Nondenominated stamps have values too

By Jennifer York

None of the United States stamps pictured on this page bears a denomination. For most stamps, the denomination represents the postage value. This is usually indicated by numerals printed as part of the design of the stamp.

Sometimes U.S. stamps are printed without a denomination because the U.S. Postal Service does not know well enough in advance what value the stamps will have. When the Postal Service seeks an increase in domestic postal rates, it must wait for a review and recommendation from the Postal Rate Commission, an independent agency of the federal government.

Once a rate change plan is reviewed, the Postal Service may choose to put the new rate into effect very quickly. Therefore, it prints hundreds of millions of nondenominated stamps well in advance that it can sell at the new rate as soon as it goes into effect.

The subjects of these stamps are usually generic so that they can be called into duty at any time. At times, however, the looming rate change has occurred near a holiday, so some nondenominated Christmas stamps and Love stamps (for Valentine's Day) have been issued.

Other nondenominated stamps include what are called "service-inscribed" stamps. These stamps have printed on them the specific mailing class that they fulfill, such as bulk rate, presorted or nonprofit.

The Breast Cancer Research semipostal is unique among nondenominated U.S. stamps. Issued July 29, 1998, it sold for 40¢, of which 32¢ covered the first-class letter rate in effect at the time. The additional 8¢ was used to fund government breast cancer research.

On Jan. 10, 1999, the first-class letter rate increased to 33¢. Breast Cancer Research semipostals continued to sell for 40¢ each after that date, but with 33¢ going toward postage and only 7¢ set aside for research.

A similar situation occurred when a rate increase implemented Jan. 7, 2001, made the first-class letter rate 34¢, thus reducing the surcharge on the semipostal to 6¢. While the price of the Breast Cancer Research semipostal has remained the same, the postal value has changed twice.

The chart below shows all the nondenominated U.S. regular postage stamps, and it provides the face values, Scott catalog numbers and issue dates for each.

Along with regular postage stamps, the United States has issued nondenominated Official stamps inscribed Postal Card Rate D (value 14¢); Domestic Letter Rate D (22¢); Domestic Mail E (25¢); and For U.S. addresses only F (29¢) and G (32¢).

There are also nondenominated U.S. stamped envelopes and postal cards. For envelopes, the face values are A (15¢), B (18¢), C (20¢), D (22¢), Old Glory G (32¢), Nonprofit Sheep (5¢) and Bulk Rate Eagle (10¢). There are two nondenominated Great Seal design Official envelopes: E-rate (25¢) and F-rate (29¢).

For nondenominated postal cards, the face values are John Hancock (10¢), Eagle (12¢), Robert Morris (13¢), Charles Carroll (14¢) and Old Glory G (20¢).

With the exception of the Breast Cancer Research semipostal, the postage values of nondenominated U.S. stamps and postal stationery items have not changed.

Nondenominated U.S. Regular Postage Stamps
10¢ Scott 1579 Oct. 14, 1975	10¢ Scott 1580 Oct. 14, 1975	15¢ Scott 1735-36, 1743 May 22, 1978	18¢ Scott 1818-20 March 15, 1981	20¢ Scott 1946-48 Oct. 11, 1981	20¢ Scott 1939 Oct. 28, 1981
20¢ Scott 1940 Oct. 28, 1981	22¢ Scott 2111-13 Feb. 1, 1985	25¢ Scott 2277, 2279, 2282 March 22, 1988	29¢ Scott 2517-20 Jan. 22, 1991	4¢ Scott 2521 Jan. 22, 1991	29¢ Scott 2522 Jan. 22, 1991
29¢ Scott 2578 Oct. 17, 1991	29¢ Scott 2579-81 Oct. 17, 1991	29¢ Scott 2582 Oct. 17, 1991	29¢ Scott 2583 Oct. 17, 1991	29¢ Scott 2584 Oct. 17, 1991	29¢ Scott 2585 Oct. 17, 1991
10¢ Scott 2602-04, 2907, 3270-71 1991, 1993, 1996, 1998	3¢ Scott 2877-78 Dec. 13, 1994	20¢ yellow background Scott 2879-80 Dec. 13, 1994	32¢ white background Scott 2881-87, 2889-92 Dec. 13, 1994	25¢ blue background Scott 2888 Dec. 13, 1994	5¢ green background Scott 2893 1995
5¢ Scott 2902, 2902B March 10, 1995; 1996	10¢ Scott 2905-06 March 10, 1995; 1996	15¢ Scott 2908-10 March 17, 1995; 1996	25¢ Scott 2911-12B, 3132 March 17, 1995; 1996; 1997	32¢ Scott 2948-49 Feb. 1, 1995	5¢ Scott 2903-04B March 16, 1996; 1997
5¢ Scott 3207, 3207A June 5, 1998; Dec. 14, 1998	25¢ Scott 3208, 3208A June 5, 1998; Sept. 30, 1998	33¢ (postage value) Scott B1 July 29, 1998	10¢ Scott 3228-29 Aug. 14, 1998	1¢ Scott 3257-58 Nov. 9, 1998	33¢ Scott 3260, 3264-69 Nov. 9, 1998
10¢ Scott 3447 Nov. 9, 2000	34¢ Scott 3448-50 Dec. 15, 2000	34¢ Scott 3451-53 Dec. 15, 2000	34¢ Scott 3454, 3458, 3465 Dec. 15, 2000	34¢ Scott 2455, 3459, 3464 Dec. 15, 2000	34¢ Scott 3456, 3460, 3462 Dec. 15, 2000
	34¢ Scott 3457, 3461, 3463 Dec. 15, 2000	34¢ Scott 3496 Jan. 19, 2001	10¢ Scott 3520 June 29, 2001	15¢ Scott 3522 Aug. 3, 2001