On April 5, 1991, the United States Postal Service issued a 29-cent denominated stamp depicting the Flower design. This was the first time that USPS had converted the design for a non-denominated stamp by changing the letter to a value. In addition to changing the ‘F’ to "29¢," the inscription “For U.S. Addresses Only” was removed. As with the non-denominated stamps, three printing contractors were used.
The Jeffries Banknote Division of the United States Bank Note Corporation produced the yellow, magenta, cyan, and black 29-cent Flower sheet stamp (Scott 2524A) on an eight-color combination Andreotti-Giori gravure-intaglio webfed press and perforated 13 on an Ormag rotary perforator. The pane of one hundred, ten across and ten down, was printed from gravure printing cylinders of four hundred subjects. One group of four cylinder numbers preceded by the letter ‘U’ appears in beside the corner stamp.
When the Ormag rotary perforator failed during production, Jeffries completed the job using an off-line L perforator, which perforated the stamps 11 (Scott 2524). “USPS 1991.” and “USE CORRECT ZIP CODE.” are printed in the selvage.
KCS Industries printed the yellow, magenta, cyan, and black 29-cent Flower booklet stamp (Scott 2527) on the Champlain gravure presses at J.W. Fergusson, formatted in a single pane of ten horizontal stamps, two stamps across and five down on the pane. The stamps were perforated 11 on the L perforator. One group of four cylinder numbers preceded by the letter ‘K’ appears on each pane binding stub. Magenta cut marks at the outer edge of the third stamp down appear on 20 percent of the panes.
On August 16, 1991, USPS released a 29-cent denominated coil stamp (Scott 2525) depicting the Flower. Stamp Venturers produced the yellow, magenta, cyan, and black stamp on the Champlain gravure presses at J.W. Fergusson from gravure printing cylinders of 429 subjects. The stamps were perforated 10 vertically with slit perforations (roulettes). One group of four cylinder numbers preceded by the letter ‘S’ appears on every 33rd stamp.
The coils were also distributed to post offices in a new format that stacked ten connected rolls into 'stamp sticks.' The individual coil rolls were attached to one another with a form of roulettes that allowed a coil to be broken off the stick.
On March 3, 1992, the USPS issued a second 29-cent Flower coil stamp (Scott 2526) produced by Stamp Venturers. This stamp had conventional round-hole perforations, perf. 10 vertically, in place of the roulettes and was the ninth stamp issued with the Flower design.
Tulip (Tulipa) is a genus of about one hundred species of flowering plants native to southern Europe, North Africa, and Asia from Anatolia and Iran east to northeast China and Japan. They are perennial bulbous plants growing to 4 to 28 inches tall, with a small number of strap-shaped, waxy-textured, usually green leaves and large flowers with six petals. The fruit is a dry capsule containing numerous flat disc-shaped seeds.
References:
Linn’s U.S. Stamp Yearbook 1991
Linn’s U.S. Stamp Yearbook 1992
Scott 2005 Specialized Catalogue of U.S. Stamps and Covers
Encyclopedia of United States Stamps and Stamp Collecting
