Saturday, February 16, 2013

USPS Chinese New Year 1992-2004 Stamps Issue



The designs in the USPS Chinese New Year 1992-2004 Stamps Issue are based on intricate paper-cut designs for the twelve animals associated with the Chinese lunar calendar. The first stamp  was a rooster stamp issued on December 30, 1992 for the 1993 Year of the Rooster. Twelve stamps were issued, one per year, with the appropriate first class postage denomination for the year of issue.  The second design was a dog for 1994 which is shown on the postcard above. The dog is  a Pekinese, the royal dog of China. The Chinese characters on the left translate as "Year of the Dog."

The postcard below shows the design for 2001, which was the Year of the Snake. Other years of the snake include 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989 and this year 2013. According to the description on the back of this postcard "Silence, great wisdom, and sympathy are hallmarks of the snake. People born in the Year of the Snake are romantically deep thinkers."



The stamp used on the postcard is from a souvenir sheet of 37-cent Lunar New Year stamps in twelve designs issued on January 6, 2005. The 2005 sheet was a double sided pane of 24. A similar souvenir sheet of 12 stamps was issued issued with the 39-cent denomination on January 29, 2006.

source: The Postal Service Guide to U.S. Stamps

My postcards show the denominations of the original series of stamps. It is hard to find any information on the postcards issued by the United States Postal Service. I discovered that there is also a set/series of postcards all with the 37-cent denomination.

Here is a list of the stamps in the original series:
1993  29-cent Year of the Rooster
1994  29-cent Year of the Dog
1995  29-cent Year of the Boar
1996  32-cent Year of the Rat
1997  32-cent Year of the Ox
1998  32-cent Year of the Tiger
1999  33-cent Year of the Rabbit
2000  33-cent Year of the Dragon
2001  34-cent Year of the Snake
2002  34-cent Year of the Horse
2003  37-cent Year of the Ram
2004  37-cent Year of the Monkey

This is a post for Sunday Stamps at Viridian's Postcard Blog


11 comments:

  1. I want to have the Year of the Ox stamp as it is my animal birth year.

    My Sunday Stamp: Year Of The Snake

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  2. I've got a couple of those but not seen the full set before, imaginative set, you could make some pretty patterns on envelopes.

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  3. i really like the continuity of this set. The design of our Lunar New Year stamps change dramatically each year.

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  4. Visually there is continuity. But your postcard shows both 37 and 34 cent denominations. Very confusing!!!
    Thank you for joining me this week.

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  5. I have not seen them before, they are really cute!

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  6. These are cute and the colours are pleasing to the eyes :) Really represents the festive Chinese New Year.

    Postcards Crossing

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  7. I'm really impressed with these. The UK post office seems to ignore the Chinese New Year.

    I missed the Link liat this week but my post explains at this link http://bit.ly/YtcfT6

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  8. These are lovely. I like the more stylised design rather than the realistic ones that some countries produce.

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  9. These are really great designs - the paper cut-out style is so perfect. Very nice set.

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