This stamp will be issued October 23rd in New York City at the ASDA National Postage Stamp Show 2014. The design and subject have not been announced.

Linn’s Stamp News reports these will be available in a pane of 10.

This multi-stamp issue is now confirmed, probably to be issued in August in Washington, D.C. (The June 26th Postal Bulletin confirms August 7th in Washington.)

From the USPS May 30th:

Fruits, vegetables, cheeses, flowers, and other fresh products invitingly displayed on tables or bins — farmers markets invite us to share America’s agricultural bounty.

Four se-tenant stamps depict a table laden with typical farmers-market fare. The stamp on the far left has among its products various fresh breads such as baguettes and rolls, cinnamon buns, cookies, artisan cheeses, and both brown and white eggs. The produce on the second stamp includes vegetables and fruits: apples, eggplants, watermelons, peppers, grapes, potatoes, broccoli, and gourds. Cut flowers adorn the next stamp, with bouquets of bright flowers next to a bucket of sunflowers and a collection of celosia. The final stamp on the far right features live plants, with various herbs, tomatoes, and flowers like marigolds and nasturtiums. Most items bear handwritten labels that identify the product and its price.

The artist chose and arranged the products so that each stamp has a large focal point; each stamp is complete in itself yet forms a cohesive whole with the entire stamp strip. The stamp art was created using acrylic paint.

Text on the back of the 20-stamp sheet describes the appeal of farmers markets.

Farmers markets are an old idea that’s new again. Markets were once the main way Americans shopped. As towns and cities grew in the 19th century, farms were pushed farther from the population hubs, and new distribution systems and permanent in-town shops increasingly became the middlemen between consumers and farmers. However, in 1976 Congress passed the Farmer-to-Consumer Direct Marketing Act, and the number of markets has soared once more.

Farmers markets flourish in every U.S. state and territory. Some markets thrive in permanent locations that operate year round; others are open only once a week during the harvest season. There are markets that sell just produce and meats; others also offer seafood, breads, prepared foods, or dairy products. Markets might include locally sourced honey or artisan crafts like soaps and candles. Live plants or cut flowers brighten many markets, and some markets feature live music or children’s activities, voter-registration drives, or local master gardeners offering advice. There are almost as many different combinations of goods and activities as there are markets.

Considered by many to be the new town square, farmers markets offer, as they did in the past, a gathering place for diverse groups of neighbors to meet and mingle and to share news, recipes, and stories—in short, to create a new sense of community.

Art director Greg Breeding designed the stamps with illustrations by Robin Moline.
The Farmers Markets stamps are being issued as Forever® stamps. These Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce rate

From the Postal Bulletin, July 10th:

On August 7, 2014, in Washington, DC, at The White House Farmers Market, the U.S. Postal Service will issue Farmers Markets (Forever First-Class Mail priced at 49-cents), in four designs, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 20 stamps (Item 472500).

The stamps will go on sale nationwide August7, 2014.

The U.S. Postal Service celebrates the abundance and bounty of America’s farmers markets with four colorful se-tenant stamps depicting a table laden with products found at a typical farmers market. The stamp on the far left has, among its products, various baked goods, artisan cheeses, and eggs. The produce on the second stamp includes vegetables and fruits. Cut flowers adorn the third stamp. The stamp on the far right features live plants. Most items bear handwritten labels that identify the product and its price. Text on the back of the pane of 20 stamps describes the appeal of Farmers Markets. Art director Greg Breeding designed the stamps, which were illustrated by Robin Moline.

How to Order the First-Day-of-Issue Postmark:
Customers have 60 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmarkby mail. They maypurchase new stamps at their local Post Office, at The Postal Store website at www.usps.com/shop, or by calling 800-STAMP-24. They should affixthe stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

Farmers Markets
Special Events
PO Box 92282
Washington, DC 20090-2282

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark up to a quantity of 50. Formore than 50, customers have to pay five cents each. All orders must be postmarked by October 6, 2014.

