Commemorative Stamps Keep America in Stitches

Holiday Knits Stamp Unveiling Ceremony at the Geneva History Center

To obtain a 300 dpi image of the stamp visit: http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2007stamps/downloadcenter.htm

GENEVA, IL — Just in time for the start of the winter holiday season, the U.S. Postal Service joined in the fun by unveiling the Holiday Knits Commemorative stamps today at a second-day-of-issue ceremony at the Geneva History Center.

The four stamps feature classic wintertime imagery, and were designed and machine-knitted by New York-based illustrator Nancy Stahl, who has previously designed several other stamps for the Postal Service.

The noon ceremony included participation from Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns, Chairman of the Geneva Chamber of Commerce Jean Gaines, Wool and Company story owners Neil and Lesley Edmondson and Geneva Postmaster Belinda Bolding. “The new holiday stamps provide another way for people to express warm winter greetings on all their mailings sent this season to family, friends or customers,” said Bolding.

As people gathered around the newly unveiled stamp and requested the special postmark cancellation commemorating the event Lesley Edmondson said, “It is a wonderful series of stamps and we are proud that local artist Dorie Blankenship designed the postmark cancellation.”

The Holiday Knits stamps can be purchased online at the Postal Store at www.usps.com/shop, by calling toll-free 800-STAMP-24, at philatelic centers nationwide and at local Post Offices.

In additional to the Holiday Knits stamps, four additional stamps from the Holiday Celebration series will be available nationwide as well: Eid, the Muslim Holiday stamp, was issued Sept. 28; the Christmas stamp will be issued Oct. 25; and stamps commemorating Kwanzaa and Hanukkah will be issued Oct. 26.

The Postal Service produced 1.87 billion Holiday Knit stamps, 200 million of which are in panes of 20. The Postal Service also produced 700 million of The Madonna of the Carnation stamps, 50 million Kwanzaa stamps, 50 million Hanukkah stamps and 40 million Eid stamps.

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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation, 146 million homes and businesses, six days a week. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products, and services to pay for operating expenses, not tax dollars. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.