A United States stamp depicting an upside-down electric car cost just 4 cents when it was issued in 1901.
A strip of four of those stamps fetched more than $300,000 during the auction this week of famously flawed postage stamps owned by the late Mt. Lebanon investment adviser, Robert H. Cunliffe.
The complete collection of 3,000 upside-down postage stamps -- considered the world's most comprehensive -- grossed $5,041,000 in the two-day auction, which closed yesterday and drew bidders from around the world. The proceeds from Mr. Cunliffe's collection will go to his estate.
"This sale really was a stamp collector's dream," said Charles F. Shreve, president of the Dallas-based Spink Shreves Galleries, which held the auction at its New York gallery. "Mr. Cunliffe assembled a collection of the stamps that are probably the most sought after types of stamps because everything on them was a mistake."
Mr. Cunliffe, who died in April 2008 at age 83, left behind an assortment of inverted printed planes, cars, animals, U.S. presidents, landmarks and other designs.
Among the most expensive, Mr. Shreve said, was a 1902 Russian, 35-kopek stamp purchased for $115,000 and a 1920 Belgian stamp bearing an inverted image of a town hall that sold for more than $150,000.
About 30 collectors bid in person while hundreds more watched the auction via the Internet from countries as far away as Spain, Russia, the United Kingdom and Germany.
They were mostly "self-made men," business owners and financial types, who, like Mr. Cunliffe, enjoy the "thrill and pride of ownership," Mr. Shreve said.
"To spend this kind of money on stamps is a passion for them," he said. "They feel more comfortable putting money into a stamp than, perhaps, seeing the money evaporate into the stock market."
Sadie Gurman can be reached at sgurman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1878.
First published on June 20, 2009 at 12:07 am
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