Updated January 4th New FDC mail-in address for non-dealers:

FDOI-LNY: Rooster
Stamp Fulfillment Services
8300 NE Underground Drive, Suite 300
Kansas City, MO 64144-9900

Updated December 9th Here is the Digital Color Postmark for this issue: It measures 2.94″ x 1.31″. There is also a “special” postmark that local stations may use: It measures 2.98″ x 1.50″.

Updated December 9th From the Postal Bulletin:

On January 5, 2017, in Seattle, WA, the U.S. Postal Service will issue the Year of the Rooster First-Class Mail stamp (Forever priced at 47 cents), in one design, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 12 stamps (Item 552000). The Year of the Rooster $5.64 pane of 12 stamps may not be split, and the stamps may not be sold individually.

The stamp will go on sale nationwide January 5, 2017.

The Year of the Rooster stamp is the tenth of 12 stamps in the Celebrating Lunar New Year series. The Year of the Rooster begins on January 28, 2017, and ends on February 15, 2018. The stamp art depicts a rooster emblazoned on a red envelope (hongbao). Parents present red envelopes containing money to children and loved ones during Lunar New Year celebrations. The color red symbolizes luck in Chinese culture, while rooster imagery is often used to ward off evil spirits. The characters at the top of the envelope form a common Chinese greeting of celebration and wish for prosperity and good fortune, used most frequently during Lunar New Year. Artist Kam Mak created this original painting. Art director and stamp designer Ethel Kessler incorporated elements from the previous series of Lunar New Year stamps — Clarence Lee’s intricate cut-paper design of a rooster and the Chinese character for “rooster,” drawn in grass-style calligraphy by Lau Bun — to create continuity between the stamps in the series.

Stamp Fulfillment Services will make an automatic push distribution to Post Offices of a quantity to cover approximately 30 days of sales.

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 www.usps.com/shop, or by calling 800-782-6724. 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:

Year of the Rooster
Stamp Fulfillment Services
Cancellation Services
8300 NE Underground Drive, Pillar 210
Kansas City, MO 64144-9998

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. There is a 5-cent charge for each additional postmark over 50. All orders must be postmarked by March 5, 2017. There will be a digital color postmark for this issue.

Only the pictorial postmark shown here is permitted for the Year of the Rooster stamp. The word “Station” or the abbreviation “STA” is required somewhere in the design, because it will be a temporary station.

There are eight philatelic products for this stamp issue:

• 552006, Press Sheet with Die-cut, $33.84
• 552010 Digital Color Postmark Keepsake (2 panes), $12.95
• 552016 First-Day Cover, $0.91
• 552018 First-Day Cover Full Pane, $8.14
• 552019 Cancelled Full Pane, $8.14
• 552021 Digital Color Postmark, $1.62
• 552024 Framed Art, $39.95
• 552030 Ceremony Program, $6.95

Technical Specifications:

Issue: Year of the Rooster Stamp
Item Number: 552000
Denomination & Type of Issue: First-Class Mail Forever
Format: Pane of 12 (1 design)
Series: Celebrating Lunar New Year
Issue Date & City: January 5, 2017, Seattle, WA 98134
Designer: Ethel Kessler, Bethesda, MD
Art Director: Ethel Kessler, Bethesda, MD
Typographer: Ethel Kessler, Bethesda, MD
Artist: Kam Mak, Brooklyn, NY
Modeler: Sandra Lane/Michelle Finn
Manufacturing Process: Offset, Microprint
Printer: Banknote Corporation of America
Printed at: Browns Summit, NC
Press Type: Alprinta 74
Stamps per Pane: 12
Print Quantity: 15 million stamps
Paper Type: Phosphor Tagged Paper, Block
Adhesive Type: Pressure-sensitive
Processed at: Banknote Corporation of America, Browns Summit SC
Colors: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, PMS 872/Gold
Stamp Orientation: Horizontal
Image Area (w x h): 1.42 x 0.84 in./36.07 x 21.34 mm
Overall Size (w x h): 1.56 x 0.98 in./39.62 x 24.89 mm
Full Pane Size (w x h): 7.24 x 5.92 in./183.90 x 150.37 mm
Press Sheets Size (w x h): 21.97 x 11.97 in./ 558.04 x 303.91 mm
Plate Size: 144 stamps per revolution
Plate Numbers: N/A
Marginal Markings:
Back: © 2016 USPS • USPS logo • Barcode (552000) • Promotional text • Verso: Celebrating Lunar New Year text

Updated December 6th from the USPS: The stamp will be issued January 6th in Seattle. The USPS press release:

Postal Service to Celebrate 2017 Lunar New Year Issuing Year of the Rooster Forever Stamp

What:
The U.S. Postal Service rings in the Year of the Rooster by issuing the tenth of 12 stamps in the Celebrating Lunar New Year series. The Year of the Rooster begins on Jan. 28, 2017 and ends on Feb. 15, 2018.

Who:

• Greg G. Graves, vice president Area Operations – Western Area, United States Postal Service
• Yibo Lu, director, Chinese Radio Seattle’s CRS Office
• Beth Takekawa, executive director, The Wing Luke Museum
• Ron Chew, CEO, Chew Communications
• Assunta Ng, founder and publisher, Seattle Chinese Post and Northwest Asian Weekly

When:
Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017, 11:30 a.m.

Where:
Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience
719 S. King Street
Seattle, WA 98104

Background:
The most important holiday of the year for many Asian communities around the world, the Lunar New Year is celebrated primarily by people of Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tibetan and Mongolian heritage.

In the United States and elsewhere, the occasion is marked in various ways across many cultures; parades featuring enormous and vibrantly painted papier-maacute;ché dragons, parties, and other special events are common. Vendors at outdoor markets sell flowers, toys, food, and other items for celebration. Musicians play drums to celebrate this time of renewed hope for the future.

Many families present red envelopes (hongbao), like the one depicted in the stamp art, containing money to children and loved ones.

Art director Ethel Kessler worked on the series with illustrator Kam Mak, a Hong Kong-born artist who grew up in New York City’s Chinatown and now lives in Brooklyn. The artwork focuses on some of the common ways the Lunar New Year holiday is celebrated. For the Year of the Rooster, the illustration -originally created using oil paints on panel – depicts a colorful rooster emblazoned on a red envelope (hongbao). Parents present red envelopes containing money to children and loved ones during Lunar New Year celebrations. The color red symbolizes luck in Chinese culture, while rooster imagery is often used to ward off evil spirits. The characters at the top of the envelope form a common Chinese greeting of celebration and wish for prosperity and good fortune, used most frequently during Lunar New Year.

From the USPS, September 20, 2016:

The Year of the Rooster stamp is the 10th of 12 stamps in the Celebrating Lunar New Year series. The Year of the Rooster begins Jan. 28, 2017, and ends Feb. 15, 2018. The stamp depicts a rooster emblazoned on a red envelope (hongbao). Parents present red envelopes containing money to children and loved ones during Lunar New Year celebrations. The color red symbolizes luck in Chinese culture, while rooster imagery is often used to ward off evil spirits. Artist Kam Mak created this original painting. Art director and stamp designer Ethel Kessler incorporated elements from the previous series of Lunar New Year stamps — Clarence Lee’s intricate cut-paper design of a rooster and the Chinese character for “rooster,” drawn in grass-style calligraphy by Lau Bun — to create continuity in the series.

Comment: This is the first of the Kam Mak-designed Lunar New Year stamps that shows the Zodiac animal.