There are ten philatelic products for this stamp issue:

• 472506 Press Sheet w/Die cut, $49.00 (print quantity 1,000).
• 472508 Press Sheet w/o Die cut, $49.00 (print quantity 1,500).
• 472510 Digital Color Postmark Keepsake (Set of 4), $16.95.
• 472516 First-Day Cover (Set of 4), $3.72.
• 472521 Digital Color Postmark (Set of 4), $6.56.
• 472523 Notecards $13.95.
• 472524 Framed Art, $39.95.
• 472530 Ceremony Program, $6.95.
• 472531 Stamped Deck Card, $0.95.
• 472532 Stamped Deck Card w/Digital Color Postmark, $1.99.

Technical Specifications:

• Issue: Farmers Markets Stamps
• Item Number: 472500
• Denomination & Type of Issue: First-Class Mail Forever
• Format: Pane of 20 (4 designs)
• Series: N/A
• Issue Date & City: August 7, 2014, Washington, DC
• Designer: Greg Breeding, Charlottesville, VA
• Art Director: Greg Breeding, Charlottesville, VA
• Typographer: Greg Breeding, Charlottesville, VA
• Artist: Robin Moline, Lakeland, MN
• Modeler: Joseph Sheeran
• Manufacturing Process: Offset
• Printer: Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd. (APU)
• Printed at: Williamsville, NY
• Press Type: Muller A76
• Stamps per Pane: 20
• Print Quantity: 100 million stamps
• Paper Type: Nonphosphored Type III, Block Tag
• Adhesive Type: Pressure-sensitive adhesive
• Processed at: Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd. (APU)
• Colors: Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow
• Stamp Orientation: Vertical
• Image Area (w x h): 0.77 x 1.11 in./19.56 x 28.07 mm
• Overall Size (w x h): 0.91 x 1.19 in./23.11 x 30.23 mm
• Full Pane Size (w x h): 4.75 x 8.25 in./120.65 x 209.55 mm
• Press Sheet Size (w x h): 23.75 x 8.25 in./603.25 x 209.55 mm
• Plate Size: 300 stamps per revolution
• Plate Numbers: “P” followed by 1111 (4) single digits
• Marginal Markings:
  Front: Plate number • Year of issue • Header (Farmers Markets)
  Back: © 2014 USPS • USPS logo • Plate position diagram • Barcode (472500) • Descriptive text • Promotional text

The unveiling at the first day ceremony:

Photo by Daniel Afzal, USPS.

L to R:

• Katherine C. Tobin, Ph.D., Citizen Stamp Advisory Committee Member
• Bernadine Prince, Co-Executive Director, FRESHFARM Markets
• Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture
• Patrick R. Donahoe, Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer
• Jim Crawford, Farmer, and Owner, New Morning Farm
• Ruth Y. Goldway, Chairman, U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission
• Robin Moline, Artist

July 28th: Here is the design for this issue.

This stamp will be issued September 13th at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, in conjunction with the Anniversary Festival there. (See the Friends of Fort McHenry website, which says in part, “Events crescendo on September 13 with a star-studded patriotic concert and extraordinary fireworks display over Fort McHenry and the Baltimore harbor.” There is no mention on that page of the stamp, nor on other sites’ pages about the 10-day festival.

The first-day ceremony will be held at 11:00 a.m., the USPS tells us. (added June 12th: The National Park Service expects huge crowds, about 20,000 people, on September 13th. Plan accordingly; mass transit? The ceremony will be held inside the Fort itself.)

This is the second or third stamp this year honoring the bicentennial of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” depending on how you count. A “Star-Spangled Banner” definitive, also featuring Fort McHenry, was issued January 28th (http://virtualstampclub.com/lloydblog/?p=170) with an additional varieties on March 3rd. (This is also obviously the year for stamps named “Spangled,” because the Butterfly Greeting Card stamp subject was the Great Spangled Frtillary!)

