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New Rates, New Stamps

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.

Other U-S stamps this year will get more attention, but I think some of the most
interesting designs of 2014 are coming out in the next few months.... to handle the
new postal rates.

The cost of mailing a letter within the U-S goes up 3 cents to 49, but other rates are
rising, too. Additional ounces go from 20 to 21, and the postcard rate also goes up a
penny.

A Hummingbird stamp will handle that one for postcards.

Also coming is a new 70-cent butterfly stamp for greeting cards — which require a
surcharge because of their shape. This year’s butterfly stamp depicts the Great Spangled
Fritillary... and, yes, I had to practice that.

A few days later is a stunning Abraham Lincoln stamp for additional ounces, followed by
Winter Flowers Forever stamps. A stamp for black aviation pioneer Chief Anderson will
handle two-ounce letters and one for author Ralph Ellison will pay for three.

My favorite, though, is a letter-rate Forever stamp showing the Star-Spangled Banner and
fireworks over Fort McHenry. This is the 200th anniversary of the poem that became the
U-S national anthem. The design is  beautiful — and, in my opinion, already the best of
the year.

I'm Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more on stamps and stamp collecting,
visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com.

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