November 12, 2006

What's a vote worth? Extremely rare "Inverted Jenny" stamp used to mail absentee ballot in Fla. Only 100 exist, and the one used could be sold for $500K. I wonder if it was someone who really valued being part of the electoral process, or someone who had no idea what they had done...
posted by es el Queso 17 years ago
  • Well they mentioned the ballot was disqualified because they couldn't identify the voter. So that seems to rule out someone valuing the process. It's sad to think that someone valued this stamp as part of a collection - and later grew befuddled and forgot the significance of it.
  • That Rodstrom ass gives new meaning to the word motherfucker!
  • The only explanation that I could come up with was that someone did this on purpose to get this sort of attention to see if their absentee ballot actually got counted. I would imagine that someone with a stamp collection of the caliber that would contain one of these zillion dollar stamps would keep their collection in a different part of their wallet than the stamps we all use to mail stuff.
  • That is so brilliantly wonderful. I think someone did it on purpose because they no longer gave a fuck about the stupid stamp. And besides, it must have been quite a thrill to perform an act that only a very few people have the wherewithal to do, much less the sheer bloody-mindedness neccessary.
  • Everything that is bought or sold has its price determined by what someone is willing to pay for it. When something has some sort of practical value, it is easy to appreciate why someone might spend more money than another. But stamps and paintings and other collectibles have very littel practical value. They only are worth so much because people are willing to pay so much for them. It is completely subjective. There are plenty of things in the world that have less than a hundred copies of them. Most of those things can't be sold for much money because no one wants them. How do these collectibles become valued by people in the first place? Are there any examples of formerly expensive collectibles that people suddenly decide they don't want to pay a lot of money for?
  • Are there any examples of formerly expensive collectibles that people suddenly decide they don't want to pay a lot of money for? Yes, the entire comic book industry after 1998 or so.
  • Really? I did not know that. Luckily, I only own one comic book. What about baseball cards? How are they doing? I still have a bunch of those.
  • holy shit
  • Pwobabwee a fwake stwamp, phwotoshwopped 'n pwinted on a fwancy cower cowpier... Fwun!!
  • "It's now government property," he said. Dumb question: Is that because the recipient of the parcel is the government, or are all canceled stamps property of the government? And which government? The city of Fort Lauderdale? The state of Florida? The Federal Government?
  • You know what I'd do, I'd mail the stamp to the lady who found the pollack painting.
  • Boy would i ever like to lick that stamp. On second thought, eww. Let someone else lick it and I'll just watch.
  • Are there any examples of formerly expensive collectibles that people suddenly decide they don't want to pay a lot of money for? One that springs to mind is tulip mania.
  • 'twas a hoax, sorry....
  • But, because of its intriguing story, the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum says it would like to display the envelope with the fake stamp. The display will include blog reports of the fake stamp news story, as well as podcasts of satellite transmissions from the Broward county poll officer's triage desk to the White House and a McDonald's receipt for the Filet-O-Fish Value Meal (Supersized) from the officer on duty.