First announced in the sales section of USPS.com, this patriotic-design stamp will be issued April 25 in San Francisco, with a first-day ceremony at WESTPEX (which is actually in Burlingame, Calif.) However, this issue was mentioned in my October 2013 preview of the 2014 stamp program. It will be issued in coils of 10,000, although collectors can buy quantities as small as 25.

From the description on shop.usps.com:

Celebrate America with the Red, White and Blue issuance. Each of the four stamps features a modern interpretation of a flying flag, complete with six red and white wavy stripes and a handful of five-pointed stars. The designs were inspired by 20th-century American ephemera, such as pins and flags.

Today, the American flag remains a powerful symbol. “In those broad stripes and bright stars, we see the arc of the American story,” President Barack Obama said in his 2013 Flag Day proclamation, “from a handful of colonies to 50 States, united and free.”

Designed for business use, the Red, White and Blue Forever® self-adhesive stamps are being issued in a strip of 25, with plate number. These Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce rate.

Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamps.

The text for the Digital Color Postmark FDCs says:

Show your spirit with this patriotic set, featuring Old Glory with a modern twist. Each of the four First Day Covers (#6 3/4 envelope) bears a different Red, White and Blue Forever® stamp and an official First Day of Issue color postmark.

Inspired by 20th-century American ephemera, the four Red, White and Blue Forever® stamps each features a flying flag, complete with wavy red and white stripes, a swath of blue, and a handful of five-pointed stars. Playing off the contemporary styling of the stamp, the color postmark design incorporates the stars and stripes in a banner-like formation with the stamp title at its center. Also included are the date and location of stamp issuance.

And for the “regular” FDCs:

National pride is always in style, and with this patriotic set of four First Day Covers, Old Glory gets a modern twist. Each #6 3/4 envelope bears a different Red, White and Blue Forever® stamp and an official First Day of Issue postmark.

Inspired by 20th-century American ephemera, the 2014 Red, White and Blue Forever® stamps each features a flying flag, complete with wavy red and white stripes, a swath of blue, and a handful of five-pointed stars. The standard four-bar postmark notes the stamp’s official First Day of Issue date and location.

Added from the April 17th Postal Bulletin:

On April 25, 2014, in San Francisco, CA, the U.S. Postal Service will issue the Red, White, and Blue (Forever priced at 49 cents) definitive stamps, in four designs, in pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) coils of 10,000 (Item 776500).

The stamps will go on sale nationwide April 25, 2014.

To accommodate business use, the Postal Service will issue four Red, White, and Blue self-adhesive Forever stamps in large coils of 10,000. Inspired by 20th-century American ephemera, each stamp features a modern interpretation of a flying flag, complete with wavy stripes and five-pointed stars. Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamps.

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-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:

Red, White, and Blue
Retail Manager
220 Park Road
Burlingame, CA 94010

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 June 24, 2014.

There are two philatelic products for this stamp issue:

• 776516, First-Day Cover set of 4, $3.72.
• 776521, Digital Color Postmark set of 4, $6.56.

Technical Specifications:
Issue: Red, White, and Blue Stamps
Item Number: 776500
Denomination & Type of Issue: First-Class Mail Forever
Format: Coil of 10,000 (4 designs)
Series: N/A
Issue Date & City: April 25, 2014, San Francisco, CA 94188
Art Director: Ethel Kessler, Bethesda, MD
Designer: Ethel Kessler, Bethesda, MD
Typographer: Greg Berger, Manassas, VA
Engraver: WRE
Modeler: CCL Label, Inc.
Manufacturing Process: Gravure
Printer: CCL Label, Inc.
Printed at: Clinton, SC
Press Type: Dia Nippon Kiko (DNK)
Stamps per Coil: 10,000
Print Quantity: 150 Million
Paper Type: Nonphosphored, Type III; Phosphor Tagged Overall
Adhesive Type: Pressure-sensitive adhesive
Processed at: AVR, Clinton, SC
Colors: Red, Blue
Stamp Orientation: Vertical
Image Area (w x h): 0.73 x 0.84 in./18.54 x 21.34 mm
Stamp Size (w x h): 0.87 x 0.98 in./22.09 x 24.89 mm
Plate Size: 320 stamps per revolution
Plate Numbers: “C” followed by 11 (2) single digits
Coil Number Frequency: Plate numbers every 32nd stamp below stamp image • Coil Back Number Frequency every 10th stamp