KEYSTONE, SD — Today, the Postal Service continued its tradition of celebrating the red, white and blue with the issuance of U.S. Flags, four new stamps that spotlight our national banner.

The four stamps depict Old Glory flying at different times of the day. While the shapes and colors of the clouds change, the sun is always shining on the flag. The flags, shown from a low-angle perspective, draw attention upward, toward the magic of the changing sky.

The flag’s design dates to June 14, 1777, when the Continental Congress specified 13 horizontal stripes and 13 stars to honor the original Colonies. The 13 stripes have appeared on every version of the flag except from 1795 -1818, when there were 15 stripes for the 15 states in the Union.

The Flag Act of 1818 standardized the number of stripes at 13 and stipulated that a star would be added for each new state. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation establishing June 14 as Flag Day, which was officially designated by Congress in 1939.

Since the first flag, there have been 27 versions as more states have entered the Union. The current flag was created when Hawaii was added as the 50th state in 1959, with the 50-star flag debuting on July 4, 1960. The current design is the longest used in the nation’s history.

The U.S. Flags stamps are Forever stamps and will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail 1‑ounce price.

They are available in booklets and panes of 20, and coils of 100, 3,000 and 10,000.

Ethel Kessler, an art director for USPS, designed the stamps with illustrations by Laura Stutzman.

Postal Products

Customers may purchase stamps and other philatelic products through the Postal Store at usps.com/shopstamps, by calling 844-737-7826, by mail through USA Philatelic or at Post Office locations nationwide. For officially licensed stamp products, shop the USPS Officially Licensed Collection on Amazon.

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