Vintage seed stamp collection welcomes spring
With winter refusing to loosen its grip on several parts of the country, businesses employing address verification in their direct mail campaigns might be able to bring a little spring atmosphere to their marketing through the U.S. Postal Service's new vintage seed packet stamp collection.
According to the USPS, the collection includes 10 stamps, each depicting various flowers, and were based on century-old photographs of seed packets. The photographs were created using an inexpensive process of hand-tinting lithographs and were on the front covers of seed packets between 1910 and 1920. Every stamp details one type of flower and are classified as Forever stamps that will never depreciate in value.
Flowers are one of the most common images on stamps and Antonio Alcalá, an art director at the USPS, cropped the vintage photographs to highlight the colorful floral elements.
The vintage collection was dedicated at the Philadelphia National Stamp Exhibition, and Chu Falling Star, dedicating official and USPS Philadelphia metropolitan district manager, believes the vintage seed stamp collection will encourage gardening by growing nostalgia for seed art among the public.
"Seed packet art depicts the utmost in floral perfection," Falling Star said. "At the turn of the early 1900s, packets like those displayed on the stamps encouraged Americans to create the perfect floral garden. The Postal Service's release of these stamps reminds us about the beauty flowers add to our lives and signals the arrival of spring."