http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061110/us_nm/life_stamp_dc

Short Version: One of the ultra-rare misprinted stamps with the biplane flying upside down was used to mail an absentee ballot.

Can we get a confirm on this? I think I smell UL, but that may be something on my shoes..

Sure we can get a confirm on this story.  In 22 months when they can open the box again.

Just got done reading this story linked on MSN.com.  Said pretty much the same thing your link did.  (Surprise, surprise.)

I suppose that somebody may have stuck a fake one on the envelope, just to see if people really do pay much attention to the ballots.  Or else some stamp collector’s 5-year-old kid just received the spanking of his life.

Accipiter - 12 November 2006 08:38 AM

I suppose that somebody may have stuck a fake one on the envelope, just to see if people really do pay much attention to the ballots.

That sounds like the most likely scenerio, especially since there was no identification anywhere.  I would think the older stamps would be easier to counterfeit anyway.

Rodstrom said he doubted the stamp would ever be handed over to someone claiming to have mailed it inadvertently.

“It would be hard to prove, I guess you would have to say it was a person who had Alzheimer’s,” he said.

If the $$$ value was high enough, the claimant could easily establish ownership by paying for a DNA test.  He undoubtedly licked the stamp or the envelope.

The person not only lost a half billion dollar stamp, but didn’t even get their vote counted.  What a rip off.

Razela - 12 November 2006 05:27 PM

The person not only lost a half billion dollar stamp, but didn’t even get their vote counted.  What a rip off.

Razela - 12 November 2006 05:27 PM

The person not only lost a half billion dollar stamp, but didn’t even get their vote counted.  What a rip off.

I was thinking this, too.

The story I heard said it had been determind that the stamp was a fake.