Add soft floral beauty to your letters with these charming vintage unused Winter Garden Flowers series “Pansy” postage stamps! This lovely botanical design is perfect for adding a thoughtful garden-inspired touch to save-the-dates, wedding invitations, thank you cards, shower invites, sympathy notes, birth announcements, Valentine’s Day cards, and other snail mail correspondence. In pristine mint condition and valid for current postage use, each stamp holds a face value of 32-cents. These authentic USPS postage stamps are suitable for current mailing when used with the total required postage based on the weight of your mailing. Deliver timeless floral elegance with this beautiful vintage postage stamp!

Purchase includes a total of TEN (10) mint condition postage stamps shown in the product listing photos.

STAMP INFORMATION:

• Name: Pansy
• Series: Winter Garden Flowers / Garden Flowers
• Year Issued: 1996
• Face Value: 32-cents (USD) per stamp
• Topic(s): Flowers, Garden Flowers, Winter Flowers, Pansy, Botanical, Floral, Love, Remembrance
• Color(s): Purple, Yellow, Green, Black, White, Multicolored
• Mailing Occasions: Wedding Invitations, Save the Date Announcements, Shower Invitations, Birth Announcements, Thank You Cards, Sympathy Notes, Valentine’s Day, Garden-Themed Mailings, Snail Mail, and more…
• Printing Method: Lithographed and Engraved
• Scott Number: 3027
• Adhesion Type: Gummed (see adhesion instructions below)
• Condition: Genuine Unused USPS Postage Stamps, Ready to Use for USPS Mailings, Mint Condition

GENUINE USPS POSTAGE: These unused vintage postage stamps are perfectly valid for use as current postage for mailing with USPS as long as you use the adequate amount of additional postage to achieve standard postage rates according to the weight of your mailing. Check current postage rates at USPS.com.

STAMP DESCRIPTION & HISTORY: On January 19, 1996, the USPS issued the 32-cent Winter Garden Flowers booklet, the final booklet in the Garden Flowers series. This stamp features the beloved pansy, one of five winter-blooming garden flowers included in the set, alongside the anemone, crocus, snowdrop, and winter aconite. The booklet was designed as a continuous se-tenant garden scene, meaning the individual stamps visually connect to appear as flowers growing together in the same winter garden. Nature artist Ned Seidler, who had worked for National Geographic magazine for 18 years, created a single watercolor painting for the five-stamp set. Most of the image was printed by offset lithography, while the black lettering was added through intaglio engraving.

FLOWER DESCRIPTION: Pansies are cool-season garden flowers known for their rounded petals, velvety texture, and expressive “face-like” markings. The flowers commonly appear in shades of purple, yellow, blue, white, burgundy, and multicolored combinations, making them a favorite choice for garden beds, borders, containers, and seasonal displays. Pansies are especially valued for their ability to bloom in cooler weather, bringing color to gardens during fall, winter, and early spring in many regions. Their compact growth habit, heart-shaped petals, and bright contrasting centers give them a cheerful and delicate appearance that has made them one of the most recognizable ornamental garden flowers.

STAMP MEANING & SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE: Spiritually, the pansy is closely associated with loving thoughts, remembrance, affection, and tender devotion. The name “pansy” comes from the French word pensée, meaning “thought,” reflecting the flower’s long-standing connection to thinking of someone dear. Throughout history, pansies have also been associated with love and romance, including folklore that linked their purple and yellow colors to Cupid and matters of the heart.

The pansy’s ability to bloom during colder seasons adds another layer of meaning, symbolizing resilience, quiet beauty, and affection that endures through hardship. As depicted on this 1996 32-cent stamp, the pansy offers a gentle reminder of love, memory, and thoughtful connection—making it especially meaningful for wedding mailings, romantic notes, sympathy correspondence, thank you cards, and heartfelt letters sent with care.

STAMP SERIES HISTORY: The Winter Garden Flowers stamps were part of the larger Garden Flowers series, a seasonal USPS booklet series that began in 1993. The first installment honored spring-blooming flowers, followed by summer garden flowers in 1994, fall garden flowers in 1995, and winter garden flowers in 1996. The series grew out of the success of the 1992 Wildflowers issue and was created to meet public demand for bright, colorful, attractive American postage stamps. The final Winter Garden Flowers booklet was issued in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, at Longwood Gardens, a location known for its celebrated horticultural displays. The winter flowers chosen for the booklet were selected because they are hardy plants that bloom somewhere in the United States during winter weather.

GUMMED STAMPS: These postage stamps have a traditional moisture-activated gum on the back. These stamps require licking or wetting to adhere to envelopes or other surfaces. To ensure good adhesion, apply vintage gummed stamps to your mailings with a glue stick (we recommend using Elmer's "Re-Stick" glue sticks).

TELL YOUR STORY IN STAMPS: We’ve worked with hundreds of couples and their stationers to custom design highly stylized personalized postage sets based on our customer’s life stories. We can help you curate personalized vintage postage sets to commemorate your save-the-date, wedding, shower, announcement, and other special occasions in a truly unique fashion. Drawing on our encyclopedic knowledge of every stamp ever issued by the USPS, and sourcing from our extensive inventory of collectable unused vintage stamps, we’ll help you tell your unique story in stamps!

ABOUT HERITAGE POST HOUSE: Jennifer Kramer is the founder of Heritage Post House, a boutique vintage postage house located in Northern California. Jennifer sources the most beautiful unused vintage postage stamps ever issued by USPS and artfully arranges them into curated postage sets that are sure to add a special touch to your invitations, announcements, and special mailings. In addition to creating pre-arranged postage sets, Jennifer also works with couples (and their stationers) to create one-of-a-kind custom postage arrangements for wedding invitations, save the dates, and other special occasions.


Product Specifications

Length: 1.73 in.
Height: 0.01 in.
Width: 0.98 in.
Weight: 0.01 lbs.