From my article in October about the partial program preview: “We weren’t shown the design for the Wqr of 1812 stamp, but the subject will be the Battle of Fort McHenry. It includes soldiers manning a cannon, the “Star-Spangled Banner” in the background, colored by “the rockets’ red glare. A portrait of the fort’s commander by Rembrandt Peale is on the back.”

From USPSstamps.com, July 28th:

The War of 1812, sometimes called “the forgotten conflict,” was a two-and-a-half-year confrontation with Great Britain that brought the United States to the verge of bankruptcy and disunion. With this 2014 issuance, the U.S. Postal Service continues its commemoration of the bicentennial of a war that ultimately helped forge our national identity and gave us our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

The stamp’s subject for the third year of the war is the bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland, in September 1814. Using mixed media, stamp artist Greg Harlin, a specialist in historical paintings, depicts the battle from the vantage point of a group of soldiers manning a cannon in defense of Fort McHenry. The stamp art also gives prominence to “the rockets’ red glare” that Maryland native Francis Scott Key wrote about in “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

A portrait by Rembrandt Peale of the fort’s commander, George Armistead, appears on the reverse of the stamp sheet (courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society). The selvage engraving on the front of the sheet is a black and white version of a painting by Percy Moran depicting Key aboard the ship from which he witnessed the battle. The stamp sheet includes verso text and selvage text.

For some 25 hours beginning on the morning of September 13, a squadron of the Royal Navy fired more than 1,500 rounds of shells and rockets at Fort McHenry, which was designed to protect Baltimore from attacks by sea. Key witnessed this massive display of firepower from the deck of an American flag-of-truce vessel, where he had just completed negotiations with the British for the release of an American prisoner.

On the morning of September 14, Key realized the bombardment had been a failure when he saw the British squadron withdrawing downriver. He was moved to write “The Defence of Fort McHenry” to the tune of an old English song, and it quickly gained wider recognition under the title “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Greg Breeding served as art director and designer for the stamp.

The War of 1812: Fort McHenry stamp is being issued as a Forever stamp in self-adhesive sheets of 20. This Forever stamp will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate.

From the Postal Bulletin of August 21st:

On September 13, 2014, in Baltimore, MD at the Anniversary Festival at Fort McHenry, the U.S. Postal Service® will issue The War of 1812: Fort McHenry (Forever® priced at 49 cents) commemorative First-Class Mail® stamp, in one design, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 20 stamps (Item 588200). The $9.80 The War of 1812: Fort McHenry pane may not be split, and the stamps may not be sold individually.

The stamp will go on sale nationwide September 13, 2014.

In 2014, the Postal Service continues its commemoration of the War of 1812, a conflict with Great Britain that many Americans viewed as the nation’s “Second War of Independence.” The stamp subject is the bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, MD, in September 1814. Illustrated with mixed media by noted historical painter Greg Harlin, the stamp art depicts the battle from the vantage point of a group of soldiers manning a cannon in defense of the fort. The stamp art also gives prominence to “the rockets’ red glare” that Francis Scott Key wrote about in “The Star-Spangled Banner.” A portrait by Rembrandt Peale of the fort’s commander, George Armistead, appears on the reverse of the stamp pane (courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society). The selvage engraving on the front of the pane is a black and white version of a painting by Percy Moran depicting Key aboard the ship from which he witnessed the battle. The stamp pane includes verso text and selvage text. Art director Greg Breeding designed the stamp and pane.

How to Order the First-Day-of-Issue Postmark:
Customers have 60 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office, at The Postal Store® website at http://www.usps.com/shop, or by calling 800-STAMP-24. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

War of 1812: Ft. McHenry
Postmaster
900 E. Fayette Street
Baltimore, MD 21233-9998

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark up to a quantity of 50. For more than 50, customers have to pay five cents each. All orders must be postmarked by November 12, 2014.

