stamp collectors )

Just before the close of the First World War, in 1918, Congress authorized the Post Office Department to carry mail by plane

The first official air mail route lay between Washington D C , Philadelphia, and New York. The War Department supplied the planes and the pilots for the service The planes were discarded training planes and most of the pilots were army pilots released from service.

The first official airmail stamp was of 24-cent denomination and showed a Curtiss “Jenny.” The stamp was a first in three regards: it was the first definitive airmail stamp, the first showing an airplane, and the first airmail stamp to be printed in two colors, red and blue

A collector named William T Robey bought a sheet of 100 of the new stamps at a Washington D C post office on the first day of issue for $24 Robey immediately borders were e up, but the rinted upside down he error to the clerk e sheet and later to went out to look und none When he stal inspectors met place and offered good” stamps in exchange for the “mistakes,” but Robey refused to part with the stamps.

He made the rounds of Washington and New York stamp dealers and the first offered him $500. A week later he sold the sheet to a Philadelphia dealer for $15,000. It changed hands again a week later for $20,000. In 1979, a single 24cent Inverted Jenny sold for $135,000 Today a single specimen of this stamp can command $150,000 and more at auction The whereabouts of only 81 of the 100 stamps is known today

It makes a nice addition to any U S stamp collection, however, your Postal Commemorative Societyissued FDC is not a valuable stamp cover.

The Jenny is not the most valuable stamp to be printed in error An 1855 Swedish stamp printed in the wrong color sold for $1 2 million in 1990. The stamp is known as the Treskilling Yellow This was Sweden’s first stamp and was usually printed in green But this one copy was printed in yellow ink. Occasionally the courthouse museum displays stamps courtesy of the Denton Stamp Club’s president and museum docent, Jack Baker For more information about the club and the hobby of collecting stamps, contact Jack You won’t be making a mistake by joining that fun group of collectors.

Wilson

continued from Page #1 was at Bells ISD where also became varsity basketball head coach and middle school principal

In Wilson's 15th year at HISD, he says he's made Howe his home. He always had envisioned moving back to Denison and being a Yellow Jacket again, but says Howe is a great place to raise a family and he calls it home.

Kevin and Stacy Wilson (who is a fifth grade science teacher at Howe ISD) have three children Madison is a senior at Texas A&M Commerce She plans to stay in the family business and be an elementary teacher Their son Nick is a senior in high school and a starter on the basketball team. Youngest daughter Molly is in the eighth grade and also a basketball player.

Howe ISD approves 2016-17 calendar