2020

The original stamp artwork is based on Bugs Bunny’s iconic moments and was created especially for this issuance by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., featuring work from Warner Bros. Animation artists. They also have created sketches on the reverse side of the stamp pane.

-

Originally planned for the APS Great American Stamp Show that had to be canceled due to Covid-19 concerns, these stamps will instead be issued at APS headquarters on the same day the show would have started. The issue celebrates the American spirit of innovation with five different designs, each representing an area in which U.S. scientists and engineers have made significant contributions: Computing, Biomedicine, Genome sequencing, Robotics and Solar technology.

-

The 2020-2021 Federal Duck Stamp features a pair of black-bellied whistling-ducks painted by Alabama artist Eddy LeRoy. The new stamp is valid from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021.

-

These stamps honor pioneering Japanese American artist Ruth Asawa,featuring photographs of 10 of Asawa’s wire sculptures

-

The stamp is round and features a photograph of a pink chrysanthemum on a white background. Taken from above, the photograph highlights the intricate features of the bloom. 

-

The Presorted Star stamp is a First Class Forever rate stamp designed to meet the needs of business mailers, and is sold in self-adhesive coils of 3,000 and 10,000. According to the Postal People, “this new stamp celebrates the beloved American Stars and Stripes by focusing on its vital components

-

The Big Bend stamp captures the beauty of the Big Bend region in West Texas, where river, mountain and desert ecosystems coexist in its vast expanses. The stamp art depicts the Rio Grande flowing between the sheer limestone cliffs of Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend National Park. Per Wikipedia, “Because the Rio Grande serves as an international boundary, the park faces unusual constraints while administering and enforcing park rules, regulations, and policies. In accordance with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the park's territory extends only to the center of the deepest river channel as the river flowed in 1848. The rest of the land south of that channel, and the river, lies within Mexican territory. The park is bordered by the protected areas of Parque Nacional Cañon de Santa Elena and Maderas del Carmen in Mexico.”

-

This new Express Mail stamp depicts the winter beauty of the Grand Island Ice Caves in Lake Superior, on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Grand Island is marked by massive sandstone bluffs that are especially dramatic in winter when lake water seeps into the crevices and caverns, forming magnificent ice curtains and icicles that hang like stalactites from ceilings. The stamp art features a colorful illustration of how one of these ever-changing ice caves might appear from the inside looking out toward the west at sunset.

Viewing ice caves and ice formations has become a popular winter activity at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and the surrounding area. The ice generally begins to form by mid-December and remains until early April, forming columns of blue, white, or yellow ice 20-50 feet high.

-

This new semi-postal stamp will help raise funds for those diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The illustration of a green plant sprouting from the ground, which is covered in fallen leaves, symbolizes the PTSD healing process. Tens of millions of Americans will experience PTSD in their lifetimes. The condition develops in some children and adults who have survived a traumatic event. Experiences such as a natural disaster, car accident, physical or sexual assault, abuse, and combat, among others, can trigger PTSD. While post-traumatic disorders have long been a subject of study, PTSD was not officially added to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders until the late 20th century. Today, the nation is increasingly dedicated to compassionately treating this mental health issue.

-

The Drug Free USA stamp will be issued in October, during Red Ribbon Week, the nation’s oldest and largest drug use prevention awareness program. In 1988, the National Family Partnership coordinated the first National Red Ribbon Week with President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan serving as honorary chairpersons. The week runs Oct. 23-31 and coincides with National Substance Abuse Prevention Month every October.

-

The Postal Service celebrates the beauty of American gardens in a pane of 20 stamps that feature these 10 different photographs of botanic, country estate and municipal gardens: Biltmore Estate Gardens (North Carolina); Brooklyn Botanic Garden (New York); Chicago Botanic Garden (Illinois); Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens (Maine); Dumbarton Oaks Garden (District of Columbia); The Huntington Botanical Gardens (California); Alfred B. Maclay Gardens State Park (Florida); Norfolk Botanical Garden (Virginia); Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens (Ohio); and Winterthur Garden (Delaware).

-

This stamp honors champion golfer Arnold Palmer (1929–2016). With drive and charisma, he helped transform a game once seen as a pastime for the elite into a sport enjoyed by the masses, with “Arnie’s Army” leading the way. 

-

Let’s Celebrate! helps send cheer along with well wishes.

