New U.S. Ferns coil stamps issued with 49¢ denomination

Five United States 49¢ Ferns self-adhesive coil stamps were issued in two different large rolls Jan. 27 in Kansas City, Mo.

The five stamps each show photographs of different fern types: autumn fern, Goldie’s wood fern, soft shield fern, Fortune’s holly fern, and painted fern.

The U.S. Postal Service preliminary design image pictured here shows the stamps directly adjacent to one another, but the actual stamps will be issued with spaces in between to facilitate use in stamp-affixing machinery.

These new stamps fulfill the new 49¢ first-class letter rate that went into effect Jan. 26.

No first-day ceremony was planned.

The 49¢ Ferns stamps are being issued primarily for use by businesses that send first-class letters in large quantities.

The stamps were issued in self-adhesive coil rolls of 3,000 and 10,000. The stamps from the two rolls probably will be identical.

CCL Label Inc. of Clinton, S.C., manufactured both sizes of the coil rolls using the gravure printing process.

For the stamps in coil rolls of 3,000, an initial print quantity of 45 million was produced. For the rolls of 10,000, 100 million stamps were printed. The plate number appears on every 30th stamp in the roll.

Phil Jordan served as art director for the new stamps, using photographs by Cindy Dyer.

A four-bar first-day cancel and a digital color postmark were offered for these stamps.

No press sheets were made available for this issue.

Coil strips of 25 with a plate number are available for each coil size: USPS item No. 79003 from coil of 3,000 and 790803 from coil of 10,000.

Technical details and first-day cancel ordering information for the 49¢ Ferns coil stamps can be found in the box on this page. 

49¢ Ferns coils of 3,000 and 10,000

FIRST DAY— Jan. 27, 2014; city— Kansas City, Mo., and nationwide.

DESIGN: existing photographs— Cindy Dyer; designer, art director, and typographer— Phil Jordan, Falls Church, Va.; modeler— CCL Label Inc.; engraver— WRE.

PRINTING: process— gravure; printer and processor— CCL Label Inc., Clinton, S.C.; press— Dia Nippon Kiko; inks— yellow, magenta, black, Pantone Matching System 7482 green; paper— nonphosphored, type III, overall tagged; gum— self-adhesive; issue quantities— 45 million stamps (approximately 15,000 coils), coil of 3,000; 100 million stamps (10,000 coils), coil of 10,000; formats— coil rolls of 3,000 and 10,000, from 300-subject cylinders; size— 0.84 inches by 0.73 inches (image); 0.98 inches by 0.87 inches (overall); plate numbers— “C” followed by four single digits every 30th stamp; USPS item No.— 790004 (coil of 3,000), 790804 (coil of 10,000).

First-day cancel ordering information

Standard ordering instructions apply. Collectors requesting first-day cancels are encouraged to purchase their own stamps and affix them to envelopes. The first-day cover envelopes should be addressed for return (a removable label may be used), and mailed in a larger envelope addressed to Ferns Stamps, SFS Cancellation Unit, 8300 N.E. Underground Drive, Pillar 210, Kansas City, MO 64144-0001. Requests for first-day cancels must be postmarked by April 1.

The Postal Service’s uncacheted set of five first-day covers for the Ferns stamps is item No. 790816 at $4.65.