The other night my wife and I watched an old episode of Law & Order Special Victims Unit. The teleplay was the usual 'pedophile' yarn. What made the pervert unusual was his stamp collection! What made his stamp collection interesting was the reaction the detectives had to it and the real story behind the 'Inverted Jenny" it purported to contain.

     The perp lived in a dump and worked sorting bottles at a recycling plant during the day. After work he cruised the playgrounds looking for little boys to rape and kill. If he came up "dry" he went home and obsessed over his stamp collection. When the detectives rousted his fleabag apartment he flipped out when they touched the cigar box containing his stamps.

     In the interrogation room the predator tried to explain all about his 'C3a' to the completely baffled detectives. When they didn't understand his Scott # reference he went on to explain it was "the one with the upside down airplane" and was apologetic that it was "in poor condition".

    We found the dialog very interesting for a couple of reasons. First, it is very unusual for stamp collecting references to pop up in dramatic works at all, let alone correctly! Second, there is more to the story about the specific 'C3a' the serial killer had in his cigar box.

     One pane of 100 of the famous 'Inverted Jenny" was purchase by a young man named Thomas Robey on May 14, 1918 in Washington, D.C. To make a long and very interesting story short it was the only pane found and was sold and broken up. The resultant single stamps and position blocks were re-sold many times over in the years to come by dealers and collectors. They have become one of the most famous, sought after and valuable stamps ever. They come up for auction occasionally if you have a couple of hundred thou or more to bid.

     Each of the stamps and position blocks are certified and tracked very carefully by the collecting community. All are mint and in post office fresh condition except one. This would be the infamous "Vacuum Cleaner" copy the show's writers appears to have included in the script.

    An ultra wealthy collector in Manhattan left permanent instructions for his maid never to clean up his study. She disobeyed and vacuumed the carpet anyway due to all the little scraps of paper littering the floor. To his dismay he found his 'C3a' missing from the plastic mount in his album. Noticing the floor had been cleaned he knew immediately what had happened. A search through the contents of the vacuum cleaner's bag was made. The 'C3a' was found soiled and torn. The collector's comment will live forever in the annals of stamp collecting! He exclaimed "Thank God it's replaceable!". He sold it for over $30,000!

     This real incident took place around the time the show was produced and made the regular news all over the world. At the end of the episode the beautiful female detective sourly commented that she never "saw the attraction" of stamp collecting. The handsome male detective replied that he sold his late father's collection and paid a few mortgage payments with the proceeds. The fatalistic Captain suggested they sell the collection and donate the proceeds to the families of Special Victims.

What can one make of all this? I'll leave it to you! I shudder to think.

Happy Collecting! Dan