The Postal Service issued the nondenominated (25-cent value) American Eagle presorted first-class mail stamps in a pressure-sensitive adhesive coil of 10,000 on June 26, 2003, in Santa Clara, California. The stamps, designed by Tom Engeman, Brunswick, Maryland, went on sale nationwide June 27, 2003. The stamps were re-issued on May 12, 2004 and August 5, 2005.
These presorted first-class mail coil stamps feature an artistic rendering of a detail of the Great Seal of the United States. In his 1782 design, Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress, gave prominence to the American bald eagle. This majestic raptor, a native of North America, became a symbol of freedom as well as the emblem of our country. The designs for the stamps feature the head and outstretched right wing of the American bald eagle and a portion of the shield is on its breast, with the tip of the olive branch held in its right talon. The coil has ten versions of the eagle -- in gold, green, blue, red, and gray -- that appear against a background of a contrasting color.
Sennett Security Products, located at the American Packaging Corporation in Columbus, Wisconsin, printed the stamp in gravure process.
