FLOAT
A used example of the Western Australia 4d blue Inverted Swan frame-invert error (SG 4a), held by the State Library of New South Wales - another example of the roughly 15 known, not the Vestey copy whose 2015 sale prices this constituent. The frame text reads upside down while the swan is upright.

Inverted Swan

Maker
Colony of Western Australia
Year
1855
Rank
13 of 100

Inverted Swan

Inverted Swan by Colony of Western Australia (1855) is ranked 13 in the FLOAT 100 for Stamps. It sold for $190,000 on 19 May 2015. One of the world's first invert errors — predating the Inverted Jenny by 63 years — and the foundational error of Australian philately.

What is it, and why is it in the FLOAT 100?

One of the world's first invert errors — predating the Inverted Jenny by 63 years — and the foundational error of Australian philately.

4d blue, the FRAME inverted (not the swan); ~15 complete copies survive; used 3-margin example

What is the best-sourced number for it?

Figure
$190,000
Kind
Realized at auction
Date
19 May 2015

Spink, Lord Vestey sale, 19 May 2015: GBP 122,400 (~$190,000) for a 3-margin used example, more than double estimate.

This is a realized sale. Somebody paid it. Source.

How this is made

The figure
One reference price, taken from a named public source and shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
Realized or not
A realized price is a completed sale. A market asking price and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
Why no grade ladder
Most FLOAT 100 entries are individual objects. There is one of this, so there is no population and no spread across grades to show.
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2026-08-08