COURTESY PHOTO
The Pacific Coral Reef stamp set starts selling tomorrow.
Reef stamps to
launch at aquarium
The Waikiki Aquarium and post offices in Honolulu with ZIP codes beginning with 968 will be the only places in the world where people can buy new Pacific Coral Reef stamps tomorrow.
A First Day of Issue ceremony will be at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow at the aquarium. Hawaii-based artist John Dawson, who painted the stamps, and Postmaster General John Potter will introduce the pane of 10 stamps.
The Pacific Coral Reef stamps feature colorful images of more than 30 sea creatures and give a panoramic glimpse at life on a Pacific coral reef.
The stamps are the sixth in an educational series to promote appreciation of major plant and animal communities. Previous issues in the series were Sonoran Desert (1999), Pacific Coast Rain Forest (2000), Great Plains Prairie (2001), Longleaf Pine Forest (2002) and Arctic Tundra (2003).
The post office will sell stamps and special first-day-of-issue cancellations from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the aquarium.
Parking and free shuttle service will be available at La Pietra Hawaii School for Girls at 2933 Poni Moi Road from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
About 7.6 million panes of 10 stamps each were printed of the Pacific Coral Reef series.
The stamps will be available at other Hawaii post offices and the rest of the country on Saturday.
People who cannot get to the aquarium or a Honolulu post office on Friday can still order a first-day-of-issue postmark by purchasing the new stamps, putting them on a self-addressed envelope or postcard (or addressed to someone else), then putting the envelopes into a larger envelope addressed to Pacific Coral Reef Stamps, Postmaster, 3600 Aolele St., Honolulu, HI 96820-3670.
The stamps and envelopes will be mailed back with a first-day-of-issue cancellation. There is no charge for the service. All orders must be postmarked by Feb. 1.
