A new Schooner postal card sets sail July 18

By Scott Tiffney

A new nondenominated (61¢) forever postal card featuring a two-masted schooner sailing in open water will be issued by the United States Postal Service on Friday, July 18, at the Minnesota Stamp Expo in Crystal, Minn.

For those wishing to attend the first-day ceremony for the Schooner card, the event will take place at 11 a.m. on Friday, July 18, the first day of the stamp expo, at the Crystal Community Center, 4800 Douglas Drive N. The ceremony is open to all show attendees, and American Philatelic Society president Cheryl Ganz will be a speaker.

The Schooner stamped postal card will always be equal to the value of the stamped postal card rate in effect at the time of use. The stamped card is priced at 69 cents (61¢ postage plus an 8¢ surcharge).

The postal card’s stamp design is based on a photo taken by renowned nautical photographer Billy Black of a 2014 replica of the schooner Columbia, a fishing vessel originally built in Essex, Mass., in 1923.

Working from Black’s photograph, the artist, Libby VanderPloeg, started with pencil sketches before using Adobe Illustrator to finish the design, according to the Postal Service.

USPS art director Antonio Alcala worked with VanderPloeg, whose artistic style is best described as whimsical and vibrant with bold colors and simple shapes. The indicium featured on the Schooner postal card reflects this style with shades of blue for the sky and water, white for sails and seabirds, highlights of black and brown for the schooner’s structure, and red for a flag at the top of the mainmast. …

The single Schooner forever postal card has been printed in a quantity of 1.2 million, while 24,000 double-reply cards and 1,500 sheets of 40 cards are also available.

A first-day cancel in black for the Schooner forever postal card is being offered by the Postal Service. The black postmark is applied free, up to a quantity of 50. There is a 5¢ charge for each additional postmark over 50. The postmark features a “FIRST DAY OF ISSUE” four-bar killer and circular datestamp.

All requests for Schooner forever postal card first-day cancels must be postmarked by November 18.

Further Schooner forever postal card products are available from the online USPS postal store.

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