U.S. #2813
1994 29¢ Love Sunrise
Love Series
- The first self-adhesive Love stamp
- The 13th US Love stamp
Stamp Category: Commemorative
Set: Love Series
Value: 29¢, rate for first-class mail
First Day of Issue: January 27, 1994
First Day City: Loveland, Ohio
Quantity Issued: 546,571,584 ... more
U.S. #2813
1994 29¢ Love Sunrise
Love Series
- The first self-adhesive Love stamp
- The 13th US Love stamp
Stamp Category: Commemorative
Set: Love Series
Value: 29¢, rate for first-class mail
First Day of Issue: January 27, 1994
First Day City: Loveland, Ohio
Quantity Issued: 546,571,584 total; 544,569,984 in panes and 2,001,600 in coils
Printed by: Banknote Corporation of America
Printing Method: Lithographed and Engraved
Format: Booklet pane of 18 stamps from 324-stamp offset and intaglio plates; coil stamps printed from 180-stamp intaglio plates
Perforations: Die cut
Why the stamp was issued: For use on Valentine’s Day cards.
About the stamp design: Graphic designer and illustrator Peter Good designed the Love Sunrise stamp. He submitted about 30 different designs incorporating different techniques such as cut paper, sewn paper, watercolor, and more.
Special design details: The design selected for this stamp was the last one Peter Good came up with. He said he made it almost as an afterthought, inspired by the cut-paper art of Henri Matisse. He said “I thought of a sunrise and a heart and it happened very spontaneously.” The stamp was originally designed for the standard dimensions of Love and Christmas stamps. But when it was decided that it would be a self-adhesive stamp, the design was changed slightly.
About the printing process: The 1994 Sunrise Love stamp had the largest variety of different plate-number combinations of any US self-adhesive up to that time, with 36. The intaglio plate number was included within the design of one stamp in every coil strip of 18 (found to the right of the design, just above the green horizon). Normally, it would have been found below the bottom frame line of the design. The plate numbers on the panes were found in the center gutter strip. Additionally, the offset numbers were originally printed in the order: blue, yellow, red. Partway through the printing, the order was changed to yellow, red, blue, creating even more plate-number combinations.
First Day City: The stamps were issued in Loveland, Ohio, a popular town for postmarking Valentine’s Day mail.
About the Love Series: Based on the popularity of Christmas stamps, the USPS issued its first Love stamp in 1973. It wasn’t intended to be the start of a series, and in fact, it wasn’t until 1982 that another Love stamp was issued. Love-themed stamps were issued sporadically over the next few years. The USPS stated that they weren’t intended just for Valentine’s Day mail, but also for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, and other special occasions. In 1987, the USPS officially declared it a series, and new Love stamps have been issued virtually every year since. Love stamps are classified as “special” stamps. They are on sale longer than commemoratives, are usually printed in greater quantities, and may go back to press to meet demand.
History the stamp represents: The stylized heart shape is the universal symbol for passion and love. There are many theories that seek to explain how the heart shape came to represent love. One cites the use of the now-extinct silphium plant and the Greek city-state Cyrene in the seventh century B.C.
Less 
