FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	
Contacts: Frances Frazier (202) 268-2898
October 23, 2003	Tony Musso (212) 330-3911
	Web Site: www.usps.com
	Stamp News Release #03-062

HOLIDAY STAMPS ISSUED AT POSTAGE STAMP MEGA SHOW

NEW YORK - The warmth, joy and magic of the holiday season are captured in 
postage stamps issued today by the U.S. Postal Service at the Postage Stamp 
Mega Show.  The Holiday Music Makers stamps and the Christmas: Madonna & Child 
stamp will be available at Post Offices nationwide starting Oct. 24.

"The tradition of sending holiday greetings to family and friends is enhanced 
with the issuance of these colorful new stamps that capture the essence of the 
holiday season," said David Failor, executive director, Stamp Services, U.S. 
Postal Service, who dedicated the stamps.

Joining Failor at the ceremony were Joseph Savarese, executive director, 
American Stamp Dealers Association, Inc. (ASDA); Elizabeth C. Pope, president, 
ASDA; Janet Klug, president, American Philatelic Society; and Miosotis 
Malagon-Mesa, singer and songwriter. 

Four delightful images of lively music makers created by artist Diane Teske 
Harris, Billings, Mont., brighten the Holiday stamps series.  The Christmas 
stamp is a re-issue of the 2002 37-cent stamp depicting artist Jan Gossaert's 
serene oil-on-panel painting "Madonna and Child," circa 1520, from the Charles 
H. and Mary F.S. Worcester Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, 
reformatted as a double-sided convertible booklet.

The Holiday Music Makers stamps, part of the Holiday stamps series, feature 
two images of whimsical Santas and two equally fanciful reindeer.  Playing 
horns, panpipes and a drum, these lighthearted, colorful music makers bring to 
mind the many joys of the season.

The Holiday Music Makers stamps will be issued as self-adhesives in sheets of 
20, double-sided booklets of 20, and folded vending booklets of 20.  In 
addition, sets of stamped, ready-to-mail postcards on sheets of 20 will be 
available (featuring five each of the four stamp images) priced at $9.75 a 
set.

The Holiday stamps have been extremely popular since the first stamp in the 
series was issued in 1961.  Since 1966, the Christmas design in the series has 
prominently featured renaissance paintings of the Madonna and Child.

Jan Gossaert (circa 1478 to 1532), credited with being one of the first to 
bring the innovations of the Italian Renaissance to northern Europe, brought 
home to the Netherlands new painting ideas and a new trend, introducing a 
greater awareness of anatomy and architectural space with his art.  For the 
next 150 years, it was customary for Flemish painters to visit Italy and adopt 
an "Italianate" style of painting.  Because Gossaert was a transitional figure 
in Northern Renaissance art, it is hard to classify him as a member of any 
single school or style of painting, but he has been called a Romanist, Antwerp 
mannerist, and humanist.  Gossaert, whose name is also spelled Gossart, is 
sometimes referred to as "Mabuse" or "Jan Mabuse," the result of his 
occasionally having used the name of his hometown, Maubeuge (now in northern 
France), when signing his paintings.

Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, Md., is the designer and art director for the 
Holiday Music Makers stamps, and Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, Ariz. is the 
designer and art director for the Christmas: Madonna and Child stamp.

To see the Holiday stamps, visit the Postal Service Web site and open this 
press release at www.usps.com/communications/ news/ stamps/welcome.htm.  

Current U.S. stamps, as well as a free comprehensive catalog, are available by 
toll-free telephone order at 1 800 STAMP-24.  A selection of stamps and other 
philatelic items are available at the online Postal Store at 
www.usps.com/shop. In addition, custom-framed art prints of original stamp are 
available at www.postalartgallery.com.

Since 1775, the U.S. Postal Service has connected friends, families, neighbors 
and businesses by mail. It is an independent federal agency that visits more 
than 141 million homes and businesses every day and is the only service 
provider to deliver to every address in the nation. The Postal Service 
receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives its operating 
revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and services. With annual 
revenues of more than $68.9 billion, it is the world's leading provider of 
mailing and delivery services, offering some of the most affordable postage 
rates in the world. The U.S. Postal Service delivers more than 46 percent of 
the world's mail volume - some 202 billion letters, advertisements, 
periodicals and packages a year - and serves seven million customers each day 
at its 40,000 retail locations nationwide.

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