33c Irish Immigration single

The 33-cent Irish Immigration stamp was issued on February 26, 1999, in Boston, Massachusetts. The stamp was designed by Howard Paine of Delaplane, Virginia, and illustrated by Dennis Lyall of Bridgeport, Connecticut. The Irish Postal Administration also issued a stamp with a similar design on the same day.

The first immigrants from Ireland arrived in the seventeeth century. Most left Ireland to escape severe economic, social, and political problems. Today, according to the 1990 US census, Americans of Irish heritage comprise 15.5 percent of the total population -- the second largest ancestral group in the country. More than 40 million Americans claim to be of Irish descent.

40.4 million stamps, in gummed panes of twenty, were produced by Ashton-Potter (USA), Ltd., in the offset process.

Reference: Postal Bulletin (February 11, 1999)

33-cent mint single

Issued February 26, 1999