Stamp on Florida ballot could be rare collectible

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — How much is one vote worth?

In the case of an absentee ballot and an antique stamp, it could be hundreds of thousands of dollars.

That's the value of a 1918 Inverted Jenny, one of the rarest stamps in the world, which Broward County, Fla., elections officials said was affixed to an envelope containing an absentee ballot.

The stamp, similar to one that sold in mint condition for $525,000 last year, was canceled. So was the ballot, which contained no clue to the identity of the voter. The mystery unfolded at the elections office Tuesday, when County Commissioner John Rodstrom, a member of the county's Canvassing Board, noticed an unusual stamp on a large white envelope holding an absentee ballot.

A former stamp collector, Rodstrom immediately recognized the unmistakable blue and red image of an upside-down biplane: the Inverted Jenny.

"It's very rare, it was in all of the stamp books," he said. "Only so many of these came off the presses."

One hundred, to be exact.

A sheet containing that number of stamps was printed in error with the biplane upside down. It was sold by mistake in 1918 and collectors have been chasing the Inverted Jenny ever since. In October 2005, an unnamed collector paid $2.9 million for a four-stamp block of Jennys.

The 24-cent stamp was named for the plane it depicted, a Curtiss JN-4 World War I trainer that later delivered air mail.

At the elections office, Deputy Kevin Jurgens, another stamp collector, confirmed for Rodstrom that the stamp indeed appeared to be the vaunted rarity.

"I knew that it was one of the most valuable stamps in a collection," Rodstrom said.

But Mitch Kopkin, proprietor of the Tropical Stamp shop in Fort Lauderdale, said it was "highly unlikely" the stamp is an actual Inverted Jenny. "It could be a forged stamp," Kopkin said.

All but five or six of the original 100 Jennys have been traced, Kopkin said. But that doesn't mean someone couldn't have inherited a true one and unthinkingly stuck it on the envelope, he added.

The ballot was disqualified because it had no identification. The stamp is in storage. "After it left the Canvassing Board it was put in a bin and sealed," said elections office spokeswoman Mary Cooney.

It and other paperwork, as required by law, must be archived for almost two years, Cooney said.

Then, she said, "We destroy them."

"That would be a tragedy," Kopkin said, if the stamp proves a true collectible. And if so, even though it has been canceled, it could still fetch $50,000 to $200,000 depending on condition. "There would be more of a story to it," he said.

Cooney said elections supervisor Brenda Snipes was too busy with balloting to focus on the stamp.

"She's not going to be able to take any time to even look at it until after the [ballot] certification on Monday," Cooney said.