Recent Stamp Series in United States

There are four stamp series that were recently completed or on-going. The War of 1812 stamp series has not been recognized by USPS as an official series, but it does make sense to consider these issues to have been planned and released as a series of four stamps. Another stamp series, Civil War Sesquicentennial was initiated in 2011 and completed after 5 years of stamp issuance in 2015. A total of 10 stamps were released in four panes of 12 stamps. The Lunar New Year stamp series and Music Icons stamp series were initiated in 2008 and 2013 respectively. The new Lunar New Year stamps are released in pane of 12 stamps. Stamp in this series uses three main motifs - paper cut animals (based on the first Lunar New Year stamp series that went from 1992-2006), Chinese calligraphy and a common feature of Chinese New Year celebrations (kumquat, lanterns, etc.). This series will end in 2019. Details for another series provided in this blog post is the new Music Icons stamps. So far six stamps have been released in this series with another one commemorating Sarah Vaughan being released in March 2016. Details for stamp artist, art director and printer will be added later.

The War of 1812 Bicentennial (Panes of 20 Stamps)

Date	Issue Description	Issue City	Print Quantity
18 August 2012	USS Constitution	Boston, MA	25 Million
10 September 2013	Battle of Lake Erie	Put-in Bay, OH	26 Million
13 September 2014	Fort McHenry	Baltimore, MD	30 Million
08 January 2015	Battle of New Orleans	Chalmette, LA	30 Million

The Civil War 1861-1865 – Sesquicentennial – Stamp Series (Panes of 12 Stamps)

Date	Issue Description	Issue City	Print Quantity
12 April 2011	Fort Sumter (April 12-13, 1861) First Bull Run (July 21, 1861)	Charleston, SC	60 Million
24 April 2012	New Orleans (April 24-May 1, 1862) Antietam (September 21, 1862)	New Orleans, LA	30 Million
23 May 2013	Vicksburg (April 16-July 4, 1863) Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863)	Vicksburg, MS Gettysburg, PA	10.8 Million
30 July 2014	Petersburg (June 15, 1864-April 3, 1865) Mobile Bay (August 5, 1864)	Petersburg, VA Mobile, AL	10.8 Million
09 April 2015	Five Forks ( April 1, 1865) Appomattox Court House (April 19, 1865)	Appomattox, VA	10.8 Million

Celebrating Lunar New Year – Stamp Series (Panes of 12 Stamps)

Date	Issue Description	Issue City	Print Quantity
09 January 2008	Year of The Rat	San Francisco, CA 94188	72 Million
08 January 2009	Year of The Ox	New York  City, NY 10199	60 Million
14 January 2010	Year of The Tiger	Los Angeles, CA 90052	40 Million
22 January 2011	Year of The Rabbit	Morrow, GA 30260	80.64 Million
23 January 2012	Year of The Dragon	San Francisco, CA 94188	72 Million
16 January 2013	Year of The Snake	San Francisco, CA 94105	31.2 Million
15 January 2014	Year of The Horse	San Francisco, CA 94108	17.6 Million
07 February 2015	Year of The Ram	San Francisco, CA 94108	17.6 Million
05 February 2016	Year of The Monkey	Jamaica, NY 11439	15 Million
2017	Year of The Rooster	TBD	TBD
2018	Year of the Dog	TBD	TBD
2019	Year of the Pig	TBD	TBD

Music Icons – Stamp Series (Panes of 16 Stamps)

Date	Issue Description	Issue City	Print Quantity
15 May 2013	Lydia Mendoza	San Antonio, TX	30 Million
05 June 2013	Johnny Cash	Nashville, TN	60 Million
23 September 2013	Ray Charles	Los Angeles, CA Atlanta, GA	60 Million
13 March 2014	Jimi Hendrix	Austin, TX	60 Million
08 August 2014	Janis Joplin	San Francisco, CA	50 Million
12 August 2015	Elvis Presley	Memphis, TN	100 Million
29 March 2016	Sarah Vaughan	New York City, NY	20 Million

India - UN Joint Stamp Issue 2016

Update (27 Feb 2016): And here's the image for the Indian version of the stamps. This completes the joint issue between India Post and UN Postal Administration. Wish the vernacular words were not a transliteration on the Indian stamps, but nevertheless good to see this venture go through successfully so far. Happy Women's Day!

Indian and United Nations Stamps - HeForShe (UN Women)

A joint stamp issue between United Nations and India Post is scheduled for release on 08th March this year. The joint issuance will highlight the role boys and men can play in increasing gender equality and women's rights. UN Women with their #HeForShe campaign is leading an effort to create awareness in society to address this pressing human rights issue. Designs for six stamps to be issues by United Nations Postal Administration are now available, but the India Post's design have not been released yet. A joint FDC will also be issued by UNPA (unstamps.org). Mirko Ilic is credited as the sole artist and designer for the UN stamps, whereas typically joint issues include artists from both participating organizations/countries. Anyway, this appears to be a good subject to print special stamps and that too in a joint issue. Even in 2015, India Post had issued four stamps on Women Empowerment. Designs for these stamps were prepared with crowd-sourced paintings.

UN-India Joint Stamp Issue (FDC)

Each of the UN stamps are being issued in sheets of 20 stamps printed at Lowe Martin (Canada). More information for this joint issue will be added as it becomes available.