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The Postal Service has helped celebrate Christmas with festive, seasonal stamps since 1962, when it issued its first Christmas stamp. Although customers had been asking for Christmas stamps for years, the first designs sparked controversy.
The United States Post Office Department issued its first Christmas stamp in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on November 1, 1962. Customers had requested such a stamp for years. Anticipating a huge demand for the new Christmas stamp, the Department ordered 500 million printed — the largest number produced for a special stamp until that time.
By the end of 1962, 1 billion stamps had been printed and distributed. The decision to print a Christmas stamp generated some controversy, especially from groups concerned about maintaining the separation of church and state. Legal actions to bar the stamps were not successful.
A Christmas stamp is a postage stamp with a Christmas theme, intended for use on seasonal mail such as Christmas cards. Many countries of the world issue such stamps, which are regular postage stamps (in contrast to Christmas seals ) and are usually valid for postage year-round (in some countries they have a discounted value and are for use ...
In 1962, the first Christmas stamps were officially issued, and have since become a regular and much anticipated occurrence. Since 1970, two general themes of Christmas stamps have been issued yearly: one "traditional" and one "contemporary."
After many years of petitions to the Post Office Department, the first United States Christmas stamp was issued on Nov. 1, 1962, almost 60 years ago. As shown in Figure 1, the 4¢ stamp depicts a wreath and candles (Scott 1205).
Two varieties of what many philatelists consider the world’s first Christmas stamp, Canada’s Imperial Penny Postage stamp of 1898. It was Canada’s first bicolor stamp and has major color varieties involving the colors of the ocean and land. But why does it say “Xmas 1898?”