FLOAT

US 1979 $1 'CIA Invert'

Maker
United States Postal Service
Year
1979
Rank
32 of 100

US 1979 $1 'CIA Invert'

US 1979 $1 'CIA Invert' by United States Postal Service (1979) is ranked 32 in the FLOAT 100 for Stamps. It sold for $71,875 on 1 January 2015. The famous modern invert discovered in a sheet bought by CIA employees — the iconic late-20th-century US error.

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

The famous modern invert discovered in a sheet bought by CIA employees — the iconic late-20th-century US error.

Scott 1610c, $1 Americana 'Rush Lamp & Candle Holder', brown engraving inverted; ~85-95 accounted for

What is the best-sourced number for it?

Figure
$71,875
Kind
Realized at auction
Date
1 January 2015

Block of four realized $71,875 (2015); single-stamp Scott Specialized value $17,000 MNH (2023 ed.). NOTE: cited figure is for a block of four.

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.
Archive
2026-08-08