A block of the inverts (#294a)

According to Johl the eight sheets of #294 with inverted stamps were sent to four post offices.

Four sheets in Virginia, near Richmond.
One sheet at Bessemer, Alabama.
One sheet in New York, near Utica.
One sheet in Connecticut.

They were first discovered by the employees of the Carrell Jewellery Company on some circulars just prior to mailing them. After spotting the error they quickly removed them and the rest is history.

For the vignette was based on this photograph of the City of Aplena, taken whilst it was steaming from Detroit to Mackinac Island.

The impressive new CITY OF ALPENA and her sister were 285 feet long and driven by 2,000-horsepower steam engines. They carried as many as 400 passengers along with significant cargoes of “package freight”….merchandise and foodstuffs to supply the needs of local communities. They provided a critical link to big cities like Toledo, Detroit and Saginaw, in the years before completion of railroads and highways to the communities of booming Northeast Michigan.

This issue was the first bi-color stamps since 1869. The process has not been perfected and the second color, the black of the vignette was sometimes mis-aligned. These stamps command a slight premium, the degree of which depends on how off centre the vignette is.

Offset to the left, called the 'Fast Ship' stamp

Offset to the right, called the 'Slow Ship' stamp

Offset to the bottom, called the 'Sinking Ship' stamp

The vignette of a standard #294 has been inverted to give it the appearance of #294a.