A high-resolution image of the stamp is available for media use only be emailing mark.r.saunders@usps.gov

WASHINGTON — Emails may be a quick, efficient, form of communication, but nothing leaves a long-lasting impression than a handwritten love letter — a treasure that can be saved and passed along to future generations.

Come late January the Postal Service will make it easy to make your intentions known through the mail with the issuance of the Sealed with Love Forever stamps. Depicting an envelope fastened with an elegant wax seal, the Sealed with Love Forever Stamp encourages Americans to scribe their own love letters — a romantic gesture that never goes out of style.

You can pre-order the stamps now for delivery before the end of January — just in time for your Valentine mailings. Customers may pre-order the stamps at usps.com/stamps or by phone at 800-Stamp24 (800-782-6724).

The seal’s design, in shades of red, is a small heart enclosed inside a larger heart, both surrounded by a filigree circle. The stamp Graphic designer Louise Fili of New York City worked with art director Derry Noyes of Washington, DC, on this stamp. Jessica Hische was the illustrator.

Customers may view the Sealed with Love Forever Stamp, as well as many of next year’s other stamps at facebook.com/USPSStamps, on Twitter @USPSstamps or on the website Beyond the Perf at beyondtheperf.com/2013-preview. Beyond the Perf is the Postal Service’s online site for information on upcoming stamp subjects, first-day-of-issue events and other philatelic news.

The date and location of the Sealed with Love first-day-of-issue stamp dedication ceremony will be announced later.

Philatelic Products
There are three philatelic products for these stamps.

• 578684, Press Sheet with die cuts, $48.60
• 578686, Press Sheets without die cuts, $48.60
• 578623, Notecards  (Set of 12 with stamps), $16.95

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at about.usps.com/news/welcome.htm.

For reporters interested in speaking with a regional Postal Service public relations professional, please go to about.usps.com/news/media-contacts/usps-local-media-contacts.pdf.

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation — 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. In 2011, Oxford Strategic Consulting ranked the U.S. Postal Service number one in overall service performance of the posts in the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.

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