US Stamps

Let the celebration begin with foil-accented forever stamp

Jan 22, 2020, 11 AM

By Michael Baadke

The United States Postal Service is rolling out a new stamp specially made for events worth celebrating.

The nondenominated (55¢) Let’s Celebrate stamp will be issued Feb. 14 with a first-day ceremony at the Aripex stamp show and exhibition in Mesa, Ariz.

Janice Walker, USPS vice president for Corporate Communications, will speak at the event, which begins at 1 p.m. Mountain Time in the Theater Room of the Mesa Convention Center, 263 N. Center St.

The Postal Service encourages advance online registration for those planning to attend the ceremony.

The Aripex show will take place at the convention center Feb. 14-16, with a $5 admission fee good for all three days. Additional show details are found in the Feb. 10 issue of Linn’s.

The design of the Let’s Celebrate stamp presents an array of 55 colorful circles of varying sizes arranged in a random pattern.

The word “celebrate” is spelled out in dark green letters positioned one at a time in nine of the largest circles. Some of the other circles have outlines and central dots, creating a design like a burst of confetti, the Postal Service suggests.

Published technical details reveal that metallic foil accents in magenta, teal and orange are used as part of the design.

USPS art director Antonio Alcala designed the stamp, which is being issued in panes of 20.

Banknote Corporation of America printed the stamp on its Gallus RCS system using a combination process of offset lithography with microprinting, flexography and foil stamping.

One of the Postal Service’s two current contract stamp printers, Banknote Corporation previously applied foil accents to the Dragons set of four stamps issued in panes of 16 Aug. 9, 2018 (Scott 5307-5310).

The Postal Service describes the new Let’s Celebrate stamp as appropriate for any joyous event.

“Whether celebrating a birthday, an anniversary, a new job or retirement, this stamp will help mark the occasion,” the Postal Service said.

From 2007 to 2015, the Postal Service issued five stamps with a celebration theme highlighting the word “celebrate.” The first was a 41¢ vertical stamp that spelled out the word using individual colorful blocks stacked three across and four down (Scott 4196). Later versions reused the same design, but changed the denomination to 42¢ in 2008 (4335) and 44¢ in 2009 (4407).

A new Celebrate design spelling out the word with neon letters and fireworks against a black background was used for a nondenominated (44¢) horizontal forever stamp in 2011 (Scott 4502). In 2015 the design was altered slightly, moving the small “Forever” designation from the upper left corner to centered below the “Celebrate” design, on a forever stamp with a 49¢ franking value (5019).

The Celebrate stamps carry forward a theme expressed by greetings stamps in the 1987 and 1988 Special Occasions booklets (Scott 2267-2274 and 2395-2398).

The Postal Service also issued three Happy Birthday stamps; two in 2002, and another in 2006.

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