Stamp Announcement 22-32: Virgin and Child Stamp

©2022 USPS

On September 22, 2022, in Boston, MA, the United States Postal Service^® will issue the Virgin and Child stamp (Forever^® priced at the First-Class Mail^® rate) in one design, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA), double-sided booklet (Item 684100). This stamp will go on sale nationwide September 22, 2022, and must not be sold or canceled before the first-day-of-issue.

This Christmas stamp features Virgin and Child, a 16th-century painting by a Florentine artist known as the Master of the Scandicci Lamentation. Part of the Robert Dawson Evans Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the painting depicts the Virgin Mary gazing downward at the infant Christ, one of her arms holding him protectively at his waist, the other tenderly touching his arm, while the Christ Child turns his head to look out of the frame to the left. Art director Greg Breeding designed the stamp.

Availability to Post Offices: Item 684100, Virgin and Child Stamp (Forever Priced at the First-Class Mail Rate) PSA Double-sided Booklet of 20 Stamps

Stamp Fulfillment Services will not make an automatic push distribution to Post Offices. Post Offices may begin ordering stamps before the first-day-of-issue through SFS Web at sfsweb.usps.gov/sfsweb.

How to Order the First-Day-of-Issue Postmark

Customers have 120 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office™ or at The Postal Store^® website at store.usps.com/store/home. They must affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

FDOI – Virgin and Child Stamp
USPS Stamp Fulfillment Services
8300 NE Underground Drive, Suite 300
Kansas City, MO 64144-9900

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 up to a quantity of 50. There is a 5-cent charge for each additional postmark over 50. All orders must be postmarked by January 22, 2023.

How to Order First-Day Covers

The Postal Service 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 USA Philatelic catalog and online at store.usps.com/store/home. Customers may register to receive a free USA Philatelic catalog online at usps.com/philatelic.

Locally produced items are not authorized. Only merchandise that has been approved and assigned an item number by Headquarters Retail Marketing may be produced and sold.

— Stamp Services,
Marketing, 8-11-22