Ferns forever stamps possible

The flip-flopping on the denomination of the United States Ferns coil stamps continued into January.

It now appears that the five Ferns stamps, currently available with the 49¢ denomination, eventually will be issued by the U.S. Postal Service as nondenominated forever coil stamps.

On Jan. 27, 49¢ Ferns stamps in coils of 3,000 and 10,000 were issued with a printed 49¢ denomination.

Details provided to Linn’s ahead of the Jan. 27 issue date included an incorrect print quantity. For the coil roll of 10,000, there were 50 million stamps produced, not 100 million, as reported in the Feb. 10 Linn’s, page 20.

The production quantity presumably changed, because the same designs will be issued as forever stamps in large rolls later in the year.

The Jan. 23 Postal Bulletin includes this statement:

“Later this year, large coils will also be made available in the Forever format for added convenience to business mailers.”

The stamp designs are based on photographs of the following types of ferns: autumn fern, Goldie’s wood fern, soft shield fern, Fortune’s holly fern and painted fern.

The Postal Service describes the designs, “The shapes and textures of the fronds stand out against a stark white background, highlighting the placement of the leaflets along each fern’s stem.”