New U.S. stamp heralds Year of the Horse Feb. 3 in Houston, Texas

By Charles Snee

The seventh stamp in the United States Postal Service’s current Lunar New Year series celebrates the Year of the Horse and will be issued Feb. 3 in Houston, Texas. The Year of the Horse begins Feb. 17 of this year and comes to a close Feb. 7, 2027.

A free public first-day ceremony is planned for 11 a.m. Central Standard Time at the Chinese Community Center, 9800 Town Park Drive, in Houston.

Collectors desiring to attend the ceremony are asked to register with the Postal Service at usps.com/lunarnewyearhorse. Each attendee may invite a maximum of five guests, the USPS said.

David Steiner, postmaster general of the USPS, will serve as the dedicating official. Joining Steiner on the dais are Gary Poon, chief executive officer of the Chinese Community Center, and chef and content creator Luis M. Chen.

According to China Highlights, a tour company: “In Chinese culture, the Horse is known for its energetic and dynamic nature. It symbolizes vitality, speed, and perseverance. People born in the Year of the Horse are believed to possess similar traits, such as being hardworking, warm-hearted, and independent.”…

The 2020 Year of the Rat (Scott 5428), 2021 Year of the Ox (5556), 2022 Year of the Tiger (5662), 2023 Year of the Rabbit (5744) and 2024 Year of the Dragon (5829) stamps feature an ornate three-dimensional ceremonial mask by Camille Chew.

In a noticeable change, Chew’s design for the 2025 Year of the Snake forever stamp (Scott 5952) is not a mask. However, like the previous five designs and the new 2026 nondenominated (78¢) Year of the Horse stamp (which does feature a mask), her artwork is three-dimensional.

“Chew constructed the mask out of hand-printed paper, then cut, scored and folded it into shape,” the Postal Service said. “She then embellished the mask with acrylic paint and other paper elements, such as flowers and tassels, and covered the back of the mask in a layer of papier-mâché.”

Her intricate artwork was photographed by Sally Andersen-Bruce and then used for the vignette of the stamp designed by USPS art director Antonio Alcala. …

Chew is creating designs for all the stamps in the current Lunar New Year series of 12.

The series chronicles the full zodiac cycle of lunar years observed in many Asian cultures. Each year in the repeating cycle is identified and characterized by a specific animal.

The 12 animals featured in the lunar new year cycle, also known as the Chinese zodiac, are normally listed beginning with the rat and followed by the ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog and boar (or pig).

The new Year of the Horse stamp was printed by six-color offset lithography with accents in gold and teal (deep blue green) foil, according to production details published in the Jan. 8 issue of the Postal Bulletin.

Banknote Corporation of America, one of the Postal Service’s two contract printers, produced 20 million Year of the Horse stamps that were finished into 1 million panes of 20 for sale at post offices and other outlets authorized to sell postage stamps. …

Two pictorial first-day cancels will be made available for the 2026 Year of the Horse forever stamp.

The black postmark will show a stylized horse similar to the one on the stamp. The full color postmark will picture the ceremonial horse mask as illustrated on the stamp.

The black postmark is applied at no charge to most collector-submitted envelopes. There is a 5¢ charge for each additional postmark over 50.

The color postmark can be obtained by collectors on envelopes constructed from laser-safe paper. There is an order minimum of 10 envelopes with a fee of 50¢ per postmark.

The USPS Postal Bulletin provides additional ordering information.

Both the black and color postmarks are used on first-day covers prepared and sold by the Postal Service.

All requests for Year of the Horse first-day cancels must be postmarked by June 3.

To read the full story about the 2026 Year of the Horse stamp, subscribe to Linn’s Stamp News.

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