
34¢ Greetings From America
City: New York, NY
Quantity: 200,000,000
Printed by: American Packaging Corp for Sennett Security Products
Printing Method: Pho... more
34¢ Greetings From America
City: New York, NY
Quantity: 200,000,000
Printed by: American Packaging Corp for Sennett Security Products
Printing Method: Photogravure
Perforations: Serpentine Die Cut 10.75
Quantity: 200,000,000
America’s First 50-Stamp Se-Tenant
Up until the 1960s, when the US produced stamps, all the stamps on a sheet usually had the same design. They first strayed from this format in 1964 when the US Post Office issued its first-ever se-tenant.
Se-tenant is a French phrase meaning “joined together.” When referring to stamps, se-tenants are blocks of stamps that are printed on the same sheet with different designs. The first US se-tenant was the Christmas issue of 1964, which included four different stamps. The format proved popular, and in the coming years, the post office continued to issue stamps in this format.

One of the most popular issues in the Bicentennial Series was the State Flags se-tenant. Issued on February 23, 1976, it was the first US se-tenant to include 50 different stamps. It features the designs of every US state flag and each stamp includes the Bicentennial logo. The stamps were arranged on the sheet in the same order the states were admitted into the Union.


America’s third 50-stamp se-tenant came in 1987. It was issued to celebrate America’s variety of wildlife, and animal subjects were chosen to reflect the geographic and biological diversity of creatures native to this continent. All areas of the United States are represented, including Hawaii and Alaska. To point out the importance of the environment and the realism of the designs, the artist pictured many of the animals with flora common to their habitats.


In April 2002, the USPS issued the Greetings from America stamps. This marked the first time a US postage stamp was issued on the same day in every state. The Greetings from America stamps are reminiscent of the large-letter postcards that vacationing tourists of the 1930s and 1940s sent back home. In addition to the state name, each stamp contains images associated with that state. The state bird, flower, tree, capital, and date of statehood appear on the back of the liner release paper. Due to a rate change, this sheet was reissued with 37¢ denominations on October 25, 2002, as US #3696-3745.