Philately

STAMP ANNOUNCEMENT 05-28

Jim Henson the Man Behind the Muppets

The Postal ServiceTM will issue 37-cent, Jim Henson the man behind the Muppets commemorative stamps in 11 designs, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 11 stamps (Item 458800), on September 28, 2005, in North Hollywood, California. The stamps designed by Edward Eyth of Carmel, California, go on sale nationwide September 29, 2005. This $4.07 pane may not be split, and the stamps may not be sold individually.

These stamps commemorate director, producer, writer, and puppeteer Jim Henson (1936-1990), creator of the Muppets. This pane features eleven stamps. One stamp features a photograph of Jim Henson taken by Norman Seeff in New York City in 1986. Ten additional stamps depict 13 Muppet characters most famous for their roles in "The Muppet Show" and the various Muppet movies.

They are:

• Kermit the Frog.

• Sam the Eagle.

• Statler and Waldorf.

• Animal.

• Rowlf the Dog.

• Fozzie Bear.

• Miss Piggy.

• Swedish Chef.

• Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant, Beaker.

• Great Gonzo and Camille the Chicken.

The selvage features a photograph of Jim Henson silhouetted in a window with Kermit the Frog.

How to Order the First Day of Issue Postmark

Customers have 30 days to obtain the first day of issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post OfficeTM, by telephone at 800-STAMP-24, and at the Postal Store Web site at www.usps.com/shop. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

JIM HENSON THE MAN BEHIND THE MUPPETS STAMPS
POSTMASTER
7035 N LAUREL CANYON BLVD
NORTH HOLLYWOOD CA 91615-9998

After applying the first day of issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must be postmarked by October 27, 2005.

How to Order First Day Covers

Stamp Fulfillment Services also offers first day covers for new stamp issues and Postal Service stationery items postmarked with the official first day of issue cancellation. Each item has an individual catalog number and is offered in the quarterly USA Philatelic catalog. Customers may request a free catalog by calling 800-STAMP-24 or writing to:

INFORMATION FULFILLMENT
DEPT 6270
US POSTAL SERVICE
PO BOX 219014
KANSAS CITY MO 64121-9014

Philatelic Products

There are six philatelic products available for this stamp issue:

• First Day Cover (Full Pane) $6.57 (Item 458862).

• Canceled Full Pane $6.57 (Item 458864).

• Digital Color Postmark Random Single Cover $1.50 (Item 458865).

• Digital Color Postmark (Set of 11 Covers) $16.50 (Item 458868).

• Mailing the Muppets (Stationery Set) $16.95 (Item 458876).

• Cancellation Keepsake (FP w/CP Random Single) $5.57 (Item 458899).

These products will be available while supplies last at postal stores, online at www.usps.com, and by telephone at 800-STAMP-24.

Distribution: Item 458800, $4.07 Jim Henson the man behind the Muppets Pane of 11 Stamps

Stamp distribution offices (SDOs) will receive approximately double their standard automatic distribution quantities for a PSA sheet stamp. Distributions are rounded up to the nearest master carton size (2,000 panes/22,000 stamps).

Initial Supply to Post Offices

SDOs will make a subsequent automatic distribution to Post Offices for their full standard automatic distribution quantities using PS Form 17, Stamp Requisition/Stamp Return. SDOs must not distribute Item 458800 to Post Offices before September 23, 2005.

Philatelic Requirement

SDOs will not receive a separate quantity Item 458800 for their authorized philatelic centers. Philatelic centers must be supplied their quantities from the initial automatic distribution made to SDOs.

Additional Supply

Post Offices requiring additional panes must requisition Item 458800 from their designated SDO using PS Form 17. SDOs requiring additional panes must order them from the appropriate accountable paper depository (APD) using PS Form 17.

For fulfilling supplemental orders from SDOs, the Memphis, Chicago, New York, and San Francisco APDs will each receive 600,000 additional panes; and the Denver APD will receive 250,000 additional panes. For fulfilling supplemental orders from APDs, the Kansas City Stamp Services Center will receive 4,000,000 additional panes.

