America’s Luckiest Stamp Find 美国最幸运的邮票的发现
1. The first United States airmail stamp has had an interesting story. Printed in 1918, this 24-cent stamp with a blue plane inside a rose border became the center of much attention. One hundred of the stamps sold to the public became know as "inverts", for the plane was printed upside down. Some of these "upside-down" airmail stamps are now worth over $6,000.
2. The story of these stamps began on May 14, 1918, the day after they were placed on sale. In Washington, D.C.， W. T. Robey, a man interested in stamps, decided to buy a sheet of the new stamps and so went to the New York Avenue branch post office in Washington. When the clerk handed him a sheet of the stamps, Robey noted that they were poorly centered. He looked at other sheet and found that none was well centered. The clerk asked Robey to return later in the day when more stamps were expected.
3. About noon Robey came back, and the same clerk was on duty. He reached for the new sheets and handed one to Robey. The collector’s heart stood still as he saw that the sheet while been offered him had inverted centers.
4. Excited by his find, Robey shopped other branch post office for more sheets with inverted centers but found none. Then he told his friends of his discovery, and they, too, looked in the city’s post offices - also in vain.
5. Not being a rich man, Robey decide to cash in on his good fortune. He turned down the first offer for $500 form a Washington stamp shop owner and took the sheet to New York. There he planned to show it to a collector, Colonel E. H. R. Green, as well as to stamp dealers.
6. Colonel Green was out of the city, and no one else wanted to bid on the sheet for fear that Robey’s might not be the only upside-down sheet. As the news of his find spread, Many people side that other such sheets had been found. These stories proved to be false.
7. Robey loft New York without having made a sale, and stopped in Philadelphia on the way home. There, dealer Eugene Klein arranged to buy the sheet for $15,000, and finally did buy it. Within a few days, Klein sold the sheet to Colonel Green, the same collector whom Robey had failed to contact in Texas at the time, and that Klein phoned him there and sold him the sheet, sight unseen, for $20,000! Robey’s sheet had cost him $24, and his profit was $14,976 while Klein gained $5,000.
8. Of the 100 stamp first bought by Mr. Robey, stamp collectors are now able to account for 90. What has happened to the others is not known. When a copy is offered for sale it is a major event in the stamp world. A single such stamp has sold for as much as $6,500. Few people have even seen a copy. Yet no matter how much this valuable stamp is bought and sold, no owner can match the thrill that W. T. Robey had on that day in 1918 when he made America’s luckiest stamp find!
1. 关于美国的第一枚航空邮票有一个有趣的故事。这枚面值为24美分的邮票印刷于1918年，玫瑰花边的中间有一架蓝色的飞机，成为人们关注的中心。因为蓝色的飞机因颠倒了，仅仅有一百枚这种“倒转”邮票卖给工种。现在，这种“倒转”航空邮票价值超过6000美元。
2. 关于这些邮票的故事发生在1918年5月14日，该日是它们开始销售的第二天。在首都华盛顿，一个集邮爱好者，罗比，决定去买一整版新邮票，于是他来到华盛顿市纽约大街的邮政支局。当职员递给他一版新的邮票时，罗比看到它们（印刷）的中心位置很差。他看了其它几版，没有一个摆正中心位置。职员告诉罗比当天晚些时候来退换，估计当时有很多邮票到货。
3. 罗比大约中午时候回来时，还是那个职员值班。他伸手够到新货取出一版递给罗比。当这个集邮者看到邮票时他的心跳霎那间停顿了，给他的这版邮票有一个倒转的中心。
4. 罗比被他的发现振奋，他到其它邮政支局去寻购更多张的“倒转”邮票，但是毫无成果。之后，它告诉他的朋友他的这一发现，他们和他一样，寻遍了全城的邮政支局，同样徒劳无功。
5. 罗比不是个富人，他决定把他的好运气换成钱。他拒绝了一个华盛顿集邮店老板500美元的第一个报价，带着邮票去纽约。他计划把“倒转”的邮票拿给一个名叫COLONEL的集邮者和一些邮票商看。
6. COLONEL先生不在纽约，而没有其他任何人想报价，他们害怕罗比的邮票不是唯一的“倒转”邮票。当关于罗比的发现的消息扩散开后，很多人声称找到了其它这样的邮票，但很快证实那些话不真实。
7. 罗比没有卖出邮票离开纽约，回家的路上他停脚费城。在那儿，一个邮票商克林安排15000美元收购全版“倒转票”，最终成交。几天之内，克林转手全版“倒转票”给COLONEL先生，卖给他全版“倒转票”时，他看都没看，出价20000美元！罗比付出24美元买全版“倒转票”，他的利润是14976美元，而克林先生赚了5000美元。
8. 罗比先生最先购买的100枚邮票中，现在既有着没能统计出的仅有90枚。没有人知道另外一些邮票的下落和故事。今天，一个“倒转票”的拷贝出售都是集邮界的大事。仅仅单枚这样的邮票曾经卖到6500美元。甚至是复制品也几乎没人看到过。不过这种价值极高的邮票卖多少钱、买多少钱，没有一个所有者的兴奋可与罗比在1918年发现最幸运的美国邮票那天的兴奋相比
[编辑：李巨伟] | |
