Value: $935,001 to $3,000,000
Date of First Publication: February 1868
One cent’s face value
Benjamin Franklin photo
Type of Rarity: Z-grill
There are two in existence.
The single cent The Z-grill, a special kind of grill that has horizontal ridges rather than the typical vertical design, is shown on the Benjamin Franklin stamp. To avoid dishonest reuse, grilling helped the stamp paper absorb cancelling ink better. It is typically regarded by philatelists as the most valuable and uncommon grill stamp.
There are now just two one-cent Benjamin Franklin Z-Grill stamps known to exist, and both have cancellation markings. One of the remaining Z-Grills is kept by the New York Public Library, leaving just one in private hands.
1868 Z-Grill
The privately held 1868 Z-Grill was acquired by the stamp trading platform Mystic Stamp Company for $935,000 in 1998. In October 2005, the Z-Grill was bartered by Zachary Sundman, the company’s president, to stamp investor Bill Gross for a set of four Inverted Jennys worth roughly $3 million.
From May 27, 2006, to October 1, 2007, the National Postal Museum hosted an exhibition of the two remaining Z-Grills.
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The World’s Most Expensive Stamps: American Edition
One: One cent The Z Grill of Benjamin Franklin is one of the most expensive American stamps. The embossed “Z Grill” on this stamp is what makes it so uncommon. A grill is an embossed design designed to stop stamps from being used more than once. In its early years, the US Postal Service used a variety of grill kinds as they experimented with the most effective ways to detect fraud. Although the Z grill was not frequently used, it can be seen on stamps of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
Last Words
Only two Benjamin Franklin Z Grills are known to have survived, making them the rarest. The most recent auction price paid for this stamp was $935,000 in 1998.