Year of the Rabbit (Celebrating Lunar New Year)

The U.S. Postal Service introduced its Celebrating Lunar New Year series in 2008. This is the fourth stamp in that series, which will continue through 2019 with stamps for the Year of the Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar.

Art director Ethel Kessler worked on the series with illustrator Kam Mak, an artist who grew up in New York City’s Chinatown and now lives in Brooklyn. The artwork focuses on some of the common ways the Lunar New Year Holiday is celebrated. For the Year of the Rabbit, which begins February 3, 2011, the art depicts kumquats, which are eaten for luck and given as holiday gifts. The illustration was originally created using oil paints on panel.

Kessler’s design also incorporates elements from the previous series of Lunar New Year stamps, using Clarence Lee’s intricate paper-cut design of a rabbit and the Chinese character — drawn in grass-style calligraphy by Lau Bun — for "Rabbit."

The Year of the Rabbit stamps are being issued as Forever® stamps. Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate.