$2 Circus souvenir sheet press sheet planned

A press sheet will be issued Dec. 10 for the upcoming United States $2 Circus souvenir sheet. Pre-orders for the press sheet will start Nov. 10, with USPS item number 588708.

The single mint souvenir sheet with die cuts, containing a previously unissued $1 Clown stamp and two examples of a previously unissued 50¢ Circus Wagon stamp, will be available only with the purchase of The 2014 Stamp Yearbook for $64.95 from the U.S. Postal Service. The book is USPS item 991400.

Postal Service spokesman Mark Saunders told Linn’s that 10,000 press sheets will be offered, and that each will consist of 12 souvenir sheets and sell for the face value of $24.

Saunders added that “the souvenir sheets on the press sheets will be partially die-cut,” and explained that the stamps within the souvenir sheet will not be die cut, but the edges of the individual souvenir sheets will be die cut to shape.

A first-day cover of the souvenir sheet without die cuts will also be made available with a black-ink Baraboo, Wis., postmark. No digital color postmark will be offered. The first-day cover is USPS item No. 588716 and sells for $4.50.