U.N. starts new cycle in Lunar New Year series

By David Hartwig

The United Nations Postal Administration will begin its 2022 stamp program with a pane of 10 $1.30 Year of the Tiger stamps and labels to be issued Jan. 14.

The stamps are for use from the post office at U.N. headquarters in New York City, and the $1.30 denomination meets the United States Postal Service international letter rate that went into effect in 2021.

The Year of the Tiger will officially begin Feb. 1, 2022, and end Jan. 21, 2023.

In 2021, the UNPA completed the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac for the Lunar New Year stamp series that started in 2010.

The UNPA is introducing a new pane design and format for this new cycle.

In the panes of 10 in the 2010-21 UNPA Lunar New Year series, the stamps depict the U.N. emblem in blue or purple on a white background, and the labels show the animals of the Chinese zodiac.

The new Year of the Tiger pane features the illustration of a tiger on the stamps, and the labels show the U.N. emblem in white against a taupe background.

The stamp design shows a tiger walking through a thick patch of flora that is outlined in gold against the white background.

In addition to the tiger illustration, the stamp includes the denomination and year in the top left and bottom left, respectively. “Year of the Tiger” accompanies Chinese calligraphy at the top right of the stamp.

Chinese artist Tiger Pan (or Pan Hu) designed the stamps and the background design of the pane. Pan also illustrated UNPA’s 2018 Year of the Dog stamp pane.

The Year of the Tiger stamps were printed by offset with gold foil. Five stamps in the pane of 10 show the tiger facing to the right, and five show the tiger facing left.

Larger, mirrored images of the tiger and flora appear on the selvage to the left and right of the 10 stamps. English text states “Chinese Lunar Calendar” and “Year of the Tiger 2022” next to Chinese calligraphy at both sides of the top of the selvage. Copyright dates and text crediting the artist appear at both sides of the bottom of the pane.

The labels on the pane can be personalized. To do so, customers can visit UNPA stamp shops at the U.N. offices in New York City or Vienna, Austria, or upload their photos to the UNPA website.

Cartor Security Printing of Meauce, France, printed 25,000 panes of 10. The stamps measure 40.6 millimeters by 29.8mm, and the labels are 26.6mm by 29.8mm.

Other recent Years of the Tiger were 2010, 1998, 1986, 1974, 1962, 1950 and 1938.

According to the website chinesenewyear.net, “Like their eponymous zodiac animal, people born in years of the Tiger are vigorous and ambitious, daring and courageous, enthusiastic and generous, self-confident with a sense of justice and a commitment to help others for the greater good.”

For ordering information, for the new Year of the Tiger pane of 10 and labels, visit the UNPA website; email unpanyinquiries@un.org; or write to UNPA, Box 5900, Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10163-5900.

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