New U.S. Horses stamps to connect with Pony Express history June 17 in St. Joseph, Mo.

By Charles Snee

On June 17, the United States Postal Service will issue five forever commemorative stamps featuring photographs of horses in conjunction with the 164th Pony Express Re-Ride in St. Joseph, Mo.

The first-day ceremony for the new nondenominated (68¢) Horses stamps will take place at 2 p.m. Central Time at the Patee House Museum, 1202 Penn St., in St. Joseph.

Jamiel Freeman, postmaster of St. Joseph, will dedicate the Horses stamps. Joining him for the unveiling of the stamps will be Pam Dixon Simmons, president of the National Pony Express Association; and Gary Chilcote, president of the Missouri State division of the National Pony Express Association.

To register to attend the ceremony, visit the USPS online. Each attendee may invite up to nine additional guests, according to the Postal Service.

The Pony Express Re-Ride will begin in St. Joseph on June 17 and conclude June 27 in Sacramento, Calif.

Letters submitted for the re-ride will be carried on horseback by more than 700 riders along the original Pony Express Trail that stretches for 1,966 miles, according to the National Pony Express Association.

Illustrated nearby is the Postal Service’s preliminary image of the five Horses stamps, shown as a vertical strip of five. Karen Wegehenkel of Medford, Ore., took the picture of the horse shown on the middle stamp, and Stephanie Moon of Dublin, Ohio, was the photographer for the horses featured on the other four stamps.

Moon also snapped the picture of the horse seen on the wide decorative selvage (margin paper) at the top of the pane of 20 Horses stamps shown here.

Allen Abel reported in the Dec. 23, 2023, issue of Linn's that Cats Charity, a half-Arabian mare, is the name of the horse that Wegehenkel photographed. Wegehenkel also once owned Cats Charity. ...

Production details published in the May 16 Postal Bulletin state that Banknote Corporation of America, one of the Postal Service’s two contract stamp printers (the other is Ashton Potter), produced a total of 30 million Horses stamps that were finished into 1.5 million panes of 20 for sale at post offices and other outlets authorized by the USPS to sell stamps.

In addition, die-cut and imperforate uncut press sheets of six panes of 20 will be available for purchase from the Postal Service’s Stamp Fulfillment Services center in Kansas City, Mo. Both versions will sell for $81.60, the face value of the 120 stamps in a single sheet.

To read the complete story about the new Horses stamps, subscribe to Linn’s Stamp News.

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