Sales Policy

All Post Offices must acquire and maintain a supply of each new commemorative stamp as long as customer demand exists, until inventory is depleted, or until the stamp is officially withdrawn from sale. If supplies run low, Post Offices must reorder additional quantities using their normal ordering procedures. The $4.07 Jim Henson the man behind the Muppets pane may not be split and the stamps may not be sold individually.

— Stamp Services,
Government Relations, 9-1-05

STAMP ANNOUNCEMENT 05-29

Constellations

The Postal ServiceTM will issue 37-cent, Constellations commemorative stamps in four designs in a pressure- sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 20 stamps (Item 457500), on October 3, 2005, in Bloomfield, Michigan. The stamps designed by McRay Magleby of Provo, Utah, go on sale nationwide October 4, 2005.

Starry patterns in the night sky adorn a block of four stamps. Each stamp features one of the following constellations as seen from the northern Hemisphere: Leo, Lyra, Pegasus, and Orion. Countless generations ago, people gazed upward and began to "connect the dots," drawing imaginary lines from one star to another. Magleby used star maps by Wil Tirion as reference for the placement and size of the stars depicted in the stamp art.

How to Order the First Day of Issue Postmark

Customers have 30 days to obtain the first day of issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post OfficeTM, by telephone at 800-STAMP-24, and at the Postal Store Web site at www.usps.com/shop. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

CONSTELLATIONS STAMPS
POSTMASTER
71 E LONG LAKE RD
BLOOMFIELD HILLS MI 48304-9998

After applying the first day of issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must be postmarked by November 2, 2005.

How to Order First Day Covers

Stamp Fulfillment Services also offers first day covers for new stamp issues and Postal Service stationery items postmarked with the official first day of issue cancellation. Each item has an individual catalog number and is offered in the quarterly USA Philatelic catalog. Customers may request a free catalog by calling 800-STAMP-24 or writing to:

INFORMATION FULFILLMENT
DEPT 6270
US POSTAL SERVICE
PO BOX 219014
KANSAS CITY MO 64121-9014

Philatelic Products

There are six philatelic products available for this stamp issue:

• First Day Cover (Set of 4) $3.00 (Item 457563).

• Digital Color Postmark Random Single Cover $1.50 (Item 457565).

• Digital Color Postmark (Set of 4 Covers) $6.00 (Item 457568).

• Saver Vehicle (Youth) $12.95 (Item 457581).

• Cancellation Keepsake (Set of 4 cover/pane) $10.40 (Item 457593).

• DCP Keepsake (FP w/DCP Set of 4) $13.40 (Item 457599).

These products will be available while supplies last at postal stores, online at www.usps.com, and by telephone at 800-STAMP-24.

Distribution: Item 457500, 37-cent Constellations Commemorative Stamps

Stamp distribution offices (SDOs) will receive approximately three-fourths of their standard automatic distribution quantity for a PSA sheet stamp. Distributions are rounded up to the nearest master carton size (40,000 stamps).

Initial Supply to Post Offices

SDOs will make a subsequent automatic distribution to Post Offices of one-half their standard automatic distribution quantity using PS Form 17, Stamp Requisition/Stamp Return. SDOs must not distribute stamps to Post Offices before September 23, 2005.

Philatelic Requirement

SDOs will not receive a separate quantity Item 457500 for their authorized philatelic centers. Philatelic centers must be supplied their quantities from the initial automatic distribution made to SDOs.

Additional Supply

Post Offices requiring additional stamps must requisition Item 457500 from their designated SDO using PS Form 17. SDOs requiring additional stamps must order them from the appropriate accountable paper depository (APD) using PS Form 17.

For fulfilling supplemental orders from SDOs, the Memphis, Chicago, New York, and San Francisco APDs will each receive 1,200,000 additional stamps; and the Denver APD will receive 480,000 additional stamps.

