Monday Morning Brief | Where are the 2017 Legends of Hollywood, Music Icons stamps?

Thus far, the U.S. Postal Service has kept silent about new stamps for these two popular series. Linn’s associate editor Michael Baadke reviews this development, along with other happenings in the 2017 U.S. stamp program.

Full Video Transcript:

This is your Monday Morning Brief for September 11, 2017.

The United States Postal Service recently announced that it is postponing the release of a planned forever stamp commemorating the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The Postal Service had announced in its Aug. 4 Postal Bulletin that the new forever stamp would go on sale nationwide Sept. 24, but just a few weeks later it released a statement to the press that the stamp will be issued later in the year once a new date has been confirmed with the museum.

Using the information published in the USPS Postal Bulletin, Linn’s Stamp News had already reported the Sept. 24 issue date. That date is now off the release calendar, according to Postal Service officials.

The museum opened in Washington D.C. on Sept. 24, 2016, and is planning a number of anniversary activities on that date this year. USPS spokesman Roy Betts told Linn’s that a decision was made to follow up with a later stand-alone stamp event.

The stamp design shows the sensational exterior of the new museum building as photographed by architectural photographer Alan Karchmer.

Many collectors of United States stamps have been wondering about the fate of two popular commemorative series.

There has been no word from the Postal Service about a 2017 Legends of Hollywood stamp or a Music Icons stamp.

The Legends of Hollywood series started in 1995 with a 32¢ Marilyn Monroe stamp and has produced 20 stamps in the series so far. The Music Icons series began in 2013 and has honored several great singers and musicians, including Johnny Cash and Ray Charles.

It’s possible that these stamp series have come to an end. The Postal Service so far has declined to comment whether or not these two series will continue.

Rumors have circulated for several years that actress Elizabeth Taylor is being considered as the subject for a Legends of Hollywood stamp, and James Brown and Roy Orbison are in line for their own Music Icons stamps.

Two sets of U.S. forever stamps will be issued on consecutive days in the first week in October. Both of these sets are being issued in double-sided panes of 20, which the Postal Service calls a booklet.

On Wednesday Oct. 4, the Postal Service will issue four stamps at the Brooklyn Public Library in New York to honor the 1962 picture book The Snowy Day, by Jack Ezra Keats. Each stamp shows a scene with Peter, a little boy enjoying his adventures outside after a heavy snowfall.

On Thursday, Oct. 5, a different set of four stamps will be issued paying tribute to familiar Christmas carols. Each stamp shows a scene related to one of four Christmas songs, and includes a line or phrase from that song.

The four songs featured are Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls, Silent Night and Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. The stamps will be issued in New York City, where the American Stamp Dealers Association is holding its New York Fall Postage Stamp Show at the New York Hilton Midtown Oct. 5-7.

This is the only set of new Christmas stamps that has been announced by the Postal Service for 2017. The Postal Service tells Linn’s Stamp News that it also has inventory of additional holiday theme stamps on hand.

You can keep up with the latest stamp news by liking Linn’s Stamp News on Facebook, and following Linn’s on Twitter.

For Linn’s Stamp News and the Scott catalogs, I’m Michael Baadke.