7 Times Government Typos Made History
Ever wondered what happens when a government prints a typo? Sometimes, someone gets fired, and sometimes, if you’re lucky, you end up with a stamp worth two million dollars, or a one of a kind coin.
These documents show that even the most tightly controlled printing processes aren’t typo-proof, and that sometimes, the mistake becomes worth more than the thing itself.
The Inverted Jenny U.S. Airmail Stamp, 1918
A sheet of 100 stamps featuring an upside-down Curtiss JN-4 airplane. The design was fed through the printing press upside down during the second color pass, resulting in the airplane flying upside down.
On May 14, 1918, collector William T. Robey bought this single sheet of stamps at a post office in Washington, D.C. for its $24 face value. Today, a single “Inverted Jenny” stamp can reach over $1.5 million at auction.
The CIA Invert Stamp Covert Purchase – 1979
In 1979, a group of CIA employees went to a post office in McLean, Virginia, to buy stamps for official mailings. They noticed that a sheet of 100 $1 Candle Stamps had the brown ink inverted, and the candlestick and flame were upside down.
What the employees did was swapping the error sheet with standard stamps, and kept the originals. After that the CIA launched an investigation and demanded the employees return the stamps or face termination. Several employees resigned rather than give them back. A single stamp from that sheet is now worth over $25,000.
The “Del Monte” Note – 1996
A green-and-red Del Monte banana sticker somehow found its way to the design before the final overprint pass, which stamps the Treasury Seal and serial numbers. The serial number and green seal were printed directly over the banana sticker.
Discovered by a college student in Ohio who received it from an ATM, the note was preserved in pristine condition. It auctioned for nearly $400,000.
The Philippines “Arrovo” Banknote, 2005
In 2005, the central bank, BSP, accidentally printed 100 bills with then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s name, spelled as “Arrovo” instead of Arroyo
The central bank issued a public apology to the President, but after thousands of the “Arrovo” bills entered circulation.
The bills immediately became items for currency collectors.
rcab_coins / eBay
Chile’s 50-peso coin, 2008
In 2008, the Mint of Chile misspelled only a tiny detail, the country’s own name.
The Mint of Chile issued thousands of 50-peso coins where the country’s name was misspelled as “CHIIE”.
The coins remained in circulation for over a year before anyone noticed. Once discovered, the head of the Chilean Mint and several officials were fired. Today, the error coins are collectors’ items.
The Australian $50 Note Typo, 2018
Australia’s Reserve Bank released 46 million new $50 notes with microscopic text from Edith Cowan’s historic first speech to Parliament. Printed in tiny font were repeated instances of the word “responsibilty”—missing the final “i”.
The mistake was confirmed after an Instagram post by Triple M showed the new currency under a magnifying glass, revealing the typo on the note just above Edith Cowan’s shoulder.
The word appears three times, all misspelled on the note in the same way.
And as replacing $2.3 billion AUD worth of notes was too expensive, they just let them stay in circulation.
The Syrian Passport Watermark, 2025
Embedded inside the pages of the passport is an illustration of Damascus’s historic Souq al-Hamidiyah market, but, with a watermark right over the image.
When designing the page, someone pulled a stock photo from the web and apparently failed to remove the original photographer’s signature. As a result, millions of official Syrian passports were issued with the watermark “Wassim al-Asmar Photography” printed directly inside! And Wassim al-Asmar was got a free promotion.
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