Sales Policy

All Post Offices must acquire and maintain a supply of each new commemorative stamp as long as customer demand exists, until inventory is depleted, or until the stamp is officially withdrawn from sale. If supplies run low, Post Offices must reorder additional quantities using their normal ordering procedures.

— Stamp Services,
Government Relations, 9-1-05

Stamp Stock Items Withdrawn From Regular Sale and From Sale at Philatelic Centers

Effective close-of-business September 30, 2005, all Post OfficesTM, stations, branches, postal stores, vending outlets, and authorized philatelic centers must (1) withdraw the stamp stock items and products listed below and their related vending and store-prepared stamp items from sale and (2) prepare them for destruction. Submit items to destruction sites according to local established procedures, under the guidelines in Handbook F-1, Post Office Accounting Procedures, subchapter 45, Destroying Stamp Stock.

Do not permit sales of the stamp stock items, products, and their related vending and store-prepared stamp items listed below at retail counters and outlets after September 30, 2005, unless otherwise instructed. Items listed are also withdrawn from sale at Stamp Fulfillment Services (SFS).

Exceptions: Stamp items listed below are off sale at SFS effective September 30, 2005. However, they remain on general sale until further notice.

*Item 455600 was omitted from the list of off-sale items dated June 30, 2005.

— Stamp Services
Government Relations, 9-1-05

Pictorial Postmarks Announcement

As a community service, the Postal ServiceTM offers pictorial postmarks to commemorate local events celebrated in communities throughout the nation. A list of events for which pictorial postmarks are authorized appears below. If available, the sponsor of the pictorial postmark appears in italics under the date. Also provided, as space permits, are illustrations of those postmarks that were reproducible and available at press time.

People attending these local events may obtain the postmark in person at the temporary Post OfficeTM station established there. Those who cannot attend the event, but who wish to obtain the postmark, may submit a mail order request. Pictorial postmarks are available only for the dates indicated, and requests must be postmarked no later than 30 days following the requested pictorial postmark date.

All requests must include a stamped envelope or postcard bearing at least the minimum First-Class Mail® postage. Items submitted for postmark may not include postage issued after the date of the requested postmark. Such items will be returned unserviced.

Customers wishing to obtain a postmark should affix stamps to any envelope or postcard of their choice, address the envelope or postcard to themselves or others,insert a card of postcard thickness in envelopes for sturdiness, and tuck in the flap. Place the envelope or postcard in a larger envelope and address it to: PICTORIAL POSTMARKS, followed by the NAME OF THE STATION,ADDRESS, CITY, STATE, ZIP+4® CODE, exactly as listed below (using all capitals and no punctuation, except thehyphen in the ZIP+4 code).

Customers can also send stamped envelopes and postcards without addresses for postmark, as long as they supply a larger envelope with adequate postage and their return address. After applying the pictorial postmark, the Postal Service returns the items (with or without addresses) under addressed protective cover.

— Stamp Services,
Government Relations, 9-1-05

— Mailing Standards, Pricing and Classification, 9-1-05

CORRECTION

Let's Dance/Bailemos Stamps

In the article "Stamp Announcement 05-25, Let's Dance/Bailemos Stamps" in Postal Bulletin 22161 (8-18-05, page 49), the first paragraph mistakenly states that the commemorative stamps go on sale nationwide on September 18, 2005.

The nationwide sale date and first day of issue for Item 457700, Let's Dance/Bailemos stamps, is September 17, 2005.

— Stamp Services,
Government Relations, 9-1-05

CORRECTION

To Form a More Perfect Union Souvenir Sheet

In the article "Stamp Announcement 05-23, To Form a More Perfect Union Souvenir Sheet" in Postal Bulletin 22160 (8-4-05, page 52), the statement "All sales should be recorded under account identifier code (AIC) 092" is incorrect.

"To Form a More Perfect Union" stamps are stamp panes and not souvenir sheets. Sales should be tracked in AIC 090.

— Stamp Services,
Government Relations, 9-1-05