US #5901
2024 10¢ Poppies and Coneflowers (From Pane) – Low-Denomination Flowers Series
• Part of the first issue of the Low-Denomination Flowers Series
Stamp Category: Definitive
Series: Low-Denomination Flowers
Value: 10¢
First Day of Issue: July 18, 2024
First Day City: Berkeley, California
Quantity Issued: 30,000,000
Printed by: Ashton Potte... more
US #5901
2024 10¢ Poppies and Coneflowers (From Pane) – Low-Denomination Flowers Series
• Part of the first issue of the Low-Denomination Flowers Series
Stamp Category: Definitive
Series: Low-Denomination Flowers
Value: 10¢
First Day of Issue: July 18, 2024
First Day City: Berkeley, California
Quantity Issued: 30,000,000
Printed by: Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd.
Printing Method: Offset, Microprint
Format: Panes of 20
Perforations: Serpentine Die Cut, 11 ¼ x 11
Tagging: Nonphosphored Type III
Why the stamp was issued: To cover 10¢ postage and continue the popular tradition of flowers on stamps.
About the stamp design: Pictures a photograph of poppies and coneflowers on a yellow-toned cream background by Harold Davis.
Special design details: In addition to photographing the flowers, Harold Davis also grew these poppies and coneflowers in his backyard in Berkeley, California.
First Day City: The stamps were issued in Berkeley, California, without an official USPS First Day of Issue Ceremony.
About the Low-Denomination Flowers Series: The series began in 2024 with five stamp designs in the following denominations: 1¢, 2¢, 3¢, 5¢, and 10¢. Each 2024 stamp pictures a different flower grown and photographed by Harold Davis of Berkeley California.
History the stamp represents: Poppies and coneflowers are both flowers that have been used as medicine for centuries. Coneflowers have been mostly used by Native American populations, but their benefits are starting to be recognized by the rest of society. Poppies, on the other hand, have been widely used around the world.
Opium is extracted from one species of poppy: Papaver somniferum – the opium poppy. Today, the substance is refined to make morphine. While this has been abused for the illegal drug trade in the past, it is also one of the most important pain killers in the medical industry. While opium poppies grow wild in southeast Europe and southeast Asia, it is believed they originally came from east of the Mediterranean.
The Assyrians called the poppy the “daughter of the fields,” as it tended to pop up in fields of food crops. The flowers were said to give important nutrients to the soil, allowing a good harvest. This is how poppies became an Assyrian symbol for life, fertility, and death.
The Ancient Greeks had their own story for how poppies came into being. It is said they were created by Demeter (goddess of the harvest) to help her sleep while her daughter Persephone (goddess of spring) was away in the underworld. The poppy is also the sacred flower of Hypnos (god of sleep), Morpheus (god of dreams), Nyx (goddess of night), and Thanatos (god of death).
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