USA New Stamp Issues For 2010 (Tentative Schedule)


The tentative schedule for U.S. stamp subjects to be 

issued in 2010, announced August 6 at  the American 

Philatelic Society's Stampshow in Pittsburgh, includes 

entertainers Katharine Hepburn, Roy Rogers and Kate 

Smith, along with Garfield the cat and other comic strip 

characters.

Here's the tentative schedule, although it's subject to 

change.  Face values will of course depend on the 

applicable postage rates.

January:

• 44-cent Year of the Tiger commemorative and souvenir sheet
• 44-cent Olympic Winter Games commemorative
• Mackinac Bridge in Michigan Priority Mail stamp
• Bixby Creek Bridge in California Express Mail stamp
  
  
  

February:

• Four 44-cent Distinguished Sailors commemoratives (William S. Sims, Arleigh A. Burike, John McCloy and Doris Miller)

April:

• Poet Julia de Burgos commemorative (Literary Arts series)
• Four American Flag stamps showing the flag flying in four seasons
• 10 stamps (five cats and five dogs) titled Animal Rescue: Adopt a Shelter Pet in booklet form
• 
  
  

  Love stamp (purple pansies in a basket)

  
  

May:

• Katharine Hepburn commemorative (Legends of Hollywood series

June:

• Kate Smith commemorative
• Oscar Micheaux commemorative (Black Heritage series)
• Fourth set of 10 Flags of Our Nations coils
• Two Negro League Baseball stamps

July:

• Five Sunday Funnies commemoratives ("Archie," "Beetle Bailey," "Dennis the Menace," "Garfield" and "Calvin and Hobbes")
• Four Cowboys of the Silver Screen commemoratives (William S. Hart, Tom Mix, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers)

August: 

• Winslow Homer commemorative (American Treasure series)
  
  

September:

• 10 commemorative stamps featuring abstract expressionists (Hans Hofmann's "The Golden Wall," Adolph Gottlieb's "Romanesque Facade," Mark Rothko's "Orange and Yellow," Arshile Gorky's "The Liver is the Cock's Comb," Clyfford Still's "1948-C," Willem de Kooning's "Asheville," Barnett Newman's "Achilles," Jackson Pollock's "Convergence," Robert Motherwell's "Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 34" and Joan Mitchell's "La Grande Vallee 0")

October:

• 10 Hawaiian rain forest commemoratives (Nature of America series)
• Four Holiday Evergreens (ponderosa pine, eastern red cedar, blue spruce and balsam fir) Christmas stamps
• Madonna and Child Christmas stamp (a detail of "Madonna of the Candelabra" by Raphael)

Possible Additional New Issues:

• 100th anniversary of Boy Scouts of America commemorative
• Definitive stamps featuring illustrations by Laura Stutzman
  
  
  

Canada's Diamond Jubilee Stamps


The British Empire celebrated the 60th year of Queen Victoria's reign - her Diamond Jubilee - in 1897. Her incredibly long reign lasted 64 years, from 1837 until her death in 1901. When you see the terms "Victoria Era," "victorian Period" or the like, those terms are referring to Queen Victoria, the influences her rule had over much of the world, and the industrial, political, social, economic and military changes that occurred during her reign.

The Diamond Jubilee celebration was a major event, with holidays declared in Great Britain and its colonies, including Canada. Empire countries, including Canada, issued a series of stamps in connection with the Jubilee celebrations.

There are 16 stamps in the Canadian Diamond Jubilee set, and they are some of the most beautiful and collectible stamps that Canada has ever issued. They are Scott # 50-65, Unitrade # 50-65. The first Canada commemorative stamps, each of the 16 stamps is a different denomination, all the way up to $5. Each features two portraits of Queen Victoria, one as a young woman and the other in her maturity.

A complete set of Canada Diamond Jubilee stamps in mint never hinged condition has a catalog value of more than $34,000.

American Motorcycles - A 2006 US Commemorative Stamp Set

Motorcycles are an important part of American culture, so it's not surprising that the USPS issued a set of four 39-cent American Motorcycle commemorative stamps in 2006. Each of the stamps features a classic American motorcycle, and they make a great addition to a topical stamp collection.

