New Forever Stamps Booklet Features Colorful Celebrations

A new booklet of Forever stamps entitled Colorful Celebrations was dedicated today at World Stamp Show-NY 2016 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. The international stamp show will conclude tomorrow. The United States plays host to a sanctioned international stamp show only once every 10 years, with the next one scheduled for 2026 in Boston, MA.

The stamps feature designs based on a Mexican art form known as “papel picado,” Spanish for “pierced paper.” While the designs suggest cut paper, they actually were created digitally.

U.S. Postal Service Vice President of Pricing and Costing Sharon Owens, dedicating the new stamps, remarked on the 10 vivid and colorful designs “featuring celebratory patterns that showcase geometric shapes, flowers and birds.” 

These new stamps have been printed – and will be sold – only as complete booklets of 20 stamps, priced at $9.40 (20 X $0.47). Each booklet of 20 Forever stamps includes 10 digitally-created designs with eye-popping patterns that showcase geometric shapes, flowers and birds. Each of the 10 design appears twice in each booklet of 20 stamps.

The stamp designs come in one of four colors: blue, orange, purple, and fuchsia. Papel picado, an intricate art form that was developed in Mexico, inspired artist Atzin Gaytan’s digital stamp art. Sally Andersen-Bruce designed the stamps. Derry Noyes served as the project’s art director.

Leveraging Technology

The U.S. Postal Service is introducing four new products tailored to stamp collectors at the World Stamp Show – NY2016:

The self-adhesive Classics Forever Stamps dedicated June 1 were the first water soluble First-Class Forever stamps. Desirable to collectors of stamps from delivered mail, the stamps can be removed from envelopes undamaged — simply using water.

World Stamp Show Souvenir Portfolio, a coffee-table book featuring each of the eight stamp issues to be released during the show will include 3-D, augmented reality. The first pane of the book includes a pane of the August 2015 World Stamp Show stamps. Collectors are encouraged to collect a new pane each day.

2015 eGuide to U.S. Stamps, a fully digital version of the latest Postal Service Guide to Stamps includes all of the content in the beautifully re-designed printed edition. It features high-resolution stamp art with comprehensive search capabilities and pinch and zoom viewing options. The eGuide is available at usps.com, Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and iTunes along with 1,000 other e-tailers.

USPS StampApp, the only official cloud-based U.S. stamp collecting app that includes an entire stamp reference library along with user-generated content for stamp collectors to upload their own stamp collection. It is available on usps.com, Apple’s App Store and Google Play.

Ordering First-Day-of-Issue Postmarks

Customers have 60 days to obtain first-day-of-issue postmarks by mail. They may purchase new stamps at World Stamp Show, at the Postal Store usps.com/shop or by calling 800-STAMP-24. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes to themselves or others and place them in envelopes addressed to:

Colorful Celebrations Stamp

Special Events Coordinator

380 West 33rd Street

New York, NY 10199-9998

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark up to a quantity of 50. There is a 5-cent charge for each additional postmark over 50. All orders must be postmarked by Aug. 3, 2016.

Ordering First-Day Covers

The Postal Service also offers first-day covers for new stamps and stationery items postmarked with the official first-day-of-issue cancellation. Each item has an individual catalog number and is offered in the quarterly USA Philatelic catalog, online at usps.com/shop or by calling 800-782-6724. Customers may request a free catalog by calling 800-782-6724 or writing to:

U.S. Postal Service

Catalog Request

PO Box 219014

Kansas City, MO  64121-9014