Any Speculation On 2018 Issues?

Woodstock would be interesting but won't happen.

The USPS did issue a Woodstock stamp back in 1999, as part of the 1960s Celebrate the Century pane.

Yeah but they have honored flowers, birds, and any number of subjects many times.

My idea is they could create a sheet of psychedelic images (a mix of all those blanket stamps along with the much needed dragon stamps to be issued at Stampshow) since then it also meets the pretty label topic. (sarcasm)

To be issued at APS Stampshow.

Do you think it would ever happen?

Stamp Announcement 18-13: United States Air Mail Stamp



On May 1, 2018, in Washington, DC, the U.S. Postal Service® will issue the United States Air Mail stamp (Forever® priced at the First-Class Mail® rate) in one design, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive pane of 20 stamps (Item 477700). The stamp will go on sale nationwide May 1, 2018.

In honor of the 100th anniversary of the beginning of regular airmail service, the Postal Service™ will issue two stamps in 2018. The first stamp, issued May 1, commemorates the pioneering spirit of the brave Army pilots who initiated the world's first regularly scheduled airmail service. The stamp, rendered in blue and printed in intaglio, features a drawing of the type of plane typically used in the early days of airmail, a Curtiss JN-4H biplane. An identical stamp, printed in red, will commemorate the beginning of airmail delivery through the U.S. Post Office Department, which began in August 1918. The red stamp will be issued later this summer. Dan Gretta designed the stamps and was the typographer. Greg Breeding was the art director.

Availability to Post Offices: Item 477700, United States Air Mail (Forever priced at the First-Class Mail rate) Commemorative Pane of 20 Stamps

I can see the older generation getting very confused over this release. forever airmail?

Good point. Could this mean meant they intend to use biplanes forever?

I can see a lot of people getting confused with this stamp, especially five or more years from now when it is forgotten and not normally encountered.

Airmail is associated with the international rate of postage. "Centenary of U.S. airmail" or some such wording would have been more appropriate. "Forever" almost looks like an afterthought. Form follows function, as the old saying goes.

leave it to the USPS to goof it up

Stamp Announcement 18-14: Sally Ride Stamp



On May 23, 2018, in La Jolla, CA, the U.S. Postal Service® will issue the Sally Ride stamp (Forever® priced at the First-Class Mail® rate) in one design, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive pane of 20 stamps (Item 477300). The stamp will go on sale nationwide May 23, 2018.

America's first woman in space, Dr. Sally Ride (1951–2012), inspired the nation as a pioneering astronaut, brilliant physicist, and dedicated educator. The stamp art, sketched first in charcoal and then rendered in oil paint, features a colorful portrait of Ride in her light blue space suit with a dramatic depiction of a space shuttle lifting off in the background. Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamp with artwork by Paul Salmon.

Philatelic products for this stamp issue are as follows:

477306, Press Sheet with Die-cut, $90.00.
477310*, Digital Color Keepsake, $11.95.
477316*, First-Day Cover, $0.94.
477321*, Digital Color Postmark, $1.65.
477330*, Ceremony Program, $6.95.

Would this be "Ride, Sally, Ride" from Mustang Sally?

ha ha

Why speculate on new issues and get burned when selling them? I recall some new collector excitedly telling me at a stamp show that his new stamps had went up in value. I asked him how? He said that the new stamp catalog he saw at the stamp show had them as double face. I said that dealers bought them at below face. He didn't believe me and he kept buying new stamps because he liked what he considered a double ROI.

A friend of mine who did not collect stamps but knew that I did confided one day that he had been collecting stamps too. He told me that he had for several years been buying a pane of each issued stamp from his favorite post office postal clerk who put them aside for him. I asked him why he didn't tell me before about it. He told me that he wanted to keep it a secret because he felt that it was to his advantage not to advertise too much his investment strategy. He asked me if I wanted to buy his stamps from him. I did not want them. After several years of my friend spending thousands of dollars on new issues, he only got a fraction of what he paid for them when he needed the money and had to sell them. He told me that he didn't understand why I still collected stamps after he had taken a loss on them.

It has gotten to a point for me where I do not want to buy a stamp catalog where the majority of stamps listed in it are new issues. I do not want to pay for something so big that I do not want.

I buy a sheet if I want a first day cover.

Pictorial postmarks for the Airmail Stamp issue:




Basil