Legends of the West Stamps Recalled

In printing the Legends of the West the United States Postal Servic made a mistake when it copied an erroneous photograph of Bill Pickett. The picture, it turns out, was actually a photograph of Bill's brother Ben Pickett. Upon discovery of the error the USPS recalled all the stamps that had been distributed to post offices and printed new stamps with the correct picture. Everything might have been okay until it was discovered that a few sheets of the recalled stamps had been inadvertently sold before the recall, and now, with the recall, those few sheets were an instant rarity potentially worth thousands of dollars. Collectors demanded that the recalled sheets be issued anyway and the lucky few who had the sheets sued the USPS to prevent them from releasing more to the public. The lawsuits failed and the USPS eventually released 150,000 sheets through a lottery.

Recalled Pickett Stamp This is Ben Pickett

Bill Pickett Stamp

 

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