I’m a stamp geek. I grew up flipping through my dad’s stamp collection that he created as a kid, which led me to create my own as a young adult. One of my favorite museums on earth is the United States Postal Museum (a part of the Smithsonian) in Washington, D.C., where visitor’s can check out beautiful stamps from around the world and the processes that go into designing them.
Stamps + food = right up my alley!
The newest foodie focused stamp released by USPS was unveiled at the California State Fair. It celebrates the summer harvest, with vintage produce style advertising – watermelons, cantaloupes, tomatoes and corn.
Designed by Michael Doret, with input from former USPS art director Richard Sheaff and current art director, Antonio Alcalá, the stamps were inspired by 19th and 20th century shipping crate labels, seed packets and catalogs.
These types of labels served a simple purpose historically, to identify what was in the crates being shipped across country via the railroad. The labels enabled those who worked the rails and in distribution, who could not read, to identify the produce correctly. As time went on, the labels became more colorful, eventually being used to advertise produce.
“The art did not necessarily relate to the produce inside; illustrations portrayed bathing beauties, well-known national figures, historic events, landscapes, animals, a grower’s family, or even medieval themes. The lettering, which named the contents as well as the grower, was sometimes outlined in gold ink mixed with small amounts of real gold.”
Real gold! No, the new stamps don’t use real gold, but, they are lovely none the less.
The new stamps are Forever stamps! Celebrate the bounty of Sonoma Valley and pick up a pack today at your local post office or online at usps.com.
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