Category Archives: 021. 1999 Stamp

Artist Inspirations: Enterprise Stamp (1999)

Top: Date of issue: 17th September 1999.


Star Trek stamp illustrator, Keith Birdsong, also created the cover art for several Star Trek Pocket Books novels. Unfortunately, Birdsong passed away in 2019 at the age of 59.

It was a long journey to get the United States Postal Service to issue a Star Trek stamp. Star Trek fan, Bill Kraft, led the effort and captured it in his book, Maybe We Need a Letter from God: The Star Trek Stamp.

The drive to honor Star Trek on a U.S. postage stamp is unique. “Maybe We Need a Letter from God: The Star Trek Stamp” traces an old-fashioned grassroots movement, long before easy access to the speed of the Internet, that involved a strategy of signed petitions, endorsement letters and media exposure. Fueled by the spontaneous combustion of fan fervor, the Star Trek Stamp Committee embarked on a journey that took over a decade to complete. A dubious Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee, a bureaucratic “force field,” thwarted the Star Trek Stamp Committee’s efforts for 13 years. The book includes over eighty endorsement letters from some of the most renowned individuals in the worlds of science, science fiction and government, along with documentation from some of the nation’s leading newspapers such as “USA Today,” the “Los Angeles Times,” the “Chicago Sun Times,” and “Time Magazine.”

21) 1999 U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 (Stamp)

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Original Retail:  $9.95

Artist:  Unknown

Material:  Ceramic and Metal

Box Text:  Beginnning in 1998, the United States Postal Service issued its largest-ever series of commemoritive postage stamps.  By the time the program is completed in 2000. A total of 150 designs will have been released, providing a decade-by-decade look at significant personalities and events of the 20th Century.

Authentic reproductions of six noteworthy designs are featured in the 1999 keepsake Ornament line.  Each one is showcased in its own unique frame that enhances  the artwork and the enjoyment of the familiar images.  Ideal for holiday or year-round decorating, or to display with a collection of Celebrate the Century commemorative stamps, these ornaments will be cherished well into the next century.

Serial #:  QXI8557

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