-

The stamp features a photograph of an arrangement of a burgundy mini-cymbidium orchid bloom, a succulent and a touch of green hydrangea, accented with loops of variegated lily grass, 

-

Environmental groups have sought to make Earth Day into a day of action to change human behavior and provoke policy change

-

in a booklet of 20 stamps featuring 10 different portraits of fruits and vegetables. Each stamp features a collection of one kind of fruit or vegetable: red and black plums, heirloom and cherry tomatoes, carrots, lemons, blueberries, red and green grapes, lettuces, strawberries, eggplants and figs.

-

The stamp features a photograph of a corsage containing a spray of peach roses and a pink ranunculus, accented with deep-pink heather and seeded eucalyptus. A cream-colored lace ribbon entwines the flowers. The corsage was arranged by floral designer Carol Caggiano

-

America’s abundance of natural beauty. These hand-sketched and painted designs depict these five different scenes of outdoor activities: building a sand castle, hiking, cross-country skiing, canoeing and biking.

-

The 43rd stamp in the Black Heritage series that began in 1978 honors Gwen Ifill (1955–2016), one of America’s most esteemed journalists. Among the first African Americans to hold prominent positions in both broadcast and print journalism, Ifill was a trailblazer in the profession. In 1999, she became the first woman of African descent to host a nationally televised U.S public affairs program with Washington Week in Review. The stamp features a photo of Ifill taken in 2008 by photographer Robert Severi.

-

The stamp art features photographs taken by Cade Martin that depict four elements of hip hop: MCing (rapping), b-boying (breakdancing), DJing and graffiti art. The bold, digitally tinted images are intended to appear in motion. The name of the element featured appears across the top of each stam

-

Toward the center, red hearts in varying sizes replace pink hearts in a formation that creates one large red heart, the focal point of this graphic design. Beyond romantic messages, the stamp is intended for use on thank-you notes, get-well cards or any occasion when love is the perfect message.

-

This stamp celebrates the 200th anniversary of Maine statehood. Nicknamed the Pine Tree State, Maine was part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts until 1820, when it voted to secede from Massachusetts to become a separate state.

-

Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor Forever Stamp This commemorative stamp marks the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor. The Mayflower and the Pilgrims have been featured before on a 1920 300th Anniversary issue and a 1970 350th Anniversary stamp. The stamp’s image is based on artwork of watercolor, acrylic and gouache, a method of painting that uses opaque pigments ground in water and thickened to a glue-like consistency. The painting was digitally refined to convey a scene of desolate beauty at the end of the Pilgrims’ long journey to an unfamiliar world.

-

Highlighted in gold foil are the words “Thank you” in cursive script and an elegant floral design that swirls through and around the words.

-

Voices of the Harlem Renaissance Forever Stamps These stamps celebrate one of the great artistic and literary movements in American history, the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, which firmly established African Americans as a vital force in literature and the arts. Twenty stamps showcase four stylized pastel portraits of these literary figures: writer, philosopher, educator and arts advocate Alain Locke; novelist Nella Larsen; bibliophile and historian Arturo Alfonso Schomburg; and poet Anne Spencer. African-inspired motifs are used as background elements of each portrait. The pane header shows a cityscape in silhouette with a sun in its midst and the title “Voices of the Harlem Renaissance.”

-

Flowers in general are among the most popular stamps in the U.S. and around the world. A set of four Orchids stamps was issued by the USPS in 1984, and they have appeared within other U.S. flower issues. The 2020 stamps, to be issued in booklets of 20 and coils of 3,000 and 10,000, feature photographs of one of nine species that grow wild in the United States: Cypripedium californicum, Hexalectris spicata, Cypripedium reginae, Spiranthes odorata, Triphora trianthophoros, Platanthera grandiflora, Cyrtopodium polyphyllum, Calopogon tuberosus and Platanthera leucophaea. Orchids also have common names, with some plants having several different names in popular use. 

-

This stamp commemorates the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees women the right to vote. Inspired by historic photographs, the stamp features a stylized illustration of suffragists marching in a parade or other public demonstration. The clothes they wear and the banners they bear display the official colors of the National Woman’s Party—purple, white and gol

-

Lunar New Year: Year of the Rat Forever Stamp The first USPS Lunar New Year stamp was issued in December 1992. In 2020, the Postal Service is launching its third Lunar New Year series. The Year of the Rat observance begins January 25, 2020, and ends February 11, 2021. Calling to mind the elaborately decorated masks used in the dragon dance often performed in Lunar New Year parades, this three-dimensional mask is a contemporary take on the long tradition of paper-cut folk art crafts created during this time of year.

-