# 4922-26b - 2014 First-Class Forever Stamp - Imperforate Celebrity Chefs

U.S. #4922-26b

2014 49¢ Celebrity Chefs Imperforate

This set of five Celebrity Chefs stamps features men and women who introduced America to regional and international cooking. The stamps picture James Beard, Julia Child, Joyce Chen, Edna Lewis, and Felipe Rojas-Lombardi.

With the advent of televised cooking competitions like Iron Chef, Top Chef, and Hell’s Kitchen, “celebrity chef” has become a common concept. Where a handful of anonymous daily recipes were once featured in select periodicals, there are now countless magazines dedicated to various cooking styles and nutrition.

Today, there is an entire television channel devoted to the subject of food. Culinary personalities host their own shows and market cookware of their own design. But there have been “celebrity” chefs for centuries.

Guillaume Tirel, or Taillevent, head chef to royals, was a star in 14th- century France. His influence on medieval cuisine earned him status as a master chef. He is so well-known that restaurants are still named after him today. In the 15th century, Italian chef Maestro Martino recorded the transformation from medieval to renaissance cuisine in his book, The Art of Cooking. Called the “prince of cooks,” Martino is considered the Western world’s first celebrity chef. Parisian chef and confectioner Nicolas Appert gained fame as the “father of canning” with his new food preservation method in the 18th century. Marie-Antoine Carême, the 19th-century “Chef of Kings,” invented grande cuisine, or “high art” cooking, becoming one of the first internationally known celebrity chefs.

Despite the ever-changing celebrity status of master chefs, their culinary genius and innovation continues to influence the culture of fine food and dining worldwide.

Jason Seiler created the digital illustrations for the Celebrity Chefs stamps. The images were made to look like oil paintings.

49¢ Celebrity Chefs, issued to satisfy the first-class mail rate

Issue Date: September 26, 2014

City: Chicago, IL, as part of the Chicago Gourmet food and wine celebration

Category: Commemorative

Printed By: Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd.

Printing Method: Imperforate

Self-adhesive

Scarce Modern Imperforates

The modern imperforate stamps are one of the hottest stories around.  In 2012, the U.S. Postal Service released some issues as press sheets.  The sheets with die cut perforations were issued in limited quantities. 

To the surprise of many collectors, officials then issued a small number of press sheets without perforations.  The uncut sheets were only available in Kansas City, Missouri, yet most sold out immediately.  In an instant, the imperforate stamp sheets became modern rarities.  For example, only 75,000 Baseball All-Star se-tenant sheets were issued compared to 118,000 Bugs Bunny sheets with the 10th stamp imperforate.

In a controversial move, the editors of Scott Catalogue announced they would not list or give numbers to these stamps because they did not fit Scott guidelines.  This decision was strongly debated since the imperforate stamps are valid for postage.  They eventually decided to give the stamps minor numbers and have continued issuing imperforates in the years since.

Because they were issued in such limited quantities, these scarce modern imperforates can be difficult to find.  Luckily Mystic purchased a small number of each imperforate stamp issued so you can add these modern rarities to your collection.  Be one of the lucky few – order today.