Click on scan for a larger version.

42¢ Flags of our Nation
(Sennett Security Products)
Self Adhesive Coil of 50
Scott # 4282b

4273
4274
4275
4276
4277
4277a
4278
4279
4280
4281
4282
4282a
4282b

Plate # S111111111 on the Stars and Stripes stamp.

U.S. flag and clouds (The plate number is on this stamp)
Alabama flag
Alaska flag
American Samoa flag
Arizona flag
Strip of 5, #4273-4277
Arkansas flag
California flag
Colorado flag
Connecticut flag
Delaware flag
Strip of 5, #4278-4282
Plate # strip of 10, #4277a + 4282a  (may be collected as 1 strip of 10 or 2 separate strips of 5)
There is also an unnumbered listing for a plate number strip of 11, with the plate number centered.

Series USPS - NA ~ PNC3 - Flag / Patriotic
Issue Date & City June 14, 2008, Washington, DC 20066 (National Postal Museum)
Nationwide Sale June 14, 2008
Designer Howard E. Paine, Delaplane, VA
Art Director Howard E. Paine, Delaplane, VA
Typographer Howard E. Paine, Delaplane, VA
Artist Tom Engeman, Brunswick, MD
Modeler Donald Woo
Engraver Southern Graphics, Richmond, VA
To Press / Initial Quantity Spring 2008 / 500 Million stamps
Coil Size 50
Printer American Packaging Corporation / Sennett Security Products (SSP)
Press Cerrutti, 950
Process Gravure
Where Printed Columbus, WI
Where Processed Unique Binders, Fredericksburg, VA
Plate Size & Interval 760 stamps per revolution / plate # every 10 stamps
Paper Type Prephosphored, USPS Type I, Surface Coated
Adhesive Type Pressure Sensitive
Tagging Type Prephosphored - Almost smooth appearance with some uneveness
Die Cut Gauge Serpentine Die Cuts - 11.1 Vertically - Peak/Valley so far
Colors Magenta, Yellow, Cyan, Black, PMS 187 (Red), PMS 4625 (Brown), PMS 3425 (Green), PMS 2945 (Blue), PMS 5415 (Grey).
Image Size (w x h) 1.74 x 0.96 in. / 44.20 x 24.38 mm
Overall Size (w x h) 1.59 x 0.81 in. / 40.41 x 20.57 mm
Back Numbers None
Earliest Known Use June 14, 2008
USPS Order Numbers 786540 Full Coil of 50 - $21.00
786563 First Day Cover - Set of 10 - $8.00
Availability  
Official Announcement On June 14, 2008, in Washington, DC, the Postal Service™ will issue 42-cent stamps Flags of Our Nation in 10 designs in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) coil of 50 (Item 786500). Designed by Howard E. Paine of Delaplane, Virginia, the stamps go on sale nationwide June 14, 2008.

This is a new format for mail use in a multi-stamp series featuring the Stars and Stripes, the fifty state flags, five territorial flags, and the District of Columbia flag. Two sets of ten stamps will be issued each year through 2010 for a total of sixty stamp designs.

Note From Jim Kloetzel, the Catalogue Editor at Scott Publishing Co.:

Each stamp will have a major number. Two strips of 5 will be given minor-letter listings. The first strip of 5 will start with the flag stamp with plate number and end with Arizona; the second strip of 5 will pick up from there and end with Delaware. There will be a lettered minor listing for the "P# set of 10 . . ." consisting of the two lettered strips of 5. Then, for the plate number purists with album pages that are two feet wide, there will be the traditional unlettered listing for a P# strip of 11 with the plate number in the center position.

A footnote will explain that the plate number appears on each (American) flag stamp, and that a plate # strip of 10 may be collected connected consisting of each of the two minor-lettered strips of 5, but that such a strip will not fit into standard albums. It is our belief that extremely few collectors will collect this item as a strip of 10 (or 11). For that reason, we have fashioned the listings to coincide with the way we feel almost all collectors will want to collect these stamps. This treatment will carry through to all the upcoming flag coils, also.

The listings and footnote do allow collectors to collect this set in any of the three logical configurations: two strips of 5, a strip of 10, or a traditional strip of 11.

Press Release Click here to read the press release.
Note Shipped to post offices in sticks of up to 10 coils.
How to Order First Day of Issue Postmark
Customers have 60 days to obtain the first day of issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office™, at The Postal Store® Web site at www.usps.com/shop, or by calling 800-STAMP-24. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:
FLAGS OF OUR NATION
POSTMASTER
SPECIAL CANCELLATIONS
PO BOX 92282
WASHINGTON DC 20066-9998
After applying the first day of issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must be postmarked by August 15, 2008.
How to Order First Day Covers
Stamp Fulfillment Services also offers first day covers for new stamp issues and Postal Service stationery items postmarked with the official first day of issue cancellation. Each item has an individual catalog number and is offered in the quarterlyUSA Philatelic catalog. Customers may request a free catalog by calling 800-STAMP-24 or writing to:
INFORMATION FULFILLMENT
DEPT 6270
US POSTAL SERVICE
PO BOX 219014
KANSAS CITY MO 64121-9014
Philatelic Products
There are four philatelic products available for this stamp issue:
  • Item 786563, *First Day Cover set of 10, $8.00.
  • Item 786568, *DCP set of 10, $15.00.
  • Item 786591, *Ceremony Program, $6.95.
  • Item 786575, Six-Panel Collectors Folder, (includes coil of stamps), $29.95.
Items with an asterisk (*) will use the 128 barcode from Stamp Fulfillment Services. All other philatelic products will continue to use barcode series A, with the exception of the Yearbook and the Guide Book.
Distribution: Item 786500, $21.00 Flags of Our Nation PSA Coil of 50 Stamps
All stamp distribution offices (SDOs) will receive an automatic distribution of the $21.00 Flags of Our Nation PSA coil of 50. Distributions are rounded up to the nearest master carton size (800 coils).
Initial Supply for Post Offices
SDOs will not make a subsequent automatic distribution of Item 786500 to Post Offices. All Post Offices requiring quantities of Item 786500 must order them from their designated SDO using a separate PS Form 17, Stamp Requisition/Stamp Return. SDOs must not distribute coils to Post Offices before June 9, 2008.
Additional Supply
Post Offices requiring additional stamps must requisition Item 786500 from their designated SDO using PS Form 17. SDOs requiring additional coils must order them from the appropriate accountable paper depository (APD) using PS Form 17.
For fulfilling supplemental orders from SDOs, the Memphis, Chicago, New York, and San Francisco APDs will each receive 422,400 additional coils. The Denver APD will receive 192,000 additional coils. The Kansas City SSC will receive 422,400 additional coils for fulfilling supple­mental orders from APDs.