Page 8 - Demo

Curtis Jenny BiplaneC1%u2014December 10, 1918Curtis Jenny BiplaneC2%u2014July 11, 1918Curtis Jenny BiplaneC3%u2014May 13, 1918First Air Mail Series1918When the Act of May 6, 1918, authorized the Post Office Department to carry the mail by airplane, the rate was set at 24%u00a2 per ounce, which was the denomination of the first airmail stamp. A new order the next month, reduced the rate to 16%u00a2 per ounce, and 6%u00a2 for each additional ounce%u2014which resulted in two additional denominations. The Scott Standard Postage Catalogue assigned them numbers C1, C2, and C3, in order of their denominations, not the order they were issued. Each depicts a 90-horsepower Curtis JN-4 biplane, nicknamed the Jenny. The inverted Jenny is perhaps the most famous postage stamp in the United States. It was the result of an error in printing, whereby the sheet was rotated 180-degrees between the printing of the two colors. Only 100 of the stamps (from a single sheet, which has since been cut apart) exist. This block of 4 is a reproduction. A similar, but genuine, block sold at auction in 2012 for $1.74 million.Parcel Post IssueQ8%u20141913Even though it was not an official Air Mail stamp, a postage stamp was released in 1913 that featured an image of a Wright Flyer above the words, %u201cAeroplane Carrying Mail.%u201d It was one of a series of 12 Parcel Post stamps, and was the first in the world to feature an airplane.Aeroplane Carrying Mail1913