# 2902//12B - 1995-97 Definitives, set of 15 stamps

2902//12B

1995-97 Definitives

• Set of 15 stamps
• First stamps in the American Series

Category of Stamp:  Definitive
Printing Method/Format:  Photogravure

Reason the stamp was issued:  Three new definitive coil series were introduced in 1995: “American Scenes,” “American Transportation,” and “American Culture.”  This set includes some of the first stamps in these series.
This set includes:

#2902 – 1995 Butte Nonprofit
#2902B – 1996 Butte Nonprofit (self-adhesive)
#2903 – 1996 Mountain, Nonprofit
#2904 – 1996 Mountain, Nonprofit
#2904A – 1996 Mountain, Nonprofit (self-adhesive)
#2904B – 1997 Mountain, Nonprofit
#2905 – 1995 Automobile, Bulk Rate
#2906 – 1996 Automobile, Bulk Rate (self-adhesive)
#2908 – 1995 Auto Tail Fin
#2909 – 1995 Auto Tail Fin
#2910 – 1996 Auto Tail Fin (self-adhesive)
#2911 – 1995 Juke Box, Presorted First-Class
#2912 – 1995 Juke Box, Presorted First-Class
#2912A – 1996 Juke Box, Presorted First-Class (self-adhesive)
#2912B – 1997 Juke Box, Presorted First-Class (self-adhesive)

About the Series:

On March 10, 1995, the USPS issued the first stamps in two new definitive series – American Scenes and American Transportation (not to be confused with the Transportation Series).  These two series, as well as the American Culture Series, were created for 1995 as part of the USPS process of converting its service-inscribed stamps for discounted bulk mail to non-denominational postage.  Bulk mailers could buy the appropriate stamps at a fixed price, affix them to their mail, and then pay the difference between the cost of the stamps and current postage when they mailed them out.  This was done so that new stamps wouldn’t need to be created when rates changed.
The first American Scenes and American Transportation stamps were issued at the Scopex stamp show in State College, Pennsylvania.  During the ceremonies, a representative from the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee dedicated the stamps and said “It is well known that mailers, the public, and the stamp collectors like to see both a variety of designs as well as changes in designs.  Starting with this rate change, each type of discount rate will have its own non-denominated stamp series.  It is also planned to perhaps change the designs in each series yearly.”
According to the USPS, the American Scenes Series would “highlight features of scenes and not the sweeping scenes [as seen] on the scenic America and America the Beautiful Postcard Series.”  The stamp images were painted by Tom Engeman and represent four areas of the US: the desert, mountains, swamps, and sea coast.  The American Transportation Series depicted “details of the various means of transportation in multicolor photogravure, unlike the complete vehicles in the single-color engraved Transportation Series.”
The first stamps in the American Culture Series were issued a week later, on March 17 at the Postage Stamp Mega-Event at Madison Square Garden in New York City.  The two issues were a 15¢ Auto Tail Fin for pre-sorted first-class postcards and a 20¢ Jukebox for pre-sorted first-class letter mail.  In describing the new series, the USPS said it would “take a look at American creativity and at things that no other country could claim.”
New stamps in each of these series continued into the 2000s with designs including mountains, wetlands, bicycle handlebars, a diner, and more.