Nixon's flaws pay off in the end Flawed Nixon stamp nets $16,000

If ever you buy a stamp from the post office with a misprint on it, do not complain and, above all, do not exchange it for a pristine one, writes David Usborne. You might discover that your stamp is worth a little more than you paid for it.

This is the lesson learned by a happy citizen of Virginia who last year bought a sheet of 160 first-class stamps commemorating the former president Richard Nixon. It was only when the man first tore one off to stick on an envelope that he noticed something odd.

The stamps were what the cognoscenti call "inverts". Because of an extremely rare printing error, they had been passed through the printing press the wrong way. Nixon's face was split in half, with his chin and mouth at the top and his forehead at the bottom. Moreover, his name was printed upside down across his famous ski nose.

The purchaser, who has remained anonymous, did the right thing. He offered just one of the stamps for auction at Christie's in New York, where experts told him he might get between $8,000 and $10,000 for it. But when it went on sale this week it fetched $16,675 (pounds 10,900).

Nothing is known about the bidder either, except that he too is American and was not present at the sale. Instead, according to Colin Fraser, head of Christie's stamp department, he bought the stamp by private arrangement.

There is little that is secret about the small fortune the original purchaser stands to make, if he can continue to sell the stamps for the same amount of money - a grand total of $2.3m. Not a bad return for an original investment at his local post office of just $51.20.

For now, though, the mystery seller is biding his time, apparently keeping the other 159 of his wonky stamps in his desk drawer. He may still be pondering the wonder of his luck. The Post Office has said it printed no fewer than 80 million of the Nixon stamps last year and, as far as it knows, only this single sheet came out botched.