Background:
Cool off with Frozen Treats, a U.S. Postal Service Forever stamp issuance featuring frosty, colorful, icy pops on a stick. The tasty, sweet confections come in a variety of shapes and flavors.
Today, Americans love cool, refreshing ice pops on a hot summer day. Modern frozen treats are available in many varieties. Ice pops are made by large manufacturers, home cooks, and artisanal shops. In recent years, frozen treats containing fresh fruit such as kiwi, watermelon, blueberries, oranges, and strawberries have become more common. In addition, flavors such as chocolate, root beer, and cola are also popular. Some frozen treats even have two sticks, making them perfect for sharing.
This booklet of 20 stamps showcases Margaret Berg’s whimsical watercolor illustrations of frozen treats. Each of the 10 stamp designs include two different treats. The words “FOREVER” and “USA” appear along the bottom of every stamp.
-----------------
The new stamps “will add the sweet scent of summer to letters of love, friendship, party invitations and other mailings,” according to the Postal Service.
No additional details were provided about the scent that the stamps will carry. Linn’s Stamp News requested information from the Postal Service about the material and the process used to create the scratch-and-sniff component, but the inquiry had not been answered as this issue was going to press.
Technical details for this issue show that both offset lithography and flexography were used to manufacture the stamps, so it is likely that the scented material is added during the flexographic process.
Flexographic printing, which employs a flexible relief plate in a rotary printing process, has been used previously by the Postal Service; for example, to apply a surface texture to the 2016 set of eight Have a Ball stamps (Scott 5203-5210).
The 10 different Frozen Treats stamp designs each show two “frosty, colorful, icy pops on a stick,” set against a white background.
The watercolor illustrations are by California artist Margaret Berg, a native of South Africa who studied at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles.
Leslie Badani and USPS art director Antonio Alcala, both of Alexandria, Va., also contributed to the design of this issue.
The treats that are shown each have distinctive characteristics, including one that has decorations resembling a circle of watermelon seeds; another adorned with kiwi, orange and strawberry; others with colorful stripes and curlicues; and a few that appear to include chocolate as an ingredient.
“Forever” and “USA” are printed along the bottom of each stamp.
This is the first time the United States has issued scratch-and-sniff stamps, where a scent is released if the surface of the stamp is scraped by a fingernail, coin or similar object.
For stamp collectors, who make every effort to preserve their collectible items in an undamaged state, the scratch-and-sniff option might create a dilemma, as scratching the surface of the stamp runs counter to that instinct of preservation.
The solution might be to buy two panes of the new stamps: one to save, and one to scratch and sniff.
Linn’s has not had access to the Frozen Treats stamp panes as this issue was being prepared, and therefore cannot report if the aroma can be detected without scratching the stamps.
“Modern frozen treats are available in many varieties,” the Postal Service said. “Ice pops are made by large manufacturers, home cooks, and artisanal shops. In recent years, frozen treats containing fresh fruit such as kiwi, watermelon, blueberries, oranges, and strawberries have become more common. In addition, flavors such as chocolate, root beer, and cola are also popular. Some frozen treats even have two sticks, making them perfect for sharing.”
Historic figures from Marco Polo to Thomas Jefferson reportedly enjoyed ice creams and treats made from shaved ice and flavorings, but Unilever, the company that today markets the well-known Popsicle brand of ice pops, claims that this treat was the first such item prepared on a stick, an accidental invention in 1905 by 11-year-old Frank Epperson.
The Frozen Treats forever stamps are the second U.S. issue within two years to feature icy cold dessert treats. The Postal Service issued a set of five Soda Fountain Favorites forever stamps in a pane of 20 on June 30, 2016, illustrating an ice cream cone, an egg cream, a banana split, a root beer float and a hot fudge sundae (5093-5097)
Cool off with Frozen Treats, a U.S. Postal Service Forever stamp issuance featuring frosty, colorful, icy pops on a stick. The tasty, sweet confections come in a variety of shapes and flavors.
Today, Americans love cool, refreshing ice pops on a hot summer day. Modern frozen treats are available in many varieties. Ice pops are made by large manufacturers, home cooks, and artisanal shops. In recent years, frozen treats containing fresh fruit such as kiwi, watermelon, blueberries, oranges, and strawberries have become more common. In addition, flavors such as chocolate, root beer, and cola are also popular. Some frozen treats even have two sticks, making them perfect for sharing.
This booklet of 20 stamps showcases Margaret Berg’s whimsical watercolor illustrations of frozen treats. Each of the 10 stamp designs include two different treats. The words “FOREVER” and “USA” appear along the bottom of every stamp.
-----------------
The new stamps “will add the sweet scent of summer to letters of love, friendship, party invitations and other mailings,” according to the Postal Service.
No additional details were provided about the scent that the stamps will carry. Linn’s Stamp News requested information from the Postal Service about the material and the process used to create the scratch-and-sniff component, but the inquiry had not been answered as this issue was going to press.
Technical details for this issue show that both offset lithography and flexography were used to manufacture the stamps, so it is likely that the scented material is added during the flexographic process.
Flexographic printing, which employs a flexible relief plate in a rotary printing process, has been used previously by the Postal Service; for example, to apply a surface texture to the 2016 set of eight Have a Ball stamps (Scott 5203-5210).
The 10 different Frozen Treats stamp designs each show two “frosty, colorful, icy pops on a stick,” set against a white background.
The watercolor illustrations are by California artist Margaret Berg, a native of South Africa who studied at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles.
Leslie Badani and USPS art director Antonio Alcala, both of Alexandria, Va., also contributed to the design of this issue.
The treats that are shown each have distinctive characteristics, including one that has decorations resembling a circle of watermelon seeds; another adorned with kiwi, orange and strawberry; others with colorful stripes and curlicues; and a few that appear to include chocolate as an ingredient.
“Forever” and “USA” are printed along the bottom of each stamp.
This is the first time the United States has issued scratch-and-sniff stamps, where a scent is released if the surface of the stamp is scraped by a fingernail, coin or similar object.
For stamp collectors, who make every effort to preserve their collectible items in an undamaged state, the scratch-and-sniff option might create a dilemma, as scratching the surface of the stamp runs counter to that instinct of preservation.
The solution might be to buy two panes of the new stamps: one to save, and one to scratch and sniff.
Linn’s has not had access to the Frozen Treats stamp panes as this issue was being prepared, and therefore cannot report if the aroma can be detected without scratching the stamps.
“Modern frozen treats are available in many varieties,” the Postal Service said. “Ice pops are made by large manufacturers, home cooks, and artisanal shops. In recent years, frozen treats containing fresh fruit such as kiwi, watermelon, blueberries, oranges, and strawberries have become more common. In addition, flavors such as chocolate, root beer, and cola are also popular. Some frozen treats even have two sticks, making them perfect for sharing.”
Historic figures from Marco Polo to Thomas Jefferson reportedly enjoyed ice creams and treats made from shaved ice and flavorings, but Unilever, the company that today markets the well-known Popsicle brand of ice pops, claims that this treat was the first such item prepared on a stick, an accidental invention in 1905 by 11-year-old Frank Epperson.
The Frozen Treats forever stamps are the second U.S. issue within two years to feature icy cold dessert treats. The Postal Service issued a set of five Soda Fountain Favorites forever stamps in a pane of 20 on June 30, 2016, illustrating an ice cream cone, an egg cream, a banana split, a root beer float and a hot fudge sundae (5093-5097)
No comments:
Post a Comment