2019 US Flags Forever Postage Stamps (Rolls / Booklets)

The 2019 flag stamp marks 150 years since the first U.S. stamps to show the flag - the 10-cent yellow and 30-cent ultramarine and carmine Eagle, Shield and Flags issues of 1869, catalogued as Scott 116 and 121. Those were the first American stamps to break from portraits of statesmen, and they were unpopular enough at the time to be withdrawn within a year. The 2019 design is photographic and horizontal, which is a departure from the vertical flag stamps around it.

Available in rolls and booklets, which matters more than it sounds: a roll of 100 is the right buy if you are stamping a mailing at a desk, a booklet if the stamps live in a drawer for occasional letters. Businesses, civic groups and veterans' organizations are the steady buyers. Forever value, so a 2019 stamp bought at 55 cents still covers a full one-ounce letter today.