Post Office Offers 29 Cents, Mug For $1 Million Stamp

BEND, Ore. - Dan Piske owns a stamp collector's dream: a rare misprint that could be worth more than $1 million.

The Postal Service, which issued the stamp by mistake, wants it, too. Its offer: 29 cents and a commemorative coffee mug.

"Let's just say I told them that probably wouldn't be in my best interests," said Piske, a self-employed draftsman and amateur stamp collector.

Piske said collectors have hounded him since he bought the stamp. "It seems like the whole world has been calling me," he said.

The stamp was included on a sheet commemorating 20 heroes of the Old West. It could fetch more than $1 million at auction because it bears the name of cowboy Bill Pickett but actually depicts his brother, Ben. Misprinted stamps often are prized by collectors because of their rarity.

Bill Pickett is credited with inventing the rodeo sport of bulldogging, or steer wrestling. He died in 1932 after being kicked by a colt.

Pickett's family spotted the error on the stamp a week ago and notified postal officials. It was the first time in 147 years that the Postal Service has issued a stamp carrying an incorrect image, a postal official said. All 250 million sheets in the series have since been recalled.

Bend is the only place in the country where the stamp was mistakenly sold. Postal officials there told Piske they would buy the stamp back - for face value. They also offered to throw in the mug.

Piske's father, a retired Postal Service employee, saw the stamps and told his son they weren't scheduled for public release until March 29.

At least one other copy of the stamp was sold, but it apparently was used to mail a letter, all but destroying its value to collectors.

The exact number of stamps that were mistakenly sold won't be known for certain until the recalled sheets containing the misprint arrive at the agency's main distribution center in Kansas City, Mo.