Very Limited Edition Stamps

Limited edition stamps require high quality care and printing authenticity. These features are achieved with the use of a printing technique known as gravure. This method is applied to different materials and allows us to get images with a very high resolution. Illustrations can be cutting, carving and engraving over a flat and hard surface. The image is cut into a surface, which can be a mold or plate made of cooper or zinc. The printing technique employ different modes in order to get variety of tones.

The motive to issue these stamps is to celebrate particular events, recognize historical people or as tribute to some celebrities. In October 2007, for example, the United States Postal Service (USPS) produced a special edition of the "Domestic Aurora Stamps" as praise to the Ester’s auroras in Alaska. The stamps were available at $200 and had dimensions of 22 inches wide and 11.5 inches high.

The USPS produces limited edition stamps every year to celebrate and honor people or events. The 2009 Commemorative Stamp Program was announced on December 29, 2008. Some of the stamp’s pictures were Alaska’s statehood in order to celebrate Alaska’s 50th Anniversary. The Year of the Ox was the motive to celebrate the Lunar New Year and the portrait of Edgar Allan Poe was the inspiration to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of one of the most important American poets.

The program also included Abraham Lincoln to remember different aspects of his life. Lincoln was honored with stamps screening his life as a rail-splitter, lawyer, politician and president of the United States.