U.S. POSTAL SERVICE REVEALS STAMPS FOR 2024

Lunar New Year ∙ Year of the Dragon
The fifth of 12 stamps in the latest Lunar New Year stamp series celebrates the Year of the Dragon. Calling to mind the elaborately decorated masks used in dances often performed in Lunar New Year parades, this three-dimensional mask depicting a dragon is a contemporary take on the long tradition of paper-cut folk art crafts created during this auspicious time of year. The dragon mask design incorporates colors and patterns with symbolic meaning. Antonio Alcalá, an art director for USPS, designed the stamp and pane with original art by Camille Chew.

U.S. Flags
The Postal Service continues its tradition of celebrating the U.S. flag with these stamps, available in booklets of 20 and in coils of 100, 3,000 and 10,000. Four stamps feature the flag majestically waving at different times of the day. While the shapes and colors of the clouds change, the sun is always shining on Old Glory. Shown from a low-angle perspective, the flags draw attention upward, toward the magic of the sky. Illustrator Laura Stutzman painted the designs using gouache on illustration board. Ethel Kessler, an art director for USPS, designed the stamps.

$1 Floral Geometry
In 2024, a new Floral Geometry stamp, denominated at $1, will be available for purchase. The stamp will complement the similarly designed $2 and $5 stamps issued in 2022 and the $10 stamp issued in 2023. The stamps lend an elegant and contemporary appearance to packages, large envelopes and other mailings. The stamp art features a series of overlapping geometric shapes that mimic the symmetry of floral patterns found in nature. The watercolor background and the glimmer of the foil-stamped design and typography create a sophisticated look. This stamp will be issued in panes of 10. The stamps were designed and created by the firm Spaeth Hill. Antonio Alcalá served as art director for USPS.

Cosmic Cliffs (Priority Mail Express)
This remarkable image from the James Webb Space Telescope is a digitally colored depiction of the invisible bands of mid-infrared light emitted by the Cosmic Cliffs of the Carina Nebula. Red and yellow flares scattered throughout the cliffs show developing and newly born stars. The orange-and-brown clouds in the lower third of the image are swirls of dust and gas. Additional stars, in our Milky Way and in distant galaxies, appear in the blue and black regions above and beyond the nebula. Greg Breeding, an art director for USPS, designed the stamp using an image provided by NASA, the European Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency and the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Save Manatees
The Save Manatees stamp will be issued to create awareness about the threats posed to this beloved marine mammal. Human vigilance is crucial for its protection — both to minimize motorboat strikes and to maintain the aquatic plants on which the manatee feeds in the warm coastal waters in and around Florida. The stamp art is a digital rendering of a manatee placidly lolling near the surface of the water. Derry Noyes, an art director for USPS, designed the stamp and booklet cover using illustrator Nancy Stahl’s original graphic design.

Radiant Star
Radiant Star will be a new presorted standard stamp intended for bulk mailers and will be sold in self-adhesive coils of 3,000 and 10,000. In this vibrant graphic design, red and white stripes radiate from a blue star. The star is in two shades of blue to give it a three-dimensional look. Antonio Alcalá was the art director for USPS on the project. The stamp was designed by Carol Beehler.

Celebration Blooms
Similar in design to the 2-ounce Wedding Blooms stamp, this floral Forever stamp can be used on the RSVP envelopes often enclosed with wedding invitations. A beautiful addition to regular correspondence, it is also ideal for party invitations, thank-you notes and important announcements. The stamp features a horizontal graphic illustration of brilliantly colored flowers rendered in ink and gouache paint. Derry Noyes, an art director for USPS, designed the stamp using an existing illustration by artist Kim Parker.

The 34th issuance in the Literary Arts series honors novelist Saul Bellow (1915-2005). Winner of three National Book Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize, Bellow is widely regarded as one of the greatest authors of the 20th century. The stamp art is a portrait of Bellow in pen, ink and watercolor based on photographs from 1982. In the background is a street scene of Chicago, where he lived most of his life. Ethel Kessler, an art director for USPS, designed the 3- ounce stamp with original art by Joe Ciardiello.

These vibrant stamps will add cheer and whimsical flair to cards and envelopes. The pane of 20 stamps features 10 typographic designs by 10 different artists in their unique styles, each with a single word as the prominent element — smile (Don Clark), hello! (Tré Seals), peace (Jay Fletcher), love (Juan Carlos Pagan), fun (Gia Graham), sweet (Jeff Rogers), yes! (Ryan Feerer), cheers! (Lisa Congdon), kudos! (DKNG Studios) and happy (Gina Triplett). The round shape of the stamps, as well as shadowing and reflection effects, give the appearance of three-dimensional pinback buttons. The pane verso features an illustration of a round silver button back with pin fastener repeated 20 times, one for each pinback button stamp shown on the front of the pane. Greg Breeding, an art director for USPS, designed the stamps.

This issuance encourages the protection of sea turtles, one of the oldest groups of animals on Earth. These ancient mariners can migrate long distances, sometimes crossing entire oceans. The pane of 18 stamps features close-up photographs of six species — the loggerhead, leatherback, hawksbill, Kemp’s ridley, olive ridley and green sea turtle — that depend on U.S. coastal waters for foraging and migratory habitats during various stages of their life. All six are listed and protected under the Endangered Species Act. Derry Noyes, an art director for USPS, designed the stamps and stamp pane using existing images.

This stamp issuance celebrates America’s love of horses. Once instrumental in the early economic development of the United States, horses are now valued athletes and loyal companions, and are important in law enforcement, forestry, entertainment, equine therapy and cattle ranching. This pane of 20 stamps features five photographs of beautiful equines, each in profile. The selvage showcases a sixth horse. Derry Noyes, an art director for USPS, designed these stamps with existing photographs by Stephanie Moon and Karen Wegehenkel.

First Continental Congress, 1774
In 2024, the Postal Service commemorates the 250th anniversary of the First Continental Congress. Made up of delegates from 12 of the 13 Colonies, the First Continental Congress convened in 1774 to decide how the Colonies should respond to increasing threats to their freedom. In addition to denouncing taxation without representation, the Congress called for a general boycott of British goods. It also issued a declaration of rights that included life, liberty, property and trial by jury, and laid the foundation for government during the American Revolution. The stamp art features a quote from the Congress’s protest letter to the King of England. The 12 stars stand for the 12 Colonies represented at the meeting. (Georgia did not agree with the protest and did not send representatives.) Antonio Alcalá served as art director, designer and typographer for this stamp.

Hanukkah
A new stamp celebrating the joyous Jewish holiday of Hanukkah will be issued in 2024. The art is a graphic depiction of a hanukiah, the nine-branch candelabra used only at Hanukkah, with all candles lighted, signifying the last evening of the holiday. The artwork is created mostly in blue and white, common Hanukkah colors. Antonio Alcalá, an art director for USPS, designed and illustrated the stamp art.

Winter Whimsy
Four new stamps in a booklet of 20 celebrate the winter season with lacy, symmetrical graphic forms inspired by snowflakes. Each stamp in the block of four includes a unique design in white against a background of a single color: navy blue, teal, tan or dark blue-green. Greg Breeding was the art director for the project. Bailey Sullivan designed and illustrated the stamps.