The Cleveland was a single-cylinder motorcycle built by the Cleveland Motorcycle Manufacturing Company of Cleveland, Ohio. Sold for $175, it was the most popular motorcycle in 1918 and could travel for 75 miles on a single gallon of gas,

The 1940 Indian was manufactured by the Indian Motorcycle Company. It was also called the “Four" because it used a four-cylinder engine, which at the time was a new technology. Its skirted fenders, partially covering the wheels, became a trademark of the company.

The Harley-Davidson Electra-Glide, first manufactured in 1965, is perhaps the most American of all motorcycles and an icon of American culture. It featured whitewall tires, loads of chrome, large fenders and a new electric starter.

The 1970 Chopper is another iconic motorbike, born out of the idea of chopping unnecessary parts from a motorcycle. Most choppers featured a stretched frame and raised handlebars.

Commemorative Stamps




The word "commemorate" means to honor or remember an event or person of some historical significance. Originally, commemorative stamps were designed to do exactly that, and often depicted a famous person (sometimes together with the "tools of the trade" or other items somehow connected to him or her) or an historical event. For example, the first commemorative stamps that were issued by the United States honored the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. The Columbian Exposition stamps featured various scenes - his fleet of sailing ships, Columbus landing, Columbus and Queen Isabella of Spain, etc. They were issued in 1893 in connection with the World's Columbian Exposition (hence their name) - a World's Fair held in Chicago, Illinois.



Many commemoratve stamps today are still issued to honor significant events or people, but their purpose has evolved over time. Many commemoratives now feature topics or themes which may or may not be historically important. For example, many countries issue now commemorative stamps that feature birds, insects, dinosaurs, horses, dogs, cats, film actors and a plethora of thousands of other topics.



Unlike definitive stamps, most commemorative stamps are printed in limited numbers, and although there are some exceptions, most are only printed once so the likelihood of finding varieties is severely diminished (although some do exist). While definitive stamps are sometimes somewhat boring to look at they are "where the money is" and are collected at least in part because of the possibility of finding a scarce and expensive variety. But commemorative stamps, with their often striking designs, are usually collected for their visual appeal.

What kinds of stamps are there?

There are several different types of stamps—for example, commemorative, definitive (sometimes called "regular" stamps), and special stamps. There are also several different formats for stamps, such as sheets, booklets, and coils. Stamps may be the conventional adhesive type ("lick-and-stick") or self-adhesive ("no-lick, peel-and-stick").

Definitive stamps are the most common. Generally small in size, they are printed in huge quantities (the same stamp is printed often in the billions), and often more than once. They often feature the head of an important person (such as a dead President) or some other symbol that is identified with the issuing country, like its coat of arms.

Commemorative stamps, are generally larger and more colorful than definitives, are printed in smaller quantities and are typically printed only once. They honor people, events, or subjects of importance to the issuing country's life and culture.

Special stamps—Christmas and Love, Holiday stamps (such as Christmas, New Years, Hanukkah, etc.), international rate, Priority Mail, Express Mail—usually are on sale for only a limited period of time.

Back of the Book stamps - airmail or air post stamps, semi-postal or charity stamps, postage dues, parcel post, registered mail stamps, revenue stamps and others. Called Back of the Book stamps or BOB stamps due to their typical location in most stamp albums.

The 34 cent Greetings From America Commemorative Stamp Set - US Scott No. 3561-3610

Issued in April, 2002, the 34 cent Greetings from America commemorative stamp set has captured the eyes and hearts of just about everyone who has seen one of them, both stamp collectors and non-stamp collectors.

They are beautiful, with vivid, striking colors and wonderful designs that are reminiscent of the old and very popular large letter linen postcards. Used stamps from this set are extremely difficult to collect, even though they are not old.

They are so beautiful that many people bought complete sheets of 50 and just set them aside, never to be used on the mail.

And only two months after they were issued, the USPS increased the postal rate for 1st class one ounce letters, making all 34 cent stamps (including the 34 cents Greetings from America stamps) virtually obsolete as additional postage would have to be added in order to use them.

