Updated January 3rd: The Scott catalogue number for this issue is 5035.
Updated December 6th: I purchased a pane at my local post office. There is no year date. There is no year. Here’s the entire pane: 
You can click on that for a larger view. Here’s a closeup of the individual stamp:
First reported by Jay Bigalke on The American Philatelic Society’s Facebook page on November 25th:
“[A] new Purple Heart stamp variety showed up at post offices nationwide in October. Its arrival brought loads of new information to the stamp program. Here’s some of the highlights:
– Original printing by CCL Label issued last year. This new version had 200 million stamps printed by SSP using offset printing instead of gravure. The stamp has microprinting.
– New USPS policy starting with this stamp, according to USPS spokesman Mark Saunders “we won’t be conducting FDOIs for reprints.”
– This might be the last time we see the “S” for a plate number. In early October Sennett Security Products (who owns Banknote Corporation of America that prints the stamps) was purchased by CCL Label. According to the USPS “Beginning with the first issue of the new calendar year, ‘Banknote Corporation of America’ will be using the prefix ‘B.'”
This means first day cover collectors are again looking for “EKU covers” — envelopes with postmarks indicating the Earliest Known Use. Have you seen any? Is the new version in your post office yet? Report it here.
https://store.usps.com/store/browse/uspsProductDetailMultiSkuDropDown.jsp?categoryNavIds=buy-stamps&categoryNav=false&navAction=push&navCount=0&atg.multisite.remap=false&categoryId=buy-stamps&productId=S_125404
This is the 2014 issue version. Until I have a USPS Item Number for the 2015 edition, I Will Not Spend Any Money on ‘trips to various USPS outlets’ looking for an allegid 2015 edition. If the reprint has a 2014 date on it, how will it have a new Scott number? I’ll let YOU bother the folks in The Caves at KC MO for more info….
Yes, I used the 2014 version as an illustration. I don’t have a copy of the 2015 one yet. I have not seen the new one yet.
Lots of Info, but little to the point:
Info From Postal Bulletin 2 OCT 2014 Pg 14 & 39: Printed by CCL Label in Gravure using Plate Numbers Cxxxxxx
From the Press Announcement The 2015 version was printed by Sennett Printing (SSP) with offset printing, and Supposedly has a Plate Number Sxxxxxx.
If all that changed was the Plate Number, will there be a new Scott number?
As CCL bought Sennett, who owned Banknote, maybe the new plate numbers will start with a B. (If owned by CCL, why not a C ?)
B, C, S Will the year on the stamp be 2014 or 2015 ?
Is this a version of “They talked a lot but didn’t say much…”
Ah, The old saying “A Picture is worth a thousand dollars.” (Marilyn Monroe)
The image added DEC 6 shows the “2014” and plate numbers S111111 as well as some micro-print in the upper-left corner if the image. (Can’t determine what it says from the computer image. Sennett ?)
So, with almost the same image, the same date (2014) and the minor addition of the Micro-print, will this be enough for a new Scott number, or just a ‘Variety” letter on the original Scott number?
As the USPS has said they will not put a new USPS Item number on this version of the stamp, there is no way to Seperately order this version. (I guess that means Standing in the Christmas Line at the USPS. I’ll skip this one, thanks.
What is the source of your information that “they will not put a new USPS item number on this version of the stamp?”
I received one from the Paralyzed Veterans fundraising mail.
I have just received word that Maurice Bessette at USPS 1104 Plainfield Pike Oneco CT 06373 Has the “S” plate-version Available for Sale. He Does Not Do Sales Via Internet. Write him a letter, and enclose a check/money order for payment.
I don’t know if Big Al at USPS 100 S First St Minneapolis MN 55401 has them for sale.
Scott bases their numbering on whether there is a production or design difference for the stamp itself — paper type, tagging, dimensions, ink colors, microprinting. There have been occasional, but rare, examples where the printer changed (thus the plate number changed) but there was no design change and no identifiable production change. Or at least that was what we initially thought. After the stamps were in the hands of collectors for a while, some consistent, measurable production difference was found that resulted in a different catalog number being assigned.
If the only difference is that there is no date on the 2015 reprint, it would in theory be another minor variety. You can see precedents for this in Scott’s numbering of post-independence Barbados definitives. For Barbados, the initial printing has no date. Subsequent reprints have a small date, and are assigned small-letter suffixes of a, b, c for each reprint year. If a particular denomination is only part of the second reprinting, you would have catalog numbers of XXX and XXXb, no XXXa or XXXc.
So Scott already has a variety of options in place for properly numbering the reprint once it is available. The only question is HOW different the reprint will be from any previous version, and whether that difference warrants a minor number or a new major catalog number. Sure wish I could get my hands on a pane so I could see for myself!
It was not included in the stamp yearbook either.
YAAAAAAY!
I got 4 panes. Thanks to you guys for telling me what to look for!
Merry Christmas
Is their a USPS order # for this version? I’d like to order this from the caves in this weeks order.
thanks.
There is NO NEW USPS Item Number for this version. It is Still 125404 (PSA Pn 20 $9.80) It has an ‘S’ plate number, but it is in the same parts bin as the ‘C’ version. As stated above, Maurice Bessette at the Oneco CT USPS has the ‘S’ version, though I’m still waiting on my order from him. Supposedly its different enough for a new Scott number (5035). Ask the folks at Amos Publishing for their ‘why’.
I don’t need to ask: It’s a different printing process than the earlier version. It’s offset – the stamps are completely smooth. I don’t know why the USPS hasn’t bothered to give it a different order number, except they probably don’t care about philately.
is there a 2014 purple heart stamp with the date on the right hand side?
I was not able to get the new Purple Heart sheet from KC, got a previous year as someone stated earlier. I went to the PO this morning a bought 4 sheets of the Purple Heart stamp with micro printing in the upper left corner of the stamp, next to the ribbon, dated 2014 at lower left, marked 2012 on the backing, and S111111.
The other sheets I have are dated 2014 at lower left and C111111, and dated 2012 at lower right and C111111.
Does the purple heart Scott # 5035 have both “S11111” and “B111111” plate numbers? I have two blocks with the “B” but all the comments and other data talk of a “S” plate number.