32c Peach booklet single

A 32-cent multicolored Peach definitive was issued on July 8, 1995, se-tenant in a checkerboard pattern with a stamp depicting a pear, at Topex-Nevpex ’95 in Reno, Nevada. The stamps were issued in two formats: a pane of self-adhesives (convertible booklet) and a conventional booklet with water-activated stamps.

The stamp was designed by Ned Seidler. The magenta, yellow, cyan, black and line blue booklet stamp (Scott 2487) was printed on the Bureau of Engraving and Printing seven-color Andreotti gravure press (601) and distributed in two panes of ten, five Pear and five Peach stamps per pane with the two designs se-tenant vertically and horizontally. Gravure printing cylinders with 480 subjects were used to print the stamp. One group of five cylinder numbers appears on each pane binding stub; wide or narrow cross-register lines appear on some stubs. The stamp was perforated 11 x 10 on the Goebel booklet machine stroke perforator.

The yellow, magenta, cyan, black and dark blue self-adhesive stamp (Scott 2493) was designed by Ned Seidler, printed by Avery Dennison Security Printing on a Dai Nippon Kiko 8-color gravure press and die-cut in a serpentine fashion on a Comco Commander die cutter. Panes of twenty-one (twenty stamps and one non-stamp) were distributed, arranged vertically three across by seven down. Gravure printing cylinders of ten panes, five across and four down were used. Coil stamps (Scott 2495), or strips, were printed from gravure cylinders of four hundred subjects and sold in rolls of 5,000 or strips of twenty. One set of five cylinder numbers preceded by the letter ‘V’ appears on the first selvage strip in the convertible booklet and below the design on every 20th coil stamp. The booklet stamp exists with serpentine die-cut perforations on one side, two side, three sides, and four sides. The coil stamp has vertical serpentine die-cut perforations.

The ‘1995’ year date printed below the bottom frame line is black on the booklet stamps and is only about one-half the size of the blue year data on the self-adhesive stamps.

The Peach (Prunus persica) is a tree native to China that bears a juicy fruit of the same name. It is a small deciduous tree growing to 16.5–33 feet tall. The flowers are produced in early spring with five petals. The fruit has a single large seed encased in hard wood (called the "stone" or "pit"), yellow or whitish flesh, a delicate aroma, and a velvety skin.

Cultivated peaches are divided into 'freestone' and 'clingstone' cultivars, depending on whether the flesh sticks to the stone or not; both kinds can have either white or yellow flesh; both colors often have some red on their skin.

The peach is the state flower of Delaware (1895) and the state fruit of South Carolina (1984) and Georgia (1995). Georgia and Delaware are both nicknamed the Peach State.

References:

Linn’s U.S. Stamp Yearbook 1995

Scott 2005 Specialized Catalogue of U.S. Stamps and Covers

NETSTATE.com (http://www.netstate.com/states/tables/state_fruit.htm, http://www.netstate.com/states/tables/st_flowers.htm, http://www.netstate.com/states/tables/st_nicks.htm)

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