Because of the postal rate increase and the popularity of the 34 cent Greetings from America stamps, the 37 cent Greetings from America stamp set (US Scott # 3696-3745) was issued only a few months later, in October 2002. A complete set of used stamps from that stamp set is also difficult to collect, but not as difficult as the 34 cent variety, as they were able to be used on the mail for a longer period.

Great Britain's Fabulous Millennium Series Postage Stamps

The postal administrations of many countries issued postage stamps in connection with the advent of the new millennium (the turnover from 1999 to 2000). We've already discussed America's popular Celebrate the Century series of 150 different stamps and the challenge that collecting postally used copies of these stamps pose.

Here's another very popular set of stamps that isn't quite as difficult to complete as the Celebrate the Century stamps, but were issued at roughly the same time: the Millennium Stamps of Great Britain. There are a total of 100 different stamps in this series, all of which were issued during 1999-2001. Like all GB stamps, they are beautifully designed and beautifully printed.

Collecting all of these stamps as postally used stamps can be challenging, but despite their large number (1oo altogether), used stamps from this stamp series aren't quite as difficult to find as the US Celebrate the Century stamps. There are a couple of reasons for this.

1. The United Kingdom only issued two other commemorative stamps during the entire 2 year and one month "Millennium Stamp period," so any Brit wishing to use commemorative stamps for mailings during that time was almost forced to use a Millennium stamp.
2. There are 50 fewer stamps to have to collect in order to complete the entire set.

Now that we've told you that these stamps can be challenging to collect as a postally used stamp set, here's a bit of information about them.

The 1999 British Millennium Stamps:

In 1999 Royal Mail issued a series of stamps that were grouped into 12 different sets of four (known as "tales"), including Entertainment, Science & Technology and Sport. One group of four stamps was released during each month of the year, for a total of 48 stamps that year.

The set that was issued in September 1999 was called The Farmers’ Tale, and contained a 19p stamp that doubled as Royal Mail’s contribution to that year’s Europa postage stamp issue - another popular thematic stamp topic with collectors - but we'll discuss Europas another day.

One of the most notable stamps in the British millennium collection was a stamp commemorating the life of the lead singer of the British rock group Queen, Freddie Mercury. The issuance of this particular stamp caused some controversy because Roger Taylor (who was still alive) was in the background at the drums. Normally the only living people allowed to appear on British stamps are members of the British Royal Family (which Roger Taylor is not).

Other stamps in the 1999 stamps featured English football hero Bobby Moore; a picture of the structure of DNA; and a fossil of Archaeopteryx, the first known bird.

The 2000 British Millennium Stamps:

These stamps commemorated a variety of projects throughout the UK which had received funding from the Millennium Commission. As in 1999, the stamps were released in 12 monthly sets of 4 stamps each, for a total of 48 stamps.

The stamps featured such projects as the Eden Project, the Tate Modern art gallery, the National Space Centre and the Scottish Seabird Centre.

The 2001 British Millennium Stamps:

These four stamps featured painted faces of children. They were the only British Millennium stamps issued in 2001, and they brought this beautiful stamp series to an end.

100 beautiful, colorful commemorative stamps. Remember that although postally used stamps can be tough to find, they are also extremely rewarding when you're successful.

There are hardly any commemorative stamps in the stamp mixture I just bought - what's going on?

A recent independent sample (not done by us) of stamps received in the mail reported that only around 5% of the stamps used were commemoratives. The overwhelming majority of stamps seen in this sample were coil stamps of various types (almost all self-adhesive).

It's hard to get any large number of US commemorative stamps in bulk stamp mixtures nowadays, and that's why - hardly anyone is using them for their mail.

Why don't people use commemorative stamps on their mail anymore?

I've noticed on my own personal mail that I hardly get any that have been posted using commemorative stamps - the beautiful, usually larger size stamps that honor an event, a person or some other occasion.

I thought about this for a while, and then realized that the USPS is not making it convenient to use them on mail. When you go into a post office to buy stamps, they usually try to sell you the small definitive stamps - flags, etc. - and if you want to buy commemoratives you have to specifically ask for them.

My own post office only sells one type of commemorative stamp, even though there are probably dozens of different commemoratives currently available for use - that is all they stock.

It's no wonder that postally used commemorative stamps are getting harder and harder to find.

Stamp collectors should write to the USPS and see if these policies can be changed.