Easy options for Japan's Gifts of Friendship stamps, FDC

Collectors interested in obtaining Japan's stamps in the upcoming United States-Japan Gifts of Friendship joint issue will be able to buy them from the U.S. Postal Service.

The Postal Service will offer a sheet of four stamps from Japan as item 801211 for $2.95.

A joint cover set of two will also be issued, according to USPS spokesman Mark Saunders; each cover will be franked with two U.S. stamps struck with a digital color postmark, and two stamps from the Japan issue with a Japan Post pictorial postmark. In addition, a first-day cover canceled pane of the Japan Post sheet will be available.

The products will be posted on the USPS Postal Store website "within the next week," Saunders said April 3. Item numbers for the covers were not yet available.

The Gifts of Friendship stamps will be issued April 10 in Washington, D.C.

The four U.S. stamp designs in a pane of 12 show dogwood and cherry blossoms with well-known landmarks in Washington and Tokyo.

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