With a new year just around the corner, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has raised the curtain to offer a sneak peek at a portion of its 2018 stamp program.
Icons such as John Lennon, Lena Horne and Sally Ride and will be immortalized on Forever stamps next year while images of America’s dramatic landscapes will commemorate the song “America the Beautiful.”
Other diverse and educational stamps on deck for 2018 will:
- shine light on bioluminescent creatures that glow in the dark;
- showcase the art of magic through five classic magic tricks;
- celebrate mythological fire-eating dragons; and
- offer “tasty” frozen treats for those with a sweet tooth.
Detailed information and issue dates will be revealed later, and all designs are preliminary and subject to change until issuance dates.
Love Flourishes (Love series)
Love Flourishes is the latest stamp in the Love series. The stamp art features a fanciful garden of colourful flowers surrounding the word “Love.”
Year of the Dog (Celebrating Lunar New Year series)
The Year of the Dog stamp is the 11th of 12 stamps in the Celebrating Lunar New Year series. The Year of the Dog begins Feb. 16, 2018, and ends Feb. 4, 2019.
Lena Horne (Black Heritage series)
The 41st issuance in the Black Heritage series honours the achievements of legendary performer and civil rights activist Lena Horne (1917-2010). Remembered as one of America’s great interpreters of popular songs, Horne also was a trailblazer in Hollywood for women of colour. She used her personal elegance, charisma and fame to become an important spokesperson for civil rights.
U.S. Flag
For more than half a century, U.S. stamps have depicted the American flag in vivid red, white and blue. This eye-catching new issuance continues that tradition with a striking graphic design of a flag with two crisp folds.
Bioluminescent Life
This issuance celebrates the phenomenon of bioluminescence—the ability of some species to glow—with a pane of 20 stamps featuring 10 life-forms that create their own light.
Illinois Statehood (Statehood series)
This stamp celebrates the 200th anniversary of Illinois statehood. Known as the Prairie State, Illinois became the 21st state of the union on Dec. 3, 1818.
Mister Rogers
Fred Rogers (1928-2003) was known as a beloved television neighbour to generations of children. His groundbreaking public television series Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood inspired and educated young viewers with warmth, sensitivity and honesty.
STEM Education
These Forever stamps celebrate the role of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education in keeping our nation a global leader in innovation. Designed to pique the curiosity of the viewer, each of these four stamps features a collage of faces, symbols, drawings and numbers that represent the complexity and interconnectedness of the STEM disciplines.
Peace Rose
Peace Rose celebrates one of the most popular roses of all time. The peace rose revolutionized hybrid tea roses with its unique coloring, hardiness, and disease resistance.
Sally Ride
America’s first woman in space, Sally Ride (1951-2012), inspired the nation as a pioneering astronaut, brilliant physicist and dedicated educator.
Flag Act of 1818
With this stamp, the Postal Service marks the 200th anniversary of the Flag Act of 1818, which gave us the basic design of the current American flag: 13 stripes symbolizing the original 13 colonies and one star for each state in the union.
Frozen Treats
Frozen Treats features frosty, colorful icy pops on a stick. The tasty, sweet confections come in a variety of shapes and flavors.
O Beautiful
With the release of O Beautiful, the USPS commemorates the beauty and majesty of the U.S. through images that correspond with one of the nation’s most beloved songs, America the Beautiful.
World War I: Turning the Tide
With this stamp, the postal service pays tribute to the sacrifice of American soldiers and millions of supporters on the home front who experienced World War I. Entering World War I (1914-18) in its later stages, the U.S. helped turn the tide of war in favour of the Allies.
Dragons
The USPS celebrates dragons, the high-flying, fire-breathing mythological creatures that have roamed our imaginations for millennia.
Birds in Winter
Birds in Winter celebrates four of winter’s winged beauties: the black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus), the northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), the blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata), and the red-bellied woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus).
John Lennon (Music Icons series)
The newest stamp in the Music Icons series honours singer and songwriter John Lennon (1940-80), a rock ’n’ roll hero successful both as a founding member of the Beatles and as a solo artist.
The Art of Magic
The USPS celebrates the art of magic with this pane of 20 stamps featuring digital illustrations of five classic tricks magicians use to amaze and delight audiences: a rabbit in a hat (production), a fortune teller using a crystal ball (prediction), a woman floating in the air (levitation), an empty bird cage (vanishing), and a bird emerging from a flower (transformation).
Byodo-In Temple (Priority Mail)
This Priority Mail stamp features a colorful illustration of the Byodo-In Temple, a popular tourist attraction in Hawai‘i.
Sleeping Bear Dunes (Priority Mail Express)
With this Priority Mail Express stamp, the USPS celebrates the Sleeping Bear Dunes, a national park in Michigan that takes its name from a Native American legend.
Meyer Lemons
Meyer Lemons is a two-cent definitive stamp. The stamp art features a whole Meyer lemon next to two wedges of the cut fruit.