The Stamp is a mystery short story by Isaac Asimov.
Part of the Union Club series, it was first published in the June 1987 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.
Summary[]
In the Union Club, a member's boast about inventing a story where a valuable object is hidden in a cluttered room prompts Griswold to claim a nearly identical case happened to him. He recounts the story of Charles Plaggard, a wealthy but unrecognized author who posthumously established his home as a literary museum. Plaggard sent a belated letter to his only relative, James Forrest, informing him he had hidden a valuable, misprinted two-cent crimson American stamp somewhere in his study.
Forrest, supervised by lawyers and the museum's caretakers, conducted an exhaustive, days-long search of the study. He inspected every book, paper, drawer, and piece of furniture, even lifting the typewriter to look underneath it, but found nothing. Frustrated, Forrest consulted Griswold.
After hearing the details of the search, Griswold deduced that the one object no one had thought to use was the typewriter itself. He advised Forrest to return to the study and turn the platen—the roller on the typewriter around which paper is wound. Forrest did so and found the stamp affixed to the underside of the platen, a spot that had been invisible and untouched during the static search.
Characters[]
- Griswold
- Club Member (the narrator)
- Baranov
- Jennings
- Charles Plaggard
- James Forrest
- The Lawyers
- The Museum Caretakers
See Also[]
List of short stories by Isaac Asimov