A splash of waterfalls on 12 new U.S. stamps June 13 in Yellowstone National Park

By Charles Snee

Waterfalls will cascade down 12 new United States stamps to be issued June 13 in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

The nondenominated (63¢) Waterfalls commemorative forever stamps were printed in panes of 12 that will be available nationwide on the first day of issue.

The U.S. Postal Service will hold a first-day ceremony for the Waterfalls stamps June 13 at the Canyon Visitors Education Center at Yellowstone National Park.

The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time. Those planning to attend the ceremony are encouraged to RSVP online with the Postal Service.

Mike Elston, secretary of the Postal Service’s board of governors, will serve as the dedicating official.

Joining Elston on the dais will be Cameron “Cam” Sholly, superintendent of Yellowstone National Park, and Kenneth Keifer, whose photo of the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River appears on one of the Waterfalls stamps.

Each stamp features a photograph and includes the name of the waterfall and the state in which it is located.

“Among nature’s most beautiful wonders, waterfalls come in all shapes and sizes, from serene cascades to mighty cataracts,” the Postal Service said. “The 12 waterfalls featured on the stamps represent many different types — and each is unique.”

The 12-stamp pane is arranged in three rows of four stamps each. Beginning with the first stamp in the top row and continuing left to right and top to bottom to the last stamp in the bottom row, the waterfalls shown are as follows:

First row: Dear Creek Falls in Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona (photo by Sandra Woods), Nevada Fall in Yosemite National Park in California (Quang-Tuan Luong), Harrison Wright Falls in Ricketts Glen State Park in Pennsylvania (Kenneth Keifer), and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming (Keifer);

Second row: Waimoku Falls in Haleakala National Park in Hawaii (Luong), Stewart Falls in Mount Timpanogos Wilderness in Utah (Nicole Nugent), Niagara Falls in Niagara Falls State Park in New York (John Cancalosi), and Dark Hollow Falls in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia (Luong);

Third row: Grotto Falls in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee (Joe Miller), Sunbeam Falls in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington (Kevin Schafer), LaSalle Canyon Waterfall in Starved Rock State Park in Illinois (David B. Vernon), and Upper Falls of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina (Tim Fitzharris).

The decorative selvage surrounding the 12 stamps in the pane features Vernon’s photograph of LaSalle Canyon Waterfall pictured on the third stamp in the bottom row.

Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd. of Williamsville, N.Y., printed a total of 34,992,000 Waterfalls stamps that were finished into 2,916,000 panes of 12. Ashton Potter printed the stamps using offset lithography.

According to the USPS, Stamp Fulfillment Services will not make an automatic push distribution of the Waterfalls stamps to post offices. Therefore, it is likely that some post offices will not have panes available for sale on June 13.

Stamp Fulfillment Services will also offer uncut press sheets of nine panes with and without die cuts. The sheets will sell for the face value of the stamps, $68.04.

To continue reading this story, subscribe to Linn’s Stamp News.

Connect with Linn’s Stamp News: 

    Sign up for our newsletter
    Like us on Facebook
    Follow us on Twitter