Inverted Jenny stamp stolen in 1955 to be returned to owner

NEW YORK — A rare postage stamp stolen in 1955 has been returned to its rightful owner in New York City.

But the mystery surrounding the so-called Inverted Jenny remains: Who stole it and three other such stamps at a convention in Virginia?

On Thursday at the World Stamp Show, a man from Northern Ireland who inherited one of the stolen stamps from his grandfather watched as it was handed to officials of the Bellefonte, Pennsylvania-based American Philatelic Research Library.

A total of 100 Inverted Jenny stamps were printed in 1918, erroneously depicting an airplane printed upside-down.

Of the four stolen in 1955, three have now been recovered.

The stamp transferred Thursday surfaced at a New York auction house in April.