In 1901, the World's Fair was held in Buffalo, New York. It was called the Pan-American Exposition because it featured advances and innovations in American industry and transportation. The Department of the US Post Office created six stamps to commemorate the occasion.
One of these stamps, depicting the steamboat City of Alpena and subtitled Fast Lake Navigation, had some trouble in production -- the same printing error that would create the Inverted Jenny 17 years later. The Pan-American Invert reached post offices and entered circulation before the mistake was noticed.
While significantly less rare than the Inverted Jenny stamp, the value of the Pan-American Invert still weighs in at $100,000.
This bit of philately history caught our eye because it was released in 1901 -- and as readers of our blog would know, the turn of the century kicked off the first great era of jigsaw puzzles!
Read more about the Pan-American Invert here.
