Also of note is that the Made in America issue will feature the same 12 stamp designs on five panes featuring different selvage but the same stamps. In this particular case, one can purchase the Press Sheet in a 1x5 format that will have all five DIFFERENT panes as part of the single Press Sheet. I imagine that feature alone will make the Press Sheets very popular.
It's being reported on another stamp website that the USPS is being coy about this issue because of a Facebook promotion that is going to be announced on or about August 5. Personally, I think it's too complicated and is going to be a PR disaster for the USPS, so I'm not participating. It's also setting a dangerous precedent for the stamp collecting community to have the USPS attempt to reveal new stamp designs like this. In any event, this is the reported Press Release that is being circulated:
Quote:PRESS RELEASE
For the first time, the U.S. Postal Service will digitally unveil new stamp artwork. Specifically, a virtual mosaic of the 1963 March on Washington stamp will be made up of Facebook user's profile photos and will come into focus as more people participate.
The week of August 5, a March on Washington Stamp Mosaic Facebook application (app) will debut on the Postal Service's Stamps Facebook page (
http://www.facebook.com/USPSstamps) displaying the "hidden" 1963 March on Washington stamp artwork.
Given the inspiration behind the 1963 March on Washington's march for equality, we will rally people nationwide to share who inspires them to take "a few steps" for equality today.
1963 March on Washington Stamp Mosaic Facebook App
App will be housed on a tab on the USPS Stamps Facebook page.
Facebook users will be encouraged to visit the USPS Stamps Facebook page and perform the following actions:
Enter their own "equality statement" via the app
Share the name of a person who inspires equality in them by filling in the following blank, pre-set "Equality Statement:
"Thank you _____, for showing me how to take a few steps for equality."
"Like" the USPS Stamps Facebook Page
Socially share their submission to encourage their friends to participate.
Every time a person participates, their Facebook profile photo is auto-populated and drawn into the virtual March on Washington Stamp Mosaic, unveiling a small piece ("pixel") of the stamp creative.
Please Note: Facebook users need to opt into the application and give approval for their profile photo to be used.
The mosaic will initially appear as a concealed image of the stamp. The stamp artwork will slowly evolve into a partially revealed version of the stamp and end as a full mosaic, populated by the engaged users' Facebook profile photos.
Users can click the "Find Me" button on the app to locate themselves as one of the pixels in the exposed portion of the mosaic, as well as scroll over the March on Washington Stamp Mosaic to view other participants' equality statements.
Overall, the more submissions received, the more pieces of the stamp will be revealed (note, a portion of the stamp mosaic will be withheld for the launch event).
Users that "Like" the page will continue to receive USPS Stamps Facebook posts letting them know when more of the stamp mosaic is revealed.
Once all portions ("pixels") of the stamp have been revealed, with the exception of one final piece, the full 1963 March on Washington stamp artwork will be unveiled simultaneously on-site at the August 23 ceremony and online via Facebook. Specifically, we are hopeful to enlist a credible, third-party spokesperson to submit the last equality statement – exposing the final piece of the stamp and the full artwork.
Posted 07/22/2013 9:03 pm
