{"id":19831,"date":"2025-10-29T15:46:56","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T19:46:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/virtualstampclub.com\/lloydblog\/?p=19831"},"modified":"2026-03-03T11:16:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:16:00","slug":"lunar-new-year-year-of-the-horse-u-s-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/virtualstampclub.com\/lloydblog\/?p=19831","title":{"rendered":"Lunar New Year: Year of the Horse (U.S. 2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the USPS on October 29, 2025:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In 2026, USPS will honor the Year of the Horse with the seventh stamp in the current Lunar New Year series. Lunar New Year \u2014 also referred to as Chinese New Year or Spring Festival \u2014 is one of the most widely celebrated cultural holidays in the world. Beginning in 2020, the Postal Service introduced its latest Lunar New Year stamp series, the third in the organization\u2019s history. This collection features paper-cut masks by artist Camille Chew depicting each of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. Antonio Alcal\u00e1, an art director for USPS, designed the stamp using a photograph of the mask by Sally Andersen-Bruce. The Lunar New Year: Year of the Horse stamp will be issued Feb. 3 in Houston.<\/p>\n

More details will be posted below the line, with the most recent information at the top.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Updated March 3rd<\/sup>:<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe Scott catalogue number for this issue is 6054.<\/p>\n

Updated January<\/span> 14th<\/sup>:<\/strong><\/span>
\n[ceremony details] [click on any of the pictures for larger versions]<\/em><\/span>
\nUSPS Announces Ceremony for Lunar New Year Stamp<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

What:<\/strong><\/span> The U.S. Postal Service celebrates the Lunar New Year with the release of the Year of the Horse stamp. The Year of the Horse begins Feb. 17, 2026, and ends Feb. 5, 2027.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The first-day-of-issue event for the Forever stamp will be in Houston and is free and open to the public. News of the stamp is being shared with the hashtags #LunarNewYearHorse and #LunarNewYearStamp.<\/p>\n

Customers can preorder Lunar New Year: Year of the Horse stamps on usps.com and they will be shipped on Feb. 3, 2026.<\/p>\n

Who: David Steiner, postmaster general and chief executive officer of the U.S. Postal Service, will be the dedicating official<\/p>\n

Gary Poon, chief executive officer, Chinese Community Center<\/p>\n

Luis M. Chen, chef and content creator<\/p>\n

When:<\/strong><\/span> Tuesday, Feb. 3, at 11 a.m. Central<\/p>\n

Where:<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"<\/a>Chinese Community Center
\n9800 Town Park Drive
\nHouston, TX 77036<\/p>\n

RSVP:<\/strong><\/span> Attendees are encouraged to register at usps.com\/lunarnewyearhorse.<\/p>\n

Background:<\/strong><\/span> Lunar New Year \u2014 also referred to as the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival \u2014 is one of the most widely celebrated cultural holidays in the world.<\/p>\n

Parades, fireworks and festivals mark the holiday in Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and other East and Southeast Asian communities across America.<\/p>\n

In 2020, the Postal Service introduced its third \u2014 and current \u2014 Lunar New Year stamp series. This is the seventh Forever stamp in that series, which will continue through 2031 with stamps for the Year of the Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Boar.<\/p>\n

Two previous award-winning Lunar New Year series ran from 1992-2004 and from \"\"<\/a>2008-2019 and showcased the art of Clarence Lee and Kam Mak, respectively.<\/p>\n

The Year of the Horse stamp features a colorful three-dimensional mask depicting a frontal view of the face of a horse. Antonio Alcal\u00e1, an art director for USPS, designed the stamp with original art by Camille Chew. Calling to mind the elaborately decorated masks used in the dragon or lion dances often performed during Lunar New Year parades, Chew\u2019s designs are a contemporary take on the long tradition of paper-cut folk-art crafts created during this auspicious time of year.<\/p>\n

Chew constructed the mask out of hand-printed paper, then cut, scored and folded it into shape. She then embellished the mask with acrylic paint and other paper elements, such as flowers and tassels, and covered the back of the mask in a layer of papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9. The mask was then photographed on a white background for this series.<\/p>\n

Updated January 8th<\/sup>:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Technical Specifications:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Issue: Lunar New Year \u2022 Year of the Horse Stamp
\nItem Number: 487900
\nDenomination & Type of Issue: First-Class Mail Forever\u00ae
\n\"\"<\/a>Format: Pane of 20 (2 designs)
\nSeries: Lunar New Year
\nIssue Date & City: February 3, 2026, Houston, TX 77201
\nArt Director: Antonio Alcal\u00e1, Alexandria, VA
\nDesigner: Antonio Alcal\u00e1, Alexandria, VA
\nArtist: Camille Chew, Providence, RI
\nModeler: Sandra Lane \/ Michelle Finn
\nManufacturing Process: Offset, Foil Stamping, Flexographic, Microprint
\nPrinter: Banknote Corporation of America
\nPress Type: Gallus RCS
\nStamps per Pane: 20
\nPrint Quantity: 20,000,000 stamps
\nPaper Type: Phosphor, Block Tag
\nAdhesive Type: Pressure-sensitive
\nColors: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, PMS 7579 C, PMS 7563 C, Kurz Luxor 413, Kurz Luxor 361
\n\"\"<\/a>Stamp Orientation: Vertical
\nImage Area (w x h): 0.8400 x 1.4200 in. \/ 21.3360 x 36.0680 mm.
\nOverall Size (w x h): 0.9800 x 1.5600 in. \/ 24.8920 x
\n39.6240 mm.
\nFull Pane Size (w x h): 7.2500 x 8.5000 in. \/ 184.1500 x 215.9000 mm.
\nPress Sheet Size (w x h): 14.6250 x 17.1250 in. \/ 371.4750 x 434.9750 mm.
\nPlate Size: 80 stamps per revolution
\nPlate Number: \u201cB\u201d followed by six (6) single digits
\nMarginal Markings:
\nFront: Header: LUNAR NEW YEAR \u2022 YEAR OF THE HORSE \u2022 Plate number in bottom two corners of pane
\nBack: \u00a92025 USPS \u2022 USPS logo \u2022 Two barcodes (487900) \u2022 Plate position diagram (4) \u2022 Promotional text<\/p>\n

Updated December 29th<\/sup>:<\/strong><\/span>
\nHere are the first-day postmarks for this issue:\"\"<\/a>The Digital Color Postmark measures 3.0″ x 1.5″\"\"<\/a>The Pictorial Postmark measures 2.41″ x 1.22″<\/p>\n

Updated December 27th<\/sup>:<\/strong><\/span>
\nOn February 3, 2026, in Houston, TX, the United States Postal Service\u00ae will issue the Lunar New Year \u2022 Year of the Horse stamp (Forever\u00ae priced at the First-Class Mail\u00ae rate), \"\"<\/a>in one design, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 20 stamps (Item 487900). This stamp will go on sale nationwide February 3, 2026, and must not be sold or canceled before the first-day-of-issue. The Lunar New Year \u2022 Year of the Horse commemorative pane of 20 stamps must not be split and the stamps must not be sold individually.<\/p>\n

In 2026, the U.S. Postal Service will issue the 7th of 12 stamps in its latest Lunar New Year series. The Year of the Horse begins February 17, 2026, and concludes on February 5, 2027. Calling to mind the elaborately decorated masks used in the dragon or lion dances often performed in Lunar New Year parades, this 3-dimensional mask depicting a horse is a contemporary take on the long tradition of paper-cut folk-art crafts created during this time of year. Art director Antonio Alcal\u00e1 designed this stamp issuance with original artwork by Camille Chew and photography by Sally Andersen-Bruce.<\/p>\n

Item 487900, Pane of 20 Stamps<\/p>\n

Automatic distribution.<\/p>\n

How to Order the First-Day-of-Issue Postmark:<\/strong><\/span>
\nCustomers have 120 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office\u2122 or at The Postal Store\u00ae website at store.usps.com\/store\/home. They must affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope \"\"<\/a>addressed to:<\/p>\n

FDOI \u2013 Lunar New Year \u2022 Year of the Horse Stamp
\nUSPS Stamp Fulfillment Services
\n8300 NE Underground Drive, Suite 300
\nKansas City, MO 64144-9900<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service\u2122 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 June 3, 2026.<\/p>\n

Technical details will appear in a future edition of the Postal Bulletin<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the USPS on October 29, 2025: In 2026, USPS will honor the Year of the Horse with the seventh stamp in the current Lunar New Year series. Lunar New Year \u2014 also referred to as Chinese New Year or … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/virtualstampclub.com\/lloydblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/virtualstampclub.com\/lloydblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/virtualstampclub.com\/lloydblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virtualstampclub.com\/lloydblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virtualstampclub.com\/lloydblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19831"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/virtualstampclub.com\/lloydblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20351,"href":"https:\/\/virtualstampclub.com\/lloydblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19831\/revisions\/20351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/virtualstampclub.com\/lloydblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virtualstampclub.com\/lloydblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virtualstampclub.com\/lloydblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}