New Lighthouse Postage Stamps

UPDAATE: The United States Post Office just announced that the price of stamps will be increasing by two cents on May 11, 2009. This means that if the lighthouses stamps comeout in June based on past issuances, the lighthouse stamps will cost 44 cents each instead of the current rate of 42 cents.

Later this summer, the United States Post Office will issue a fifth series of lighthouse stamps. This fifth series will feature five lighthouses from the Gulf Coast. Included in this series are Matagorda Island Lighthouse (Texas), Sabine Pass Lighthouse (Louisiana), Biloxi Lighthouse (Mississippi), Sand Island Lighthouse (Alabama) and the Fort Jefferson Lighthouse, aka Garden Key Lighthouse (Florida). The stamps will sell for the current rate of 42 cents each. Based on past issuances, look for these stamps to come out in June of this year.

The last series of lighthouse stamps was issued on June 21, 2007 and featured five lighthouses of the Pacific Coast. Those stamps sold for 41 cents each and included the following lighhouses: Diamond Head Lighthouse (Hawaii), St. George Reef Lighthouse (California), Umpqua River Lighthouse (Oregon), Gray's Habror Lighthouse (Washington), and the Five Finger Lighthouse (Alaska).

Series three of the United States Lighthouse stamps were issued in 2003 and sold for 37 cents each. Series three honored the Southeastern Atlantic Lighthouses of Old Cape Henry (Virginia), Cape Lookout (North Carolina), Morris Island (South Carolina), Tybee Island (Georgia) and Hillsboro Inlet (Florida).

Series two was issued in 1995 and featured one lighthouse on each of the five Great Lakes. Those stamps sold for 32 cents each. The Great Lakes lighthouses included St. Joseph harbor Lighthouse (Michigan), Marblehead Lighthouse (Ohio), Split Rock Lighthouse (Minnesota), Spectacle Reef Lighthouse (Michigan), and Thirty Mile Point Lighthouse (New York).

The United States Post Office's first series of lighthouse stamps was issued in 1990 and sold for 25 cents each. This series honored the great American lighthouses of Admiralty Head Lighthouse (Washington), American Shoals Lighthouse (Florida), Sandy Hook Lighthouse (New Jersey), Cape Hatteras Lighthouse (North Carolina), and West Quoddy Lighthouse (Maine).

In addition to these series, the Hawai'i Post has issued three series of lighthouse stamps honoring Hawai'ian Lighthouses. The first series issued in 2001 depicted the Aloha Tower on a $2, $5, and $8 stamp. The second series featured Laysan Island Lighthouse ($2)Makapu'u Lighthouse ($5) and the Diamond Head Lighthouse ($8). The second series was issued in 2002. The third series issued in 2004 shows Kilauea Point Lighthouse ($2), Nawiliwili Lighthouse ($5), and Barber's Point Lighthouse ($8). The $2 stamps are used to prepay for charges such as extra weight. The $5 stamps prepay for Overnight Charges and the $8 stamps prepay for Same Day delviery service.

At the American Philatelic Stamp Show in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the United States Postal Service will unveil a stamp honoring Edward Hopper, a famous American artist. This stamp will feature Hopper's 1930 painting The Long Leg which shows a boat fighting the wind near a lighthouse at Provincetown, Massachusetts. This stamp will be unveiled on August 6th, one day before National Lighthouse Day.