The United States issued the Rush Lamp and Candle Holder definitive in 1979. In April 1986, CIA employees bought a pane in McLean, Virginia, that proved to contain an inverted brown intaglio design. Their subsequent handling and sale of the stamps became a public controversy. This record concerns the National Postal Museum’s example from position 53 of that pane, accession 1987.0145.1, rather than every stamp bearing the error. The museum’s accession number and recorded sheet position distinguish it from other CIA Inverts in institutional and private collections.

Dimensions

2.7 × 2.22 cm