PRESS RELEASE

Of interest to editors and journalists covering:
Business, Stamps/Coins, Collecting, Art, Chinese New Year, D.C. News


Lunar New Year Collection Issued

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Feb. 1, 2005 /Send2Press Newswire/ -- The USPS has authorized licensee Hallmark Group Ltd. (www.lunarcollection.com ) to strike all 12 Lunar New Year Stamp designs as solid silver ingots, layered with pure gold. These famous stamps, featuring the 12 animals of the Chinese lunar cycle, have been designed by celebrated Chinese-American artist Clarence Lee over a 12-year period. To mark the completion of the series, the stamp series was reissued this year by the USPS as a unique double-sided sheet containing twenty four 37-cent lunar stamps.

*(Photo: http://www.Send2Press.com/mediadrome/lunarcoll_72dpi.jpg)

*(Photo caption: John E. Potter, U.S. Postmaster General, with Clarence Lee, designer of The Lunar New Year Collection.)


The Lunar stamps comprise one of the most important and popular series ever issued by the USPS, and were inspired by the tremendous contribution made by Asian Americans to the development and life of the country over the past 200 years. More than that, they are a celebration of an ancient culture, and a tradition tracing back 2,000 years.

The collection of 12 solid silver gold-layered ingots, presented in a classic Chinese lacquered cabinet, is distributed under license by the Hallmark Group, and is limited to only 18,800 sets worldwide, so they are real collector items. In addition, each successful subscriber gets a souvenir sheet of the newly issued stamps personally signed by the artist. 

The sales brochure, again designed by Clarence Lee, is itself a work of art. 

Chinese Lunar New Year begins on February 9th.

More information: http://www.lunarcollection.com



# # #

[ SOURCE: Hallmark Group Ltd. ]


MEDIA CONTACT: 

	Anthony Wainwright
	President, Hallmark Group Ltd.
	Phone: +1-800-770-0218 (24/7)
	Fax: +1-800-452-6468
	service @ lunarcollection.com 


//Note to editors: 
Hallmark Group is a licensee of the United States Postal Service. //


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