Stamp Sheet

Post offices commonly print out sheets of stamps at one time to save on production costs and to limit bureaucracy. Some stamp collectors go after these whole sheets. Oftentimes, the sheets are too large for individual stamp albums, and philatelists must either break up their sheets into pieces (not preferred) or purchase extremely expandable, sophisticated albums.There's no standard number of stamps on a sheet. Some countries formalize a standard stamp sheet size. However, the U.S. Postal Service, as a rule, does not do this. Stamp sheets may be altered in between production runs. In 1918, the United States Post Office printed millions of stamps honoring the Curtis Jenny, a biplane which competed with Orville and Wilbur Wright's ''Spirit of St. Louis'' for the title of first successful flying machine.The Curtis Jenny celebratory stamp was minted in sheets of 100. Probably as a result of the massive rush to get these stamps out to consumers, an engraver inverted the biplane on one of these sheets. Therefore, 100 ''Inverted Jennys'' were put out. Each one of these stamps today fetches thousands of dollars at auctions.It's rare to find a coherent stamp sheet from the 19th century. Even so-called run-of-the-mill stamps, like the Franklin penny stamp minted at the turn of the century (11.2 billion pieces produced) can be valuable in sheet form. Neophyte collectors should get into the habit of storing sheets in aerated albums. Store sheets in low humidity, so that the gummy adhesives don't warp and curl your stamps.