Love Flourishes (U.S. 2018)

The Scott catalogue number for this issue is 5255.

From the USPS; further updates will appear after the initial, introductory entry:

Love Flourishes (Love series) Love Flourishes is the latest stamp in the Love series. The stamp art features a fanciful garden of colorful flowers surrounding the word “Love.”

This stamp will be issued January 18th in Phoenix, Arizona, with a first-day ceremony.

From the USPS, December 28th:
LOVE IS IN THE AIR
Postal Service Issuing Love Flourishes Forever Stamp

What: The U.S. Postal Service celebrates love of all kinds with the Love Flourishes Forever stamp. The event is free and open to the public. Please share the news using the hashtag #LoveStamp.

When: Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018, 10:00 a.m., Mountain Standard Time

Where: CREATIVATION
Phoenix Convention Center
Ballroom North 120B
100 N. 3rd Street
Phoenix, AZ 85004

Background: The Love Flourishes stamp art features a fanciful garden of colorful flowers surrounding the word “Love” written in cursive script. Hand-painted with opaque watercolors on paper by artist Anna Bond, the original art is whimsical and vibrant, at once retro and timeless. The flower garden includes stylized roses, peonies, and dahlias in pink, coral, and yellow, with pale blue-green berries and gold fronds and leaves. The word “Forever” appears in the lower right-hand corner of the stamp, and “USA” is on the lower left. Art director Greg Breeding designed the stamp using Bond’s original art.

Thanks to VSC member Lefty Dundee (see comment below) for the link to CREATIVATION.

Updated January 5th from the Postal Bulletin:

On January 18, 2018, in Phoenix, AZ, the U.S. Postal Service® will issue the Love Flourishes First-Class Mail® stamp (Forever® priced at 49 cents) in one design, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 20 stamps (Item 564700). The stamp will go on sale nationwide January 18, 2018.

Love Flourishes is the latest stamp in the popular Love series. The stamp art features a fanciful garden of colorful flowers surrounding the word “Love” written in cursive script. Hand-painted with gouache on paper by artist Anna Bond, the original art is whimsical and vibrant, at once retro and timeless. The flower garden includes stylized roses, peonies, and dahlias in pink, coral, and yellow, with pale blue-green berries and gold fronds and leaves. Art director Greg Breeding designed the stamp.

Item 564700, Love Flourishes (Forever priced at 49 cents) Pane of 20 Stamps
Stamp Fulfillment Services (SFS) 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 usps.com/shop, or by phone at 800-782-6724. They must affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

FDOI – Love Flourishes Stamp
USPS Stamp Fulfillment Services
8300 NE Underground Drive, Suite 300
Kansas City, MO 64144-9900

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 18, 2018.

Philatelic products for this stamp issue are as follows:

  • 564706, Press Sheet with Die-cut, $78.40.
  • 564710 Digital Color Postmark Keepsake, $11.95.
  • 564716 First-Day Cover, $0.93.
  • 564721 Digital Color Postmark, $1.64.
  • 564724 Framed Art, $39.95.
  • 564730 Ceremony Program, $6.95.

Technical Specifications:

Issue: Love Flourishes Stamp
Item Number: 564700
Denomination &
Type of Issue: First-Class Mail Forever
Format: Pane of 20 (1 design)
Series: Love
Issue Date & City: January 18, 2018, Phoenix, AZ 85026
Designer: Greg Breeding, Charlottesville, VA
Art Director: Greg Breeding, Charlottesville, VA
Typographer: Anna Bond, Winter Park, FL
Artist: Anna Bond, Winter Park, FL
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: 20
Print Quantity: 250,000,000 stamps
Paper Type: Phosphor Tagged Paper, Overall
Adhesive Type: Pressure-sensitive
Processed at: Banknote Corporation of America, Browns Summit NC
Colors: Pantone 4505, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black
Stamp Orientation: Horizontal
Image Area (w x h): 1.05 x 0.77 in./26.67 x 19.56 mm
Overall Size (w x h): 1.19 x 0.91 in./30.23 x 23.11 mm
Full Pane Size (w x h): 5.635 x 5.425 in./143.13 x 137.80 mm
Press Sheets Size
(w x h): 22.54 x 10.85 in./572.52 x 275.59 mm
Plate Size: 320 stamps per revolution
Plate Numbers: B followed by five (5) single digits
Marginal Markings:
Front: Plate numbers in four corners of pane
Back: © 2017 USPS • USPS logo • Barcode (564700) in upper right and lower left corners of pane • Promotional text
• Plate position diagram

Updated January 8th:

Here is the design of the Digital Color Postmark for this issue: It measures 3″ x 1.56″. Here is the design for the B&W pictorial first-day postmark:It measures 2.85″ x 1.63″

4 thoughts on “Love Flourishes (U.S. 2018)

  1. A neat, short-and-sweet, release ceremony. Maybe 25 minutes from start to finish. As usual, liked the Autograph Table ! I thoroughly enjoyed the event !

Comments are closed.