Crops of the Americas

Artist Steve Buchanan of Winstead, CT did the illustrations for the new Crops of the Americas stamps using slide photographs made by his wife, Rita.

Buchanan also did the artwork for the 34-cent Carnivorous Plants stamps.

The new stamps, which depict corn, chili peppers, beans, squashes and sunflowers, were released last week at the American Stamp Dealers Association's Postage Stamp Mega Event at New York City's Madison Square Garden.

According to All Headline News, "It's the first taste of postal fame for corn, beans and squash. This is the third time sunflowers have appeared on a U.S. stamp. They were featured as the state flower of Kansas in 1982 and again in a set of wildflower stamps in 1992. Chili peppers appeared in a wreath in the 1998 Christmas stamps."

The definitive stamps will be issued in three formats: A vending booklet of 20, a double-sided convertible booklet of 20 and a coil of 100.