New U.S. stamp rings in Year of the Dragon Jan. 25 in Seattle, Wash.

By Charles Snee

The fifth stamp in the United States Postal Service’s current Lunar New Year series celebrates the Year of the Dragon and will be issued Jan. 25 in Seattle, Wash. The Year of the Dragon begins Feb. 10 of this year and comes to a close Jan. 28, 2025.

A free public first-day ceremony is planned for 11 a.m. Pacific Standard Time at the Chinatown Community Center, 719 Eighth Ave. S., in Seattle.

Collectors desiring to attend the ceremony are asked to register with the Postal Service. Each attendee may invite a maximum of 98 guests, the USPS said.

Eduardo H. Ruiz Jr., USPS vice president of retail and delivery operations for the Western Pacific area, will serve as the dedicating official.

“Parades, customary foods, and red and gold lanterns mark the Lunar New Year festival for people all over the world,” the Postal Service said in a Dec. 21 press release.

“People born in the Year of the Dragon are said to be successful, wise and powerful,” the USPS said. “In fact, many consider the dragon to be so favorable, they plan for children to be born under the sign.

“Every 12 years, many Asian communities experience a baby boom because of the allure of the dragon ... ”

Like the 2020 Year of the Rat (Scott 5428), 2021 Year of the Ox (5556), 2022 Year of the Tiger (5662) and 2023 Year of the Rabbit (5744) stamps, the new nondenominated (68¢) Year of the Dragon forever stamp features an ornate three-dimensional ceremonial mask by Camille Chew.

Her intricate artwork was photographed and then used for the vignette of the stamp designed by USPS art director Antonio Alcala.

“The dragon is one of the most recognized animals in the Lunar New Year cycle – in part because dragon dancers are present at many Lunar New Year celebrations,” Alcala told Linn’s Stamp News. “The goal in this series is to create masks representing animals in a fresh, more playful visual language than traditional photo-realistic renderings of the animal.”

Chew was a student at the Rhode Island School of Design when the Postal Service commissioned her to do the artwork for the 2020 Year of the Rat stamp.

According to the school, Alcala first came across Chew’s work on Instagram, where she currently has more than 23,000 followers. Chew is based in Providence, R.I.

The dragon design was shown previously as one of 12 simple sketches in the margin of the pane for the 2020 Year of the Rat stamp. That pane was pictured on page 16 of the March 9, 2020, issue of Linn’s.

Chew’s dragon mask is rendered in hues of yellow, green, red and purple. A pair of stylized tassels dangles from a floral accent on either side of the dragon’s head. Symmetrical patterns are visible on the animal’s forehead and nose.

The dragon’s mouth is slightly open, revealing pointed teeth that enhance the creature’s somewhat menacing appearance.

“Calling to mind the elaborately decorated masks used in the dragon or lion dances often performed in Lunar New Year parades, this 3-dimensional mask depicting a dragon is a contemporary take on the long tradition of paper-cut folk art crafts created during this auspicious time of year,” the Postal Service said.

According to China Highlights, a tour company: “People born in the year of the Dragon are often seen as confident, ambitious, and adventurous. They are also known to be passionate, strong-willed, and have excellent leadership qualities.”

“Dragons are highly respected and revered in Chinese culture and are often associated with the emperor, power, and authority,” China Highlights said. “People born in the year of the Dragon are believed to possess some of these characteristics and are often successful in their careers and personal lives. They are also said to be charismatic, imaginative, and have a strong sense of justice and fairness.”

Nonetheless, China Highlights cautions that Year of the Dragon people can be impulsive, stubborn and a challenge to work with.

The dragon is the only imaginary creature in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac, and the online Travel China Guide points out that the dragon’s chimerical body comprises nine animals, “including the body of a snake, the horns of a deer, the head of an ox, the mouth of a crocodile, the claws of an eagle, and the scales of a fish.”

“The Dragon enjoys a very high reputation in Chinese culture and it represents auspiciousness and imperial power since ancient times,” according to the Travel China Guide.

Chew is creating the designs for all of the stamps in the current Lunar New Year series of 12.

The series chronicles the full zodiac cycle of lunar years observed in many Asian cultures. Each year in the repeating cycle is identified and characterized by a specific animal.

The 12 animals featured in the lunar new year cycle, also known as the Chinese zodiac, are normally listed beginning with the rat and followed by the ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog and boar (or pig).

The new stamp was printed by six-color offset lithography with accents in gold and purple foil.

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