44c Year of the Tiger stamp

On January 14, 2010, in Los Angeles, California, at the El Pueblo Historical Monument, the Postal Service issued a 44-cent Celebrating Lunar New Year: Year of the Tiger commemorative stamp in a pressure-sensitive adhesive souvenir sheet of twelve stamps. Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, Maryland, designed the stamp.

The Postal Service introduced the Celebrating Lunar New Year series in 2008. This was the third stamp in that series, which will continue through 2019 with stamps for the Year of the Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar.

Art Director Ethel Kessler and artist Kam Mak worked on the new series and decided to focus on some of the common ways the Lunar New Year Holiday is celebrated. To commemorate the Year of the Tiger, which begins February 14, 2010, they chose narcissus flowers, considered appropriate at this time of renewed hope for the future. The illustration was originally created using oil paints on a fiberboard panel. Kessler's design also incorporates elements from the previous series of Lunar New Year stamps, using Clarence Lee's intricate paper-cut design of a tiger and the Chinese character, drawn in grass-style calligraphy by Lau Bun.

Avery Dennison printed 40 million stamps using the gravure process.

Reference: Postal Bulletin (December 17, 2009)

Scott Catalogue USA: 4435
mint

Copyright United States Postal Service. All rights reserved.

Museum ID: 2010.2009.1