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Together, these stamps tell a story

Here’s a look at the Postal Service’s latest se-tenant release

A sheet of stamps featuring images of a letter carrier delivering to different addresses in an urban neighborhood
Each 250 Years of Delivering stamp stands alone, but collectively they tell a story.

The Postal Service’s new 250 Years of Delivering stamps are se-tenant.

Do you know what that means?

As the new Stamps Forever website explains, se-tenant stamps work together as a single panoramic scene or as individual images.

Stamps of two or more designs on the same pane — or in the same booklet — are described as se-tenant, which is French for “joined together” (Americanized pronunciation: say-TEN-unt).

The 250 Years of Delivering stamps are also considered continuous-design stamps, which are se-tenants that go further: A single design continues across the boundary of one stamp onto another, or multiple others.

Once a novelty, se-tenant stamps are now released regularly. The recent Goodnight Moon, Baby Wild Animals and Battlefields of the American Revolution are all considered se-tenant stamps.

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