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The American Plate Number Single Society |
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2025
Preliminary stamp program for 2025. Details from all USPS announcements are tentative and subject to change. All sheet or pane issues have plate numbers in four corners (UL, UR, LL, LR) unless otherwise specified.
Denominations in parentheses are Forever stamps, if first class rate, or nominal rate, if service-inscribed. The first class rate is 73¢ effective since January 21, 2024. The extra ounce rate remained at 24¢ (so 97¢ for up to 2 ounces, $1.21 for up to 3 ounces). The postcard rate increased to 56¢. International letters, also known as the Global airmail rate, are $1.65 per ounce (or for the first two ounces, for mail to Canada). Semi-postal stamps continued to be sold at 85¢, serving 73¢ in postage with a 12¢ charitable donation of about 16%. Coil stamps have plate numbers at the bottom center of single stamps and appear in the coil roll at the interval specified.
Plate numbers and copyright markings for self-adhesive booklet stamps or ATM panes appear on a peelable strip within the pane. Copyright, Pane Position Diagrams (PPD), ZIP code, math aids and other markings have appeared on the back of most regular issues for several years. As it does every year, USPS moved the tiny date appearing on new stamp designs. For 2025 issues, it appears vertically reading up, in the lower left corner.
Regular issues and commemoratives
(F) Lunar Year of the Snake (Scott 5952) and imperf (Scott 5952a): B111111 in LL and LR
(F) Love 2025 (Scott 5953) and imperf (Scott 5953a): B11
$10.10 Spiral Galaxy, priority mail (Scott 5954): B1111 in UL and LR
$31.40 Star Cluster, express mail (Scott 5955): B1111 in UL and UR This replaces the 2024 Express Mail stamp as the highest denomination U.S. stamp ever issued.
($1.65) Compass Rose, global airmail (Scott 5956): P111111 The tiny 2025 date does not appear vertically in the lower left corner as with other issues, but instead is incorporated into the circular design text.
(F) Allen Toussaint (Scott 5957) and imperf (Scott 5957a): B11111 in LL and LR
Scott 5959 (10¢) Mountains and House, presorted standard coil, There are only 2 designs, but the printer's plate number interval is 27 stamps. The solution was to repeat Scott 5959, the one with the plate number, at its next appearance to the right (so 5959 with p#, 5958 Beach and Sailboat, 5959, 5959 repeated, then 5958 and 5959 alternating until the next 5959 with p#). While there are no apparent design or production differences in the print runs, only 21 million of the 3k coil stamps were printed (that's only 7,000 coils), whereas for the 10k coil the initial print run was 1 billion stamps (100,000 coils). Collectors can tell the different source coils from the back numbers: 4-digit back numbers are from 3k coils, whereas 5-digit back numbers are from 10k coils.
McAfee Knob, Virginia (Scott 5960m) and Anderson Bridge, Connecticut (Scott 5960o)
Imperf Virginia (Scott 5960ac) and imperf Connecticut (Scott 5960ae)
Wakebait (Scott 5965) and Spoon (Scott 5963)
Imperf Wakebait (Scott 5965a) and imperf Spoon (Scott 5963a)
Aspen (Scott 5966) and Sweetgum (Scott 5970)
Aspen (Scott 5973) from (56¢) Vibrant Leaves, postcard rate coil (Scott 5971-75, strip of 5 5975a): P11111111 every 30 stamps Original USPS publicity info gave the plate number interval as 27 stamps. The correction to the 30 stamp interval means the plate number appears on the same stamp each time.
(F) Betty White (Scott 5976) and imperf (Scott 5976a): P1111 in LL and LR
Battle of Yorktown (Scott 5977m) and Washington reviewing British surrender (5977o) (F) Revolutionary Battlefields imperf (Scott 5977q-ae): B1111 in LL and LR
Men's Hoop Dance (Scott 5981) and imperf (5981a)
Dark red dahlia (Scott 5986) from (F) Dahlias, 3k and 10k coils (Scott 5991a): P1111 every 27 The odd p# interval means that the ten designs are printed 10-10-7. This time, the plate number is placed away from the odd/short strip, making it possible to collect a plate strip of 11 (PS11) - and to mount it on an album page.
Dark red dahlia (Scott 5997) and Pink and white dahlia (Scott 5995)
Scott 6002a, 6002h, 6002g Goodnight Moon scenes
Scott 6002j, 6002q, 6002p, imperf Goodnight Moon scenes
(F) Army 250th Anniversary (preliminary Scott 6011) and imperf (6011a): B1111111 in LL and LR
(F) Navy 250th Anniversary and imperf (preliminary Scott 6012) and imperf (6012a): B1111111 in LL and LR
(F) Marine Corps 250th Anniversary (preliminary Scott 6013) and imperf (6013a): B111111 in LL and LR (F) Barbara Bush: B1111 in LL and LR (F) Baby Wild Animals, booklet of 20, 10 designs: B1111(F) U.S. Flag, self adhesive pane of 20: P1111 (F) U.S. Flag, booklet of 20: P1111 (F) U.S. Flag, booklet of 20: B11111 (F) U.S. Flag, coil of 100: P1111 every 31 (F) U.S. Flag, coil of 100: B11111 every 31 (F) U.S. Flag, coil of 3000: P1111 every 27 (F) U.S. Flag, coil of 10,000: P1111 every 27 Change of (F) Forever first class rate from 73¢ to 78¢, effective July 13, 2025 (F) Franklin and USPS 250th Anniversary, prestige booklet: no plate number (F) USPS 250 Years of Delivering, 20 designs: P# in LL and LR (F) Boston 2026 Philatelic Exhibition, Old North Church and Paul Revere on horse, and expected imperf ($1.27) Luna Moth, non-machinable surcharge (F) Jimmy Carter (F) Spongebob Squarepants (4 designs) (F) Winter Landscapes (5 designs) (F) Christmas - Seasonal (4 designs) (F) William F. Buckley, Jr. and expected imperf
Airmail issues Although the global airmail stamps of the last few years are intended to meet an international airmail rate, they are actually valid for all types of mailings. As there is no indication in the stamps' designs that they are restricted to or primarily intended for airmail purposes, Scott assigns a regular catalog number rather than one with the traditional C prefix. We display additional images of these stamps at the end of the Modern Airmails web page, but with the non-airmail catalog number that is assigned to each issue.
Hunting Permit stamps
$25 self-adhesive hunting permit stamp for 2025-2026 (preliminary Scott RW92) $25 hunting permit self-adhesive pane of 1 (preliminary Scott RW92A): no plate numbers $25 hunting permit E-Stamp pane of 1 (preliminary Scott RW92B): no plate numbers
Official stamps Official stamps were "officially" discontinued in 2013. The handful of federal government agencies with remaining stock used up their existing stamps, then converted to forever stamps, meters and other postage payment methods.
The plate number information appearing on this page has been contributed by APNSS members Jim Cochrane and Rick Burdsall.
A complete listing and valuation of plate numbers, positions and other marginal markings, along with catalog pricing, will appear in the next edition of the Hebert's Catalog of Plate Number Singles.
Related links
Opinions expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the APNSS, its officers or members.
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