[Stamp] Error stamps are rare and very valuable. In 1986, nine Central Intelligence Agency employees purchased a partial pane of inverted rush lamp stamps with government funds.

The employees kept the stamps and substituted others on agency mail. Each retained a stamp, and they sold the remainder to a prominent stamp dealer.

The CIA identified the culprits and ordered them to return the stamps. One claimed he had lost his stamp and was believed. Four refused and were fired. Four returned theirs and retained their positions.

Courtesy of the National Postal Museum.

CIA Inverted Rush Lamp Stamp, United States Postal Service, 1979

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