The recently released Postcrossing stamps drop the traditional square or rectangle shape for something different: a triangle.
These stamps are only the third triangular issuance in Postal Service history.
A pair of 32-cent stamps featuring vintage-style illustrations of a 19th-century stagecoach and clipper ship, issued in 1997, was the Postal Service’s first triangular stamp.
Designed by Richard D. Sheaff, the pane of 16 stamps formed four squares, each made of four connecting triangles.
In 2007, USPS issued a 41-cent triangular stamp commemorating the 400th anniversary of the settlement in Jamestown, VA, by English Colonists.
Also designed by Sheaff, the stamp featured a painting of the three ships that carried the first settlers and was shaped like the fort they built there.
The Postcrossing stamps, designed by Jackson Gibbs, depict four images of mail delivery: on horseback, underwater, in space and by motorcycle. They come in sets of four that fit together in a square.
Issued as Global Forever stamps, the Postcrossing stamps are available in sheets of eight at Post Offices and on usps.com.
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