There are 11 philatelic products for this stamp issue:

• 588206, Press Sheet w/Die cuts, $49.00 (print quantity 1,000).
• 588208, Press Sheet w/o Die cuts, $49.00 (print quantity 1,500).
• 588210, Keepsake w/Digital Color Postmark, $11.95.
• 588216, First-Day Cover, $0.93.
• 588218, Full Pane First-Day Cover, $12.30.
• 588219, Cancelled Full Pane, $12.30.
• 588221, Digital Color Postmark, $1.64.
• 588224, Framed Art, $39.95.
• 588230, Ceremony Program, $6.95.
• 588231, Stamp Deck Card, $0.95.
• 588232, Stamp Deck Card w/Digital Color Postmark, $1.99.

Technical Specifications:

Issue: The War of 1812: Fort McHenry Stamp
Item Number: 588200
Denomination & Type of Issue: First-Class Mail Forever Commemorative
Format: Souvenir Sheet of 20 (1 design)
Series: War of 1812
Issue Date & City: September 13, 2014, Baltimore, 
MD 21233
Designer: Greg Breeding, Charlottesville, VA
Art Director: Greg Breeding, Charlottesville, VA
Typographer: Greg Breeding, Charlottesville, VA
Artist: Greg Harlin, Annapolis, MD
Engraver: WRE/ColorTech
Modeler: CCL Label, Inc.
Manufacturing Process: Gravure
Printer: CCL Label, Inc.
Printed at: Clinton, SC 29325
Press Type: Dia Nippon Kiko (DNK)
Stamps per Pane: 20
Print Quantity: 30 million stamps
Paper Type: USPS-P-1238, Phosphor Tagged Paper, Block, Nonphosphored Type III
Adhesive Type: Pressure-sensitive adhesive
Processed at: CCL Label, Inc., Clinton, SC
Colors: Yellow, Magenta, Cyan, Tan 7535, Black
Stamp Orientation: Horizontal
Image Area (w x h): 1.42 x 1.09 in./36.07 x 27.56 mm
Overall Size (w x h): 1.56 x 1.23 in./39.62 x 31.12 mm
Full Pane Size (w x h): 10.25 x 7.25 in./260.35 x 184.15 mm
Press Sheet Size (w x h): 10.25 x 36.25 in./260.00 x 921.00
Plate Size: 100 stamps per revolution
Plate Numbers: N/A
Marginal Markings: Front: Side Header: The War of 1812: Fort McHenry • Descriptive text
Back: © 2014 USPS • USPS logo • Plate position diagram in lower right corner • Barcode (588200) in lower left corner • Promotional text Portrait of George Armistead • Descriptive text

The first-day postmarks:

The black-and-white postmark measures 2.87″ x 1.18″The Digital Color Postmark measures 2.81″ x 1.31″

As a collector of new-issue U.S. first day covers and a journalist who covers U.S. stamps, it’s important for me to know what stamps are being issued by the U.S. Postal Service. Sometimes, I know more about new issues than the clerks in the post offices.

Here are some of the more amusing things I’ve overheard in recent months — at several post offices, I hasten to add, not just one.

Upon seeing Songbirds used for postage on one of my “first-class flats,” a fill-in clerk said, “Oh, those are pretty. What country are they from?”

At another post office recently, I asked for a specific recent issue.

“I don’t have that, but I do have the Clown stamps.”

Trying to be amusing, I replied, “No, thanks, I don’t need the clowns, nor the acrobats or the tigers.”

“We don’t have the acrobat or tiger stamps.”

“Yes, you do. They’re on that same Circus [Posters] sheet with the clowns.”

“Oh.”

And this one had nothing to do with new issues, but the other day, I heard a clerk tell the same customer, within a few minutes, “I haven’t done one of these in years” and (sarcastically) “I guess you know my job better than I do.”

Sometimes, yes.