New A Flag for All Seasons variety likely

Another new variety of the United States A Flag for All Seasons forever stamp set will be issued soon, though no issue date has been set.

The new stamps will be dated 2014 and issued in a double-sided pane of 20, convertible booklet format, printed by Sennett Security Products.

U.S. Postal Service spokesman Mark Saunders told Linn’s that the new issue could appear soon.

USPS stamp services director Susan McGowan stated that the variety was being created for sale at Approved Postal Providers: grocery stores and other establishments that sell stamps but are not post offices.

New signs created and posted late last year at these locations feature the A Flag for All Seasons stamp design. This signage was distributed before the new 2014 Star-Spangled Banner stamp was issued.

Instead of making new signs, the Postal Service went back to press with the A Flag For All Seasons stamps.

The new variety will likely be sold at those locations for approximately one year.

The A Flag for All Seasons forever stamps debuted as coil stamps May 3, 2013. Varieties of the stamps were subsequently released over the course of four issue dates in multiple formats.

There are 28 collectible varieties of the four stamp designs to date. Four of those 28 stamps were designated as minor-letter varieties by the Scott catalog editors.

Each of the three contract printers for the Postal Service have produced this issue in both a coil of 100 and a booklet pane of 20. A pane of 10 stamps was issued as well.

The stamp designs, shown here in a USPS publicity image for the 2013 issues, are by illustrator Laura Stutzman. Each stamp depicts an American flag flying from a flagpole and viewed from below, with trees in the background representing one of the seasons of spring, summer, fall or winter.