Star-Spangled Banner Fireworks Forever Postage Stamps

A photograph of the flag flying over Fort McHenry, taken during the fireworks at the annual Defenders' Day celebration, issued for the 200th anniversary of the Star-Spangled Banner. The anniversary is of the poem, not the flag: Francis Scott Key wrote it in September 1814 after watching the British bombardment of the fort from a truce ship in the harbor, and it did not become the national anthem until 1931.

Shooting the flag against live fireworks rather than a clear sky is what separates this from the ordinary flag issues, and it makes it a summer stamp more than a general-purpose one. Fourth of July and Flag Day mail, veterans' organization correspondence, Maryland and Baltimore businesses, civic and historical societies. Sheets of 20. As a Forever stamp it holds its value against the letter rate, so a sheet bought for one Independence Day still works for the next.