# 2395-98 - 1988 25c Special Occasions

U.S. #2395-98
1988 25¢ Special Occasions

• 2^nd booklet of Special Occasions stamps
• 2^nd US stamp booklet made by a private contractor
• First major change to booklet formatting since they were introduced in 1900

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Set:  Special Occasions
Value:  25¢, first-class rate
First Day of Issue:  October 22, 1988
First Day City:  King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
Quantity Issued:  40,000,000 booklet panes
Printed by:  American Bank Note Company
Printing Method:  Photogravure
Format:  Booklet Panes of 6 Stamps
Perforations:  11 on 2 or 3 sides

Why the stamps were issued:  As an update to the popular 1987 Special Occasions booklet (US #2267-74), to meet the increased 25¢ first-class rate.  The new booklet made some changes based on customer comments and complaints on the 1987 booklet.

About the stamp designs:  First-time stamp designer Harry Zelenko designed the Special Occasions stamps.  They’re in a style the USPS called “greeting-card simple,” with each image on a solid-colored background.

“Happy Birthday” (US #2395) depicts four burning candles against a purple background.

“Best Wishes” (US #2396) pictures a colorful rainbow in front of a blue sky.

“Thinking of You” (US #2397) depicts a variety of flowers on a sunny orange background.

“Love You” (US #2398) pictures a bird looking out of an open mailbox on a green background.

First Day City:  The First Day ceremony for the Special Occasions stamps was held during the second day of the SEPAD ’88 exhibition at the Valley Forge Convention and Exhibit Center in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.  It was part of the 48^th annual meeting of the Associated Stamp Clubs of Southeastern Pennsylvania and Delaware. 

Unusual fact about these stamps:  The “Thinking of You” and “Love You” stamps have been found in very rare imperforate error pairs and blocks.

About the Special Occasions Stamps:  The 1987 Special Occasions booklet had come as the result of many calls for stamps for special days throughout the year.  The booklet pane of eight stamps with different messages turned out have its own issues.  For instance, if someone wanted to use the “Love You, Dad!” stamp, all the other stamps in the pane would be detached from the booklet along with it.

For this new booklet, the USPS decided to use just the four most requested messages – “Happy Birthday,” “Best Wishes,” “Thinking of You,” and “Love You.”  The booklets contained two se-tenant panes of six stamps, folded through a large center gutter, resulting in a booklet made up of four pages of three stamps each.  Arranged like a miniature book, “Thinking of You” and “Love You” formed a two-page pane and “Happy Birthday” and “Best Wishes” formed another.  With this format, people could remove one stamp without needing to remove any others. This was the first major change to booklet formatting since they were introduced in 1900.

History the stamps represent:  Greeting cards date back to the ancient Chinese, who sent messages celebrating the New Year and the early Egyptians who sent messages on papyrus scrolls.  Handmade greeting cards grew in popularity in Europe in the 1400s.  For many years, greeting cards were expensive, but advancements in printing technology and the advent of postage stamps made sending the cards more affordable by the 1850s.  Soon cards could be mass produced for occasions throughout the year.

Hallmark Cards, Inc., one of America’s largest greeting card manufacturers, was founded in 1910 by Joyce C. Hall.  Previously, Hall had owned a small retail store, but after a captivating conversation with a travelling salesman, he narrowed his focus on postcards.  Hall soon recognized that greeting cards would become more popular than postcards.  He believed greeting cards “represented class, promised discretion and… were more than a form of communication – they were a social custom.”