Tuesday, Feb. 27, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
If any of these stamps are in your collection, you have some rare treasures, according to the Kenmore Stamp Co. of Milford, N.H.:
* BRITISH GUIANA: A black-on-magenta one-cent British Guiana stamp from 1856 is the world's most valuable stamp, worth nearly $1 million. Only one is known to exist. American millionaire Arthur Hind outbid King George V of England for it in 1917, purchasing the specimen for $38,000. One story is that Hind once bought a second specimen for tens of thousands of dollars then burned it, thus tremendously increasing the remaining one's value. The stamp sold at auction in 1980 for $930,000.
* THE INVERTED JENNY: This is the famous "upside down airplane" 24-cent stamp accidentally printed by the United States in 1918. Postal officials believe that just a single sheet of 100 was sold. Each stamp retails for $200,000 or more. Had another sheet been sold originally for $24 and kept intact, it would be worth greater than $13 million today.
* GLASGOW ERROR: Today, many "error" stamps -- those printed with a flaw undetected by the engraver -- have great value. In 1964, the Falkland Islands issued a set of four stamps commemorating the 50th anniversary of the battle for the islands. The H.M.S. Glasgow, intended for the 2 1/2-cent stamp, appears on the 6-cent issue instead of the H.M.S. Kent. Just one sheet of 60 error stamps is believed to have been released. The Glasgow error stamp today is worth more than $20,000.
* JOHN PAUL JONES: Stamps don't have to be old to be rare or valuable. Take the U.S.-issued John Paul Jones 15-cent commemorative of 1979. During production, a perforation pin broke, causing some stamps to have 12 perforations per 2 centimeters on each side (the common version of the stamp is 11 perfs per two centimeters on the horizontal sides and 12 on the vertical sides). While the common Jones stamp sells for pennies, the perf error stamp is valued at about $300.
* FIRST U.S. ISSUE: The stamp cataloged as "U.S. No. 1" is a 5-cent 1847 issue featuring Benjamin Franklin, the nation's first postmaster general. The stamp cataloged in 1967 for $29.50 used. Today, with available specimens dwindling, the stamp retails for $650 used.
* ST. LOUIS BEARS: These provisional stamps, issued prior to the first U.S. stamp, today fetch thousands of dollars per specimen. Once, a porter retrieved from the trash at the Louisville, Ky., courthouse $50,000 worth of St. Louis Bears on envelopes routinely disposed of by courthouse officials.
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