U.S. #2760
1993 29¢ Hyacinth
Garden Flowers
· From the first in a series of booklets featuring garden flowers
Stamp Category: Commemorative
Set: Garden Flowers
Value: 29¢
First Day of Issue: May 15, 1993
First Day City: Spokane, Washington
Quantity Issued: 39,956,800
Printed by: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method: Lithographed, engraved
Format: Booklet panes of 5 stamps each
Perforations: 10.9
Color: Multicolor with black intaglio
Why the stamp was issued: Part of the push behind the 1993 Garden Flowers stamps had come from the sale of stamps in supermarkets and other retailers. People had reported that they wanted “bright, pretty American stamps,” so the USPS thought that flower booklets might please the public. They ran TV commercials and full-page advertisements in stamp publications announcing “The flowers are in bloom at your post office. Buy them while they last!” and “Pick up a bunch.”
About the stamp design: Engraved by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s Richard Everett, the stamp features artwork by Ned Seidler. Seidler had previously designed the 1984 block of four Orchids stamps (US #2076-79). This stamp, along with the other four in the booklet pane, depicts a bouquet spread across five stamps. The hyacinth stamp pictures the flower in three different colors – yellow, red, and blue. Using photographs and flower books as his inspiration, Seidler produced his painting through a combination of watercolor and gouache, a type of thicker watercolor.
Special design details: The Garden Flowers booklets have been found with two different errors – missing the black intaglio printing (denomination, USA, and flower name) and imperforate.
About the printing process: The Garden Flowers booklet was the first to be produced on the new Goebel booklet machine, which was the first to print multicolor covers.
First Day City: The Garden Flowers stamps were issued in Spokane, Washington at the 55th annual Spokane Lilac Festival and International Lilac Society Convention.
About the Garden Flower Series: This series was borne out of the 1992 Wildflowers issue. Initially, that project had begun when the USPS asked an artist to produce color sketches of a group of garden flowers. Instead, the artist gave the USPS illustrations of wildflowers. The USPS liked them so much, they decided to create a 50-stamp pane, showing wildflowers that can be found in each state. The USPS still liked the garden flowers idea and felt it would also meet consumer demand. Though they didn’t announce it at the time, these stamps were to be the first in a new series of seasonal flower booklets. Over the next three years, the USPS issued booklets of stamps showing flowers that bloom in summer, fall, and winter.
History the stamp represents: A colorful flower, the hyacinth was named after the Greek youth Hyacinthus who was famed for his great beauty. According to legend, Hyacinthus was killed by Zephyrus out of jealousy, and from this blood sprang the flower hyacinthos. The death of Hyacinthus was celebrated at one of the most important Spartan festivals of the year – the Hyacinthia.
Held in early summer, the three-day festival gradually changed from mourning of Hyacinthus to celebrating the majesty of Apollo. Most likely the festival marked the change of youthful growth of vegetation in the spring to its full ripening in mid-summer.
At one time all flowers were wild flowers, but eventually people learned how to raise plants, allowing them to grow the prettiest and sweetest-smelling flowers in gardens. By 3000 B.C. the Egyptians and other people living in the Middle East had begun to cultivate a variety of garden flowers including poppies, lilies, and hyacinths.
During the early 1500s the hyacinth was brought to Europe from Turkey. Today it has become a popular spring garden flower in many countries around the world. Although its fragrant, bell-shaped flowers are usually blue, they can also be white, pink, yellow, and purple. Planted during autumn, the bulbs bloom in early